new Brother

I have a few projects lined up for Christmas gifts and the kids' rooms- including some sewing. Last week, I made our quilt square for the Ryan family reunion, and as I was sewing on the outlined state of Pennsylvania, the stitches bunched like stockings. I had to rip them all out and hand-sew the thing. I have been needing to take the old Singer (once my mother's) to get it tuned, and yesterday, I finally got around to taking it in to really the only place I could find that would do such a thing-- to Gloria Horn's Sewing Studios. Never go there. I left in tears.

I thought all I would have to do was walk in and tell them that I needed to have my machine tuned. After waiting while holding the lead load for five minutes, one of the two women who worked there finally got around to acknowledging me, though they both clearly saw me walk in the door. I am very much a novice when it comes to sewing, and I could tell from the woman's confused expression I wasn't being nearly technical enough when explaining that I needed to have it "tuned." "But WHAT is it doing?" I really had no idea. And I was hoping that she would pick up on my hesitation ("The stitches are bunching?") and lack of knowledge and cut me some slack instead of hand me a script for stupidity. She never responded, just grabbed a piece of paper and started writing, hastily. She took my name and number, tore off the bottom form the paper and handed it back to me, saying, "It shouldn't be more than $59.95. If it is, he'll call you."

This didn't sound like the kind of money I wanted to spend on a machine that may be on its last leg anyway-- it's missing the entire top hinged piece (unnecessary to the function of it), the bobbin compartment cover keeps falling off, and other parts of it need to be replaced- like the part that the needle goes down into (I don't even know what it's called). Before going there, I had talked to Mike about maybe looking into a new or used machine, depending on how much tuning/a newer machine would cost, etc. Mine had just been giving me trouble for a while, and its age makes it next to impossible to seek solutions online when I need help (when my mother isn't here to reverse my sewing mistakes and incapabilities). After scanning some of the machines they had for sale, and thinking that I could get a much nicer one for not much more than a tune-up cost, I returned to the woman, who again seemed bothered that I had even entered through the door at Gloria Horn Stuuudios, and asked her if the man could call me before looking at my machine, as I wanted to look into possibly upgrading. She said, "Oh he won't get around to looking at it for another few weeks anyway." So nice of her to tell me that earlier. So much for Christmas gifts.

I saw on Gloria Horn's website that they do trade-ins and partial buy-backs, so I thought it didn't hurt to ask about it. She looked at my machine for one second and haughtily replied, "You wouldn't get anything for that." Then she actually snickered and reiterated her disdain-- "Nah." Why I kept talking to this unpleasant woman, I'll never know, but feeling a bit embarrassed, I tried to change my question, as if she hadn't understood me. "Well, not that I'd get anything, but I was just wondering if you take old machines. Anyway, thank you." I left quickly because I could feel the hot tears coming. And why I did not grab my machine off of the front desk, I will also never know. I never want to go back there again.

But there is a happy end to this story, and that is that this jazzy Brother is scheduled to arrive on my front porch on Tuesday. I can't wait to punch its shiny new buttons (its stitch selections are computerized). Thank you so much, Mike!