Murgatroid’s big adventure!

Murgatroid went to the vet……….er……..shop yesterday for a (probably long overdue) going over. It has been 3.5 years since my Gammill quilting machine came into my life and we have worked hard together. Either I or Maris usually handles any maint. chores or minor issues that come up, but in the last few months little things have been happening that we have not been able to settle ourselves in a satisfactory manner. So it was time to grit my teeth and take Murg off the table and drag her to the car for a check-up.

The local Gammill dealer is Accomplish Quilting in Stevensville (MI) about 1.5 hours away. I did not buy my machine from them as  bought it from a private party used, but they have been terrific about helping me maintain my machine. Josh, the truly adorable mechanic came to the house and installed my Edgerider wheels last fall.

So when I called early Monday morning and said I would like to bring Murg in for a check up and I had a short list if issues they got me in for Thursday and I could wait for it. Cool! Only one trip and one down day!

Thankfully my dear husband is home and was able to help me get my machine off the table and into the car. And yes, she wore her seatbelt all the way there and home. We drove down on a beautiful day (Stevensville is close to St Joseph and Lake Michigan) planning to drop off the machine and spend part of the day exploring St Joe and the beach, but when we got there we ran into another LAer friend and ended up visiting with her and her husband the whole time. We even went to lunch together!

I am happy to report no major repair work needed to be done. All of my little issues were addressed (even some I didn’t know I had!!) Josh was a PRINCE and very patient with my questions and Maris’ kibitzing.

We got a great demo on the Statler Stitcher while we were there. (no, no plans for adding a statler to my machine although I did threaten to buy a whole system and put Maris to work) It was fun to see what it could (and couldn’t) do. I can seriously see good applications for this machine. If I was booked out in my schedule as some of my friends are it would be worth considering another machine with a Statler to do all-overs while I work on my machine……….Ha-ha! I don’t have room for another machine!

And the best part was I got out of there for less than $200! Although, if I had been thinking I would have made a thread list before I left. Then it certainly would be MORE than $200………….

I put the machine through it’s paces on a practice piece this morning and it stitched and ran beautifully!! If Murg was a cat she would be purring. I loaded the next top in line and went to work!

I wish I had thought to bring my camera. Murg looked pretty funny seatbelted in my backseat……….

Reading: Started my annual Harry Potter re-read. Got Idiot’s Guide to Your Carbon Footprint from the library to see what else we can do to lessen our share of the problem.

Watching: Tinman on DVD an up-dated OZ story. Not great, but interesting.