Pfarewell
Well, that does it.
Remember a week or two back I posted a pic of what the Sam Hill was wrong with my sewing machine? Thank you to ofenjen and jewells68 for your helpful comments; I followed both of your pieces of advice but, sadly, to no avail. My Pfaff 1122 did the exact same thing it did a year ago, but worse. The backstitch gear gave out and the feed dogs will not raise. (Not even manually by levering a screwdriver in there.) I called the dude who "fixed" it last time and he has a generous 90-day warranty on his work. The repair last time was equal to half of the purchase price, so I'm obviously not doing that again. So, the Pfaff is boxed up and on its way to the basement. My first instinct was to set it out for Freecycle for someone to part it out. Rrrrr. But then I figured I might hang on to it in case one day our budget allows for a visit to a real Pfaff dealer for repair or trade in.
What's so irritating is, that the only reason I chose this funny-named machine is because I saw how incredibly my mum's machine has lasted. Quick story: we were living in Heidelberg, Germany, at the time and I was five years old. My dad got my mum a very nice Pfaff for Christmas (none of us had come around to our current religious persuasion at that point...) and he showed it to me before he wrapped it. I admired the box as he gravely informed me that this must be kept a secret. A few days later, we were strolling around all together and I spotted the exact same logo that I'd seen on mum's box! It was on a hanging sign outside a shop window! I was so pleased with myself for recognising the logo that I blurted out, "Look Mama! That's what Papa got you for Christmas!" Papa cracked up, groaning and rolling his eyes. I think I remember mum punching him in the arm with delight.
That was 30 years ago and mum's Pfaff is still running like a top, the self-oiling bad boy that it is. And that's with the past 15 or so years in dusty, dry, destroys-all Arizona. When I dragged out my machine's box and told mum that it clearly stated "Made in Taiwan", she scoffed and said, "Well, it's not a real Pfaff then, is it?"
Good news?
My mum is awesome. Back when this happened the first time, it was in the middle of the PoD and she swiftly sent me my grandma's old machine. It's a Brother from the Wal-Mart and I am so grateful to have it. It's loud and clunky but it works. Oh, I love it. I've FMQ-ed half of my Linus brown-and-blue quilt on it and, although it's slow going, it works.
I am using your needle and thread recommendations, Jen, and they're helping very much on my free motion quilting.
Enough about that.
I've started a Flickr group called SnapeCraft because, really, I can't be the only one. I've invited lots of people to add their pics of craft, fine art (traditional or digital) and cosplay. Some folks have responded so far, which I am tickled pink about. Especially the polymer clay mouse version of the Professor. If anyone has anything in their photostream - or knows anyone who does - please come post to the group. :)
Is that it? I think so. I didn't get to do a TTMT this week because of summer craziness, but next week hopefully.
Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone.
:)