BSR Blast!

That was the name of the class I took last Wednesday at the closest Bernina dealer. Closest being a relative term and all. For some reason I didn't sleep well the night before the class and the thought of a 1.5 hour drive down and back was not appealing to me when I got out of bed in the morning. I had been looking forward to the day, taking the class, shopping at Costco, going to find something to wear to the wedding, going to JoAnn's to get some Warm & White. I knew I was going to be driving home pretty late in the day by the time I got all that done. It is a long, monotonous and dangerous drive when you are alert. My hubby had the day off and was still in bed and I asked him if he wanted to go with me. He said well if you want me to drive you I will. Awwwwwwwwww. We were on the road about 20 minutes later. We had such a great day together, we talked all the way down and even had some time to sit and pray together before I went in for the class. To save time I gave him the Costco list, the JoAnn's list with explicit directions on where the batting is in the store and handed over the most important coupon.

There were six students in the BSR class which was being taught by the Bernina expert/certified technician. First of all, she talks way too fast. I realize when someone is familiar with everything on the machine they might assume everyone else is up to speed with them. I just felt there was not time to listen to her instructions, write down notes and look at the machine and samples at the same time. I asked her to repeat a few things and she did, but she gave me a funny look each time. I know I was not the only one that she was leaving in the dust but no one else spoke up. She kept urging us to come take more classes and such. Yeah I would do that if it was not a 3 hour round trip!

This is the baby we were all interested in using;


I think 4 or 5 in the class were classified as BSR virgins, but that didn't slow her down at all. She gave us quilt sandwiches made with muslin and instructed us to make some different patterns on it. Every single BSR in the class was making these HUGE skipped stitches. The teacher was flabbergasted! She had us change settings, no difference. She decided it was the cheap muslin that was the problem and then encouraged everyone to use the fabric we brought. My machine was still skipping. She sat at my machine and tried this and that. To tell you the truth I was so glad that it was doing this for her! At least I knew it wasn't operator error now. She sent me over to her machine to practice making free motion roses while she helped some others and fiddled with my machine. I think the class finished although no one made the project because we all ended up using our fabric for the practicing! That was fine with me because I didn't want a tea cozy anyway. It was determined ahead of time that we would have to finish the project at home but there was no instruction for that at all, just a little piece of paper handed out. The instructor then took my machine to the back room and updated the BSR. She said it showed ZERO hours. Huh, wonder what happened to the 5 hours that I stippled on my quilt along quilt. She said my machine had 20 hours of sewing (in a year's time???) and 200 hours of stand-by time. That just blew me away. I don't even see how that is possible. I don't leave my machine on or plugged in even if I leave the room (read back to last August and the lightning strike story if you need to ;) )so just the time it is on while getting ready to sew or jumping over to iron seams - 200 hours??

After she updated the BSR it worked perfectly. So right there, that was worth the trip and the price of the class. What I didn't understand is why it would not work to the standard of an UN-updated BSR. It was basically new out of the box. Makes no sense to me. I gave this information so that anyone having trouble using their BSR might see if it is due for an update. I wouldn't let this information discourage you from getting a BSR, I know that if they are working properly they are a pretty amazing little tool. I can't wait to get some time to play with mine again and try some of the free motion techniques we practiced.

Before I left the classroom I got to chatting with the lady across from me. Turns out she taught at the same elementary school I attended from K-5th grade! She was just starting there as a 1st grade teacher when I was in the 5th grade. I had to ask her about my favorite teacher of all time - Mr. Peterson. Of course she knew him and she said if she could find out anything about him she would email me. Who would have thought I would meet a teacher from southern CA in a quilting class in north Idaho close to 42 years later!

Hubby and I backtracked to Costco to have lunch. I'm a cheap date, what can I say, and I LOVE hot dogs! Then we stopped at the mall and I found a dress to wear to the wedding and a couple of tops. We chatted all the way home and had a lovely day together (even if JoAnn's was out of Warm & White).

Praise - I thank God for giving me the hubby that He did. I'm so thankful that we both became believers at the same time and that we have so many memories to share.

Prayers - For our time with family this coming weekend. That we would be good witnesses to those around us. That our words and actions would point to Christ.