New Family Member!!!

In August of 1980, I was umpteen months pregnant and in the midst of sewing all the dressings for the crib which would soon hold our firstborn son...on the K-word Sewing Machine from the S-store that I purchased for myself as a High School Graduation gift...now known as being synonymous with tension nightmares...right?  My K-word was amongst that group...in the midst of my nesting free-for-all...it quit on me...
Bless my husbands heart...he didn't flinch, or at least let me see him flinch, when he signed the dotted line and we purchased my beautiful Cranberry colored, then top of the line, Viking 6570.  It was love at first sight...and it meant I could have the nursery finished in short order, and it was.  Perhaps he was less flinch-less due to the fact that my sewing machine connoisseur Aunt, who, on her Executive Secretary to the VP of Blue Cross wage, had purchased more than one Viking Machine and a second Aunt also had an old 6000...which I later inherited but never loved as much as Cranberry.
My Aunts were seamstresses...literally,  they were always sewing clothes.  Auntie #1 often made costumes for work functions....I don't recall how many Hawaiian shirts were on her sewing machine for fellow employees one year...Auntie #2 supplemented her retirement by sewing for clients, so if Viking was good enough for them, it was certainly good enough for me.  Later, Auntie #1 collected a couple of beloved Berninas...but I was still content and in love with Cranberry.  She was beautiful...she gave me joy & fulfillment...listened to my fears...and didn't rust under salty tears.
Several years ago Cranberry took a spill when we were moving furniture around to paint and Kitty hopped from computer desk to portable sewing table and it gave way sending poor Cranberry to the floor.  She was never the same after...even after 10 months of being held hostage in the repair shop...(I've since learned that this shop has earned its rep for lack of motivation, completion and communication.  One can't even get their Ginghers back from sharpening in a timely manner.) I've just never been able to bring myself to admit that she was done for...the thought of purchasing a new machine made me wince...even tear up...I felt like a dirty low-down cheater for even considering beginning a relationship with one other than Cranberry.
A couple of years ago Quilty Partner in Crime and I decided we both wanted some inexpensive little lightweight machines to haul around with us and we bought a couple of little matching J-word machines that we've used and more or less made do with for the time being.  It's an okay little machine...just not quite up to crossing the bulk of flying geese points in a straight un-meandering manner...and we've both recently begun talking about replacement of our old first loves...her Bernina...my Viking.  Then we realized...fall brings sales...current models will be retired and need to be adopted into new homes, then...before I knew it!  Ah-Ha! There they are!  Sales!  A little online research and tromping around the valley & I've found her!  I've always wished my husband would buy me a beautiful blue Sapphire...and now...we has! (And I met an awesome longarm quilter in the process...we were friends by the time the purchase was complete!  Totally speaking each others language!)

Introducing Miss Sophie Sapphire.

 

Cranberry is still around and I'm determined to find her a better physician and see if we can't get her up and running again...afterall...in some cases at least, a new love never completely erases a first love...and it will help me assuage my feelings of guilt to, at least, give it one more try.  Miracles can happen!
We performed a little surgery on Cranberry's big, more stable permanent sewing table, to accommodate Sophie Sapphire & her clear Lucite table.  I was able to think of plenty of other things to do with $2000+, than to replace a perfectly good sewing table.  The old familiar beast of a table was brought up from the Underground Stash Storage Facility and I've spent several hours over the past week reorganizing my little sewing space, moving design walls, cabinets and shelves to accommodate this additional large piece of furniture.  The little white switch on the lower right ensures that Miss Sophie won't have to be jiggled around to be turned off & on.  Love it!  I was the genius who thought that one up and my husband was the genius who had already purchased the little switchy cord from a clearance table some time ago!

So now we is one big happy family!  I've already put Sophie through her paces repairing a couple of rabbit fur pouches that a co-worker and his wife use with their Border Collies when they're out doing Agility courses on the weekends.  Those little rascals had tugged on the treat filled squeaky pouches so much that the bungee straps that lead to the handlers wrists had been torn out of the seams.  The seams are all now reinforced and re-reinforced and if they give way anytime soon...I'll be amazed!  Shooter Doxie got one whiff of the rabbit fur and treat residue and thought he should have one of these pouches too!  Not likely!  Although active, he's getting a bit aged & infirm to become an Agility Competitor now!
Soph's next job will be a simple, bright goofy little wallhanging that's been cut out for months, so we can get better acquainted before we get to work on the more serious stuff.

Falling In Love All Over Again!

Nancie Anne