I Ordered a Machine

I had my choice of industrial machines narrowed down to two brands: A Juki 1181 or 1541 and a Consew 206RB. The Juki 1541s are popular with bagmakers and Jukis are good, solid machines. My industrial serger is a Juki. The older Consews are fairly sought after but hard to find. I messaged my friend Cristina, who makes bags and bag patterns under her label Bumbleroot Design, and asked her opinion. I know she has an older Consew 206RB and loves it. (She also has a Necchi industrial just like mine.) She said that if the decision came down to a new Juki versus a new Consew, though, she’d choose the Juki. That was the direction I was leaning and it was good to have that confirmation.

We have a Juki dealer here but he’s a slimy operator with dirty sales techniques. I won’t patronize his business, so thank you, Melissa, for the Juki Junkies recommendation. I phoned them yesterday and had a lovely conversation with Boki. (Once I decide to pull the trigger, I don’t waste time.) She asked a lot of questions about what I wanted to sew, which I appreciated because I wanted to know if the Juki 1181 would be a better fit. Ultimately, I decided to go with the more powerful 1541. (Photo from their website.)

Boki placed the order for me and got me set up with extra needles and bobbins. I added the needle positioner option because I have automatic needle up/down on both my Janome sewing machine and my Bernina serger and I like that feature.

The machine will ship from New Jersey. It comes with the table fully assembled. I expect it will arrive within the next two weeks and then I can get started on the list of things the husband wants me to make, LOL.

I am now a Juki Junkies fan—they offer great service and that is hard to find these days. I also joined the Facebook group.

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I got my summer tires put on yesterday morning. Even though I was on the list, I had to wait two hours. I don’t mind the down time. The tire place has a nice seating area, so I just take a book and some knitting with me and the time passes quickly.

When I got home, there was a message on the answering machine from the copier tech. He wanted to stop by and look at my copier. (I noted that it was Tuesday, not Monday, but whatever.) I called him back and said he could show up anytime. About an hour later, a young guy pulled into the driveway. He cleaned and inspected the machine, which probably was built when he was in kindergarten. He told me he had never worked on a machine that old. He agreed that the fuser should be replaced, but then launched into a song and dance about how it would be better for me to buy a new copier.

I don’t want a new copier. I like the one I have, and besides, I would rather put the money into fixing something that was built to last more than five years. He promised to give me some options once he got back to the office. For now, the machine is working again.

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I’ve got the to-do list down to just a couple of items. It has been raining since yesterday afternoon and that will keep me in the house for a bit. I have some homestead foundation website and publicity work to do this morning followed by an alteration/repair job. The repair is not complicated, but I need to look at it closely and decide how best to proceed. If the rain lets up and it isn’t too soggy, I’d like to plant peas this afternoon; otherwise, that will happen tomorrow. I repotted more tomatoes yesterday afternoon.

I woke up around midnight and the husband still hadn’t come to bed. That usually means he is focused on some project out in his shop. We have had Sarah’s Volvo here since Saturday night. He has been doing routine maintenance on it and replacing worn parts, but one of the parts he thought he needed turned out to be for a different model. I sent that one back Monday and the correct part came yesterday, so he stayed up to finish the job. If he ever decides to stop doing concrete and work on cars instead, I suspect I will have to get used to him keeping odd hours. He is most definitely a night owl.