Sharp

When my interest in quilting surged a couple of months ago, I decided to move in a new direction.  Typically, I would concentrate on using materials I had on hand and so, typically, I made the first quilt from my stash of fabrics from Africa.  Then I went to the fabric store and bought all new fabric, half yard cuts of prints that appealed to me.  I ordered a layer cake online and a couple of yards of the same line.  I bought new blades for the rotary cutter, new needles for the machine, a new seam ripper and new pins.  Sharp is nice!  I had what I needed but I've been using the same tools for twenty (okay - thirty) years. 

And all these years, I have been using my mom's old Singer Slant-O-Matic.  It is a fine machine but the tension would drop spontaneously and I had to push on the bobbin winder to get it to go.  I took the old girl into a local service center and the repairs were made in a couple of days. 

I claim to be unsentimental but my sewing skills came from my mother and having her Singer has been a lifelong connection to her.  She moved in April from Assisted Living to Memory Care and the Bernina 1130 that had sat in her closet unused for three years came home with me.  She would want me to have it.  I stuck it in a cupboard for six weeks.  It took some time before I was ready to even look at it.  Now, cleaned and serviced, the Bernina is ready and I, sentimental, will sew away on my mom's machine.