27 Million Stitches

 Modern sewing machines are kind of fun, in that we know when we hit certain milestones, whereas vintage machines are a bit of a mystery. I'm getting all my machines serviced before DH retires, and right now my original Bernina 440 is in the shop. I knew my 440 was really high mileage, which is why I recently purchased a new-to-me 440 that only has 26 sew hours on it. My original 440 has almost 800 hours of sewing time on it. 

The repairman just called me, to ask whether I really wanted it repaired because of how much use it has had. He said I've sewn 27 million stitches on it. He said he's never serviced such a high use machine, even the embroidery machines he services usually have far less. Up until now the highest he's seen on any machine is 24 million stitches. Now, when I say have it repaired, you need to realize I sewed with it the day I dropped it off, it was still sewing just fine, I was just dealing with some top thread breakage. 

He said the reason I was having some top thread breakage is because the timing was slightly off, because I had worn the timing gear teeth off! Now, these are not plastic or nylon gears, these are solid metal gears! When he told me the price of the new gears, I did pause a minute, but I ran upstairs to ask DH about it. He asked me if I could find another used 440 for the cost of the repair, and the answer was an easy no. I paid twice the cost of servicing and repairing my old 440 for the one I bought used, and that was one the cheapest I had ever seen used. We decided to go ahead and have the new gears installed, and since my plan all along was to make my high mileage Bernina into my backup/travel machine, and use the low use one for regular use. I think my old one will last a lot longer now that it won't be my main machine, and it's still less money than I would have paid for a travel machine I would be happy with. I tried buying a cheaper machine for travel and I hated it, everything on it felt so flimsy. I returned that machine, and that's when I started looking for a used Bernina.

It's funny to think about one of my machines having so much use on it. For a little while, I was only using that Bernina, but it didn't take long after I bought it, before I dove into the world of vintage machines. I do well over half of my piecing on vintage machines. Since 2020, I've done all of my FMQ and binding on my Janome M7. How many stitches would that Bernina have on it if I wasn't also using other machines? Some things I only do on the Bernina. All garment sewing and applique I do on the Bernina. Now that I think about it, I only use my Janome for FMQ and binding. I only use my vintage machines for piecing. Any other sewing I do is on the Bernina. Bag making? Bernina. Make a pillowcase? Bernina. Luggage tags? Bernina. I sometimes go weeks without using the Bernina, but when I'm using it, I'm often batch sewing, so the stitches add up quickly. I've got several things I'll be making for Christmas, and almost all of it will be done on a Bernina. 

Besides running up a repair bill, I did do several other things this week! 

I finished another set of twin quilts! The pattern is Twirling at the Disco, though I resized it to use 2" cut squares instead of the 2.5" cut squares the pattern calls for. All of the small squares are solids, and even though the black background looks solid in the photo, it is actually a blender fabric with a bit of texture to it. These are finishes #31 and #32 for the year. I started quilting the next quilt, but it's the last of the smaller quilts I have basted so the finishes will slow down for a bit. I've already reclaimed almost 2 jars of basting pins! 

I've got two of the grands this week, so not much sewing going on. I have been working away on cutting up scraps though. I'm working on those in the living room, so I can still be readily available while I'm working. 

I've got the autumn colored scraps cut into a quilt kit. The entire quilt will be scraps, because between all the cream colored scraps,  I had enough to make the background pieces for the applique blocks.

I think it likely I'll have to go into my Scrap User system for some more blue strips, but I've got most of a quilt cut. Someone had given me muslin scraps from a wideback, and if I use some poverty piecing techniques, I'll have just enough of the muslin to do all of the background I need. I'll never run out of blue fabrics, so I more concentrated on cutting the larger blue pieces I need for this quilt, knowing I have plenty of 2.5" strips already available for use. You can see I have plenty of blue strips cut from this batch of scraps too, I'm just not sure it's enough variety-wise. 

The red and white prints are cut into a quilt kit as well. I cut all the excess into 2.5 and 3.5" strips, which I could use in a border, or for anther quilt, I haven't decided. The whites I needed were a mix of the new scraps and strips from my Scrap User System. My goal for these quilt kits was to use only scraps for the quilts, and not to cut into any yardage. 

I've made such good progress on the scraps, that I'm cutting up the scraps I hadn't divided into colorways, and I'll just be adding those into my Scrap User System. I'm hoping I still have some scrap interest left after processing all the the scraps that were given to me, so maybe I can cut up the scraps from my own overflowing bin. Most of my own current scraps are leftovers from widebacks, and some of those I have enough of to sash or border another quilt. I'm feeling quite happy with my scrap progress, and knowing those scraps that were given to me will be put into use so soon is a good feeling. 

Oh, in case you are wondering what I do with all these quilts I'm finishing, I've donated 22 quilts to Project Linus this month, with the latest two destined to go there too!