Marginally less incompetent

I began the day with a determination to move forward and get to grips with a simple project I’d seen in one of the Bernina publications, issue #19 of Through the Needle.  It was a straightforward looking project using the software and though it was based on an earlier version, I thought it’d be fairly easy to follow on version 7, too.  But before I did anything else on my computer, I had to do as we all do – check my email!

I found a lovely surprise there in the form of a Bernina Embroidery file from my guru Ros.  I kept everything crossed as I opened the software and loaded the stitch she sent me.

Ros had created a test design using one of the Bernina tassel stitches for me to play with and so, with a clear purpose in mind, I set about stitching it out.  First though, I had to transfer it to my machine on a USB stick.  Simple!

Sadly not!  For some reason, my machine didn’t see the design.  Though I’d loaded two stitches on the stick – a freebie from Bernina for registering the software and the stitch Ros sent me, only the Bernina pattern showed up.  I tried saving in a different file format, to an earlier version, moving to and fro from computer to sewing machine and getting more and more frustrated.  What was going on? 

Eventually, I spotted a format/file extension I’d not noticed before – .exp “Bernina USB stick” (I know…) and thankfully, this was the one.  In no time at all, I’d stitched out the pattern Ros sent me in a couple of different threads.

Cute isn’t it?

Quite good in a variegated thread as well, though I’d need to tweak those stitching marks in the fabric if I were to use it on a project, I think.  Still, I was away, on a roll!

Now to tackle the software.  I had no problem opening a new file and following the steps given in the magazine article to create this design and now I’d sussed the USB bit as well, it was soon on my machine.

After another false start involving several broken threads (well, self inflicted…I should know better than to use Natesh threads without using every trick in the book to make it behave, shouldn’t I?)  I returned to the Robison Anton I had been using and sat back and watched my first masterpiece develop.

I was pretty pleased with that, I’ll admit and felt that I ended the day feeling a little less incompetent than I started.

When I went to open a new file, however:

Another day, another challenge!

One small step

Before I loaded the software and began fiddling about with that, I thought that I would explore the potential of the on-board toolbox.  After all, there’s no point in making something more complicated than it need be, is there?  I watched the YouTube video first and worked out the process so that I might manage without stop-starting the tutorial.  Sure enough, in no time at all, I’d created a pleasing motif.

Or is it?

As it stitched out, I wondered what I’d done to make the machine begin to stitch each motif at A, finish at B and then travel to C to begin the next one.  Why didn’t it take the simpler, shorter route and work anticlockwise around the circle? * (I’ve had further thoughts on that – see below)

To get the process established in my head I repeated the exercise once or twice more, discovering that the same process occurred with the first two circles I stitched.  Strangely, without my fiddling about with any of the other options, after each of the leaf shapes on that outer circle, the machine secured and cut the thread before moving on to the next one.  Hmmm.  I wonder why?

So, one step forward from the “unconscious incompetence” (aka ignorance is bliss!) into the “conscious incompetence” zone.  Things are not quite as simple as they first appeared and the more I learn, the more I realise there is to learn.  But I’m not giving up, I’m going to load the software because the answer may well lie therein.

But after two hours of loading the software, downloading and installing an update, uninstalling and then repeating the whole process once again it to try to coax the Corel part of the program to play nicely, I called on my hero for some technical support.  He had the answer and was able to sort it for now, but this morning, when I tried to follow a simple project tutorial, it crashed and won’t now reopen.

I’m glad it didn’t cost me almost a thousand pounds to remind me how consciously incompetent I am.  However, this blog post can still be filed under “fun”…

*  I wonder if that pattern is better stitched out like that, with the long space thread to cut? If it were worked from A to B in an anticlockwise direction, there’d still be a thread to cut, but it would be a shorter one and therefore more tricky to snip.  Hmmm?

30 000 stitches and counting

Of course, I couldn’t wait to open the boxes and as soon as I’d tied up all the loose ends from Friday’s judging, written one or two letters, changed the beds and hung the washing on the line, I was free to play.  Is it our upbringing that means we can’t allow ourselves to play until the work is done?

Anyway, the small box was the easy part.  Inside was the new DesignerPlus software 7 – a really great gift from Bernina, thank you!  (Have you seen the price?!)  I put it on one side for later!

Opening the big box revealed an assortment of hoops, a box of embroidery needles, foot 26, a USB cable and a box of stabiliser samples.

 

Underneath was the real deal – the embroidery module.

For my non-sewing friends, this is the bit which fits on the side of the machine and holds the hoop in place.  It’s pretty large and rather heavy and increases the length of the machine set up to about a metre.  My sewing table is now pretty full and is going to need a little rethink!

Anyway, I’d already watched the YouTube videos and for this first go, I thought I’d just follow them step by step.  It was great having my old ipad at my side so I could watch and go over tricky parts once again, such as the additional step needed when threading the bobbin.  Though Frank had explained it to me and walked me through it step by step, it was over a week ago and I’ve had a few sleeps since then.

I was happy with the results and delighted to be able to leave it stitching away.  It’s quite noisy; possibly because the table is not 100% stable, but I like the stitch countdown and the timer which shows how long until the next thread change or whatever.  I didn’t need to babysit it at all.

And then I changed thread.  The machine really didn’t like the different (unknown) brand of pale blue I threaded up and it broke twice within a short space of time.  I wasn't ready for a fight at this stage; wasn’t ready to employ all the tricks we use to coax a difficult thread to behave itself, so simply unthreaded and got another reel of the brand I’d been using successfully so far.

Except that the pale blue thread broke as I tried to pull it through.  Even though I was doing as recommended, and pulling it through from the spool, it snapped and the piece of thread was somewhere in the machine.

Oooer!  Time to get out the book.

Time to get out the toolkit too!  I can’t say that taking the front off my brand new shiny “sewing computer” was exactly what I wanted to do, but sure enough, there was the thread.  Not that it was going to come out easily, though.

Gently gently, hoping that it wasn’t going to break again, leaving some bit left inside, I held my breath as it gradually came unstuck and came free.  Phew!

So, the colours are wrong – I didn’t have the right colours to hand and as this was only a practice, I wasn’t too worried.  I’m not sure I intended it to be a stripy flower, though!  But for a first go, I was fine.  18 000 stitches on the clock, a couple of thread breaks mid-stitch which meant I had to navigate the pattern and retrace my steps to start again and of course, the major thread retrieval.  I felt I’d achieved my objectives for the morning.

So, whilst on a roll, I did another 15 000-odd stitches and stitched out another of the designs on the menu.  Thank you, Switzerland!

Lucky girl

I count my blessings frequently.

 

I think I’m lucky that my work takes me to some fascinating places.

Places where the equipment storage is rather larger than usual.

But then the equipment they’re using is pretty huge too!  I know of one boy who would have been so excited to have seen this enormous tractor.  I don’t think the youngsters learning to drive a tractor for the first time get to use this vehicle, though, do you?

Mind you, I have a new and rather huge “vehicle” of sorts to drive myself today.  But first, I need to unpack it.

There.  Know what it is yet?  I have several friends who will be as excited as I am at this point, so I won’t hang around any more, but will dive right in.

Hmm.  Well, it’s a big box for a few reels of cotton, that’s for sure.  I’ll go down another layer and see what’s underneath.

A knee lift lever and the first of two CDroms are on a shallow layer which is removed to reveal some rather larger things.

There are a couple of boxes of feet and things which I’ll explore later.

I recognise this as the box to keep them all in.

But this?

I have no idea.

There’s another box to open on the next layer.

Bedtime reading!

Oh.  Is that it?  Surely not.

No.  Underneath is what we’ve been waiting for.

Tucked in, with a carrying bag alongside, there it is!

My new “sewing computer” as it’s referred to in the manual.

It’s a little bigger than the one I’ve just packed away!

and I’ve not finished unpacking yet.  I must be careful not to miss anything, like that little package stuck into the packing material.

It’s the buttonhole foot.  A good job that one didn’t escape my notice.

And there, tucked away in one of the side pieces is another essential part.

I really couldn’t have done without the foot pedal.

Last but not least, there’s a polystyrene box wedged in under the arm of the machine.

It’s the thread holder.

Is that it?  Right now, there seems to be more packaging than machine.

Perhaps you’ll excuse me then, if I go away and have a closer look at some of these bits and pieces?  Incidentally, this is merely the “sewing” part and there is more to come.

Watch this space!

From the Presidential Suite

We joke from time to time about our stay in Rapid City, where we checked into the Hampton Garden Inn so late that the only room left was the “Presidential Suite”.  This evening, checking into the Hampton Inn, Columbus, we made our way to our room and found the nameplate “Presidential Suite” by the door!  Lo and behold, our suite is e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s and we could have a party in the shower!  But what gives the game away is that Mary’s room is immediately beneath ours and, guess what?  There’s a nameplate by her door that states “Presidential Suite” as well.  I suppose “Vice President Suite”  wouldn’t give the right impression   Still, it’s good to know that when the Obamas are in town, the Hampton Inn is ready and waiting for them.

We set out from Cleveland heading for Columbus this morning, driving through endless suburbs and wondering when, if ever, we were going to reach the open green Ohio landscape we imagined.

Eventually, there it was, but it took some finding and it didn’t last long.  Once again, we stuck with the ordinary roads, keeping off the interstate and looking for interest in the small towns and villages along the way.  We drove through more Amish communities, past a few Mennonite homes with bible passages by the front gate and bonneted women tending the vegetable patch.

But we were never far away from industry and of course, there’s a fair bit of agribusiness to support all those farms too.  That bit wasn’t so pretty.

So we focused on the parts we liked!

Soon we were in Central Ohio, right bang slap in the middle when we passed through Centerburg, in fact.  Not far to Columbus now, and a rather different destination than we’d usually include on a road trip.  But recently, I’ve been a woman on a mission – to buy a new sewing machine – and I had some research I wanted to do.

Beth’s Creative Stitchery is the kind of place I wish was just down the road from me at home.  Sadly, it isn’t, so arriving unannounced this afternoon, how lucky I was that not only was the machine right there in the store, but Sharon was also there, ready and able to answer all my questions.  I was able to sit and try the machine, to explore the controls and to ask as many questions as I could think of.

Oh my goodness, I wanted to pack it up and bring it home with me!  Sadly, I’ll have to wait; to save up even and make one or two decisions once I’m home.  I wish I could bring Sharon home too, though!

With a couple of hours left this afternoon, there was time to squeeze in a visit to the Ohio Statehouse, downtown Columbus.  We found a parking space in the underground car park and took the lift straight up to the basement entrance.

A series of lifts and staircases made what ought to have been a simple self guided tour very challenging!

Still, we saw the Senate House – nothing happening there this afternoon, sadly.

The House of Representatives was quiet too.

I wonder which Congressman chooses to have a model of Superman on his desk?  This was the only personal item in the room- every other desk was identical, impersonal.

The public areas were elegant if sparsely furnished, with virtually no artwork on the walls at all beyond a couple of large oil paintings in the lobby.

The dome featured a stained glass roundel identical to that in the museum.  There was also something strange about that dome which was only revealed later.

That same stained glass panel is here – about six feet in diameter, it was hard to imagine that small central dot so high above us featured all that detail!

Even stranger was, as we drove past on our way to the hotel, we saw that there was no dome at all!  Isn’t that odd?

This evening, we’ve been out to supper and enjoyed two Columbus recommendations: Betty’s and Jenis Splendid Ice Cream.  All three of us are sitting here feeling utterly stuffed!