He chose unwisely

Happy Labor Day!  We are breaking the tradition of Labor Day here.  The tradition has been to work ourselves half to death and then complain that we never have free time to have fun.  While we didn't go crazy having fun this weekend, we did cut down on the amount of work and spent more time relaxing.  It's still to hot to get out and do much except water in the mornings, but I've found some entertaining things to do inside and have generally enjoyed myself.  

On Friday, I unpacked the new machine.  I will say this for the seller, he packed it well!  It took about 30 minutes just to get it out of the boxes.  

I'm going to do my best not to sound regretful because I don't feel that.  But, I got overly excited about buying a new machine and I let the descriptions of several mush together in my mind and when it was all said and done, the machine I bought wasn't the one I intended to buy.  I had my eyes on several that were being sold by reputable repairpersons who had recently serviced the machines and guaranteed them to be in good working order.  The guy I bought from was not one of those.  

I got it unpacked and it is a beauty!  There were a couple of scratches that I didn't notice in the pictures, but they're not serious, and I still don't think the machine has a lot of miles on it.  I think it's mostly been in the case.  The scratches are from someone putting it in the case improperly and then trying to force it closed.  Probably not the person that spent several thousand dollars on the machine when it was new.  I knew something was off when I loaded thread in the bobbin and it was so tight the thread wouldn't pass through.  That's okay.  I adjusted the tension for the thread I was using.  

The more I used it, the noisier it got, not good noises either.  I took off the cover and it was dry as an Egyptian tomb in there.  It had been a while since it was oiled.  A long while.  That's when I went back to the original listing and re-read it and looked into the sellers bio.  That's okay.  I service my own machines. I have the oiling and lubricating guide.  I can do this.  

It was running like a dream.  And, then I heard a sizzling sound.  And, then I noticed the smoke.  I unplugged it and sat back in my chair and just watched it smoke for about 10 minutes.  I probably would have cried, but I was too busy making sure THE HOUSE DIDN'T CATCH ON FIRE!

It didn't.  

After I stared it in full self-pity mode for a while, I took the cover off and checked out the electrical system.  There are no obvious signs of damage and only a small bit of smoke residue.  I wondered if maybe I'd gotten oil on something and it was burning off, but the smoke had been white and it smelled electrical, not black oil smoke.  Then I started to do research.  It sounds like a capacitor blew.  The machine still runs.  It runs great.  But, I'm afraid that if I keep using it, I'll do more damage, so I quilted with it a little while and then the smarter part of me kicked in and I packed it up and looked for a reputable Bernina dealer in town with a good service tech.  They're all the way on the other side of town, in a galaxy far, far away.  yay

So now, I've set my old Bernina back up and will use it until I can schlepp the new one to the dealer to have it repaired.  I'm also looking at a repairman that's more local and has a really good rep and has been repairing machines for 35 years.  I've run into him at quilt shows before.  And, he won't be trying to sell me a new machine.  I'll keep researching and we will see what happens.  

There is very little happening in the garden.  Rob is nearly finished with the greenhouse.  We've hung a new fan on the wall and a new door.  Excuse the mess.  I'm trying to move back in there and it's been slow going because Rob has been in there until it's too hot for me to get in there to start putting things away.  I spent a couple hours one day washing things.  It's too pretty in there for me to load in all my dirty pots and trays, so I gave it all a good wash and took the time to sift through it and get rid of the stuff I don't need or want.  Stuff that was just taking up space, and not providing joy.  I think it's going to be great.  

In other news, Rob's best friend's 31 year old daughter passed away on Friday after a couple years of failing health.  It's so sad and her parents are devastated.  Rob has known her since she was a child and was heartbroken by the news.  As is traditional, I made a casserole.  

Everybody have a great Labor Day.  Enjoy it with friends or family or just relaxing and enjoying all the benefits that unions brought us, like the 40 hour work week and paid time off and employer funded health insurance.  

Lane