Hi Friends, Today I want to share a little story that involves caring for my embroidery machine and the question of should our embroidery machines be insured.
Last night, a big storm came through our area. We had a power surge due to a close lightening strike. (Just this past week my husband made the comment that perhaps we should invest in a heavy duty whole house surge protector). Y’all know I live out in the country and we have lots of tall trees surrounding our home. Lightening magnets.
About 30 minutes before, I told my husband I was going down the basement to unplug my embroidery machines. Both are plugged into surge protectors, but I know that if it is a direct lightening strike, even that won’t protect our electronics.
And then comes the storm
So the lightening strike was near our house and the power surge took out our air conditioner. Now before you feel bad for me, please don’t. Our air conditioner had made it 27 years and that is an unusually long time for the life of an air conditioner. In fact a couple of years ago we thought of replacing it but just ended up having it repaired. It was on its last leg and has served us well and we have known a replacement was in the near future. The lightening strike did no other damage.
So what this leads me to talk about is the value of our embroidery and sewing machines and things we need to consider. That lightening strike could have fried the electronics in my embroidery machines. I’ve been known to wake up in the middle of the night to thunder and make my way downstairs to unplug my embroidery machines, and unplug the computer too. When we leave home on an overnight trip, I try to remember and unplug my machines. However, sometimes I forget.
When I look about my house, my 10 needle is the single most expensive ‘home’ item we own. I know for a fact it is covered on our home insurance policy should something happen. But not all insurance policies are the same for high dollar items. It is possible you might need a rider policy for your embroidery machine. If you are using your embroidery machine for your business, is it still covered? That is another question you need to ask your insurance company. Home business items are sometimes covered differently. How is it covered? Does it include acts of God, vandalism, theft, fire, flood?
If you are renting, have you checked your renter’s insurance policy? Renter’s policies often ask for more specific details about your personal belongings in order for them to be covered.
Another story
At a sewing class I took, a lady was talking about her top-of-the-line sewing/embroidery machine. It was in her car while she was on her way to a previous sewing class. She had been in an auto accident and although she came out fine, her car and embroidery machine didn’t. Then, she couldn’t get either her home or auto insurance to cover the replacement of it. That was a heartbreaking loss for her.
Now I’m not saying this to scare any of you, but I am saying it to give you something to think about. Just make you truly know what is and isn’t included in your insurance policy. You don’t want something to happen to your machine and then find out it won’t be covered after all. Our machines are our babies and they bring us lots of joy as we stitch. And they are too dang expensive to let one crazy incident take them away from us.
Now, I’m enjoying my time down in the basement, where it is cool, even without air conditioning. And my embroidery machines are happily stitching as I type this. Also, hubby has ordered a super-duper whole house surge protector. We should have it in a few days.
If any of you have a related story to share, please do so in the comments. We can all learn from one another’s experiences.
Please know, in no way am I affiliated with this company or with Amazon. Also, I hesitate to give any recommendation as to how well it will work because I’m certainly not an expert in this area. What I can say is that my husband did his research and felt this one was best for our home and I trust his judgement with items of this nature. He is an electrical engineer and was able to install it for us this past weekend.
Also as a side note, I got a new air conditioner yesterday. 🙂
Think of all the fun things you can monogram. Think of all the LARGE things you can no monogram!
Be sure you get the Oversized and Regular sized letter O this week while it is available at the introductory price. The Oversized letter O fits the 6 x 10 hoop and larger while the Regular sized fits the 5 x 7 hoop and smaller.
I finished the garden flag I had been working on for my dear brother and Sister-in-law. I embroidered the design onto ogsnaburg fabric which you can find at the store located with the utility fabrics. Then I stitched on the ribbon stripes and finally backed it with duck cloth. When turned right side out I did a bit of topstitching around the edge as well. I didn’t use a pattern, just kind of winged the design myself using an existing garden flag for the approximate size. For the finishing touch I added a bow out of the same ribbon that was made the stripes. I think I need a bit of bow making practice. 🙂
This was the first one I made and have now made a couple more since using burlap which was fun to stitch on. In hindsight, I wish I would have bought some purple Kansas State wildcat fabric to create the monogram letter R. Maybe I will just have to make them another one next year.
The small font was built into my machine but the applique letter “R” is from 8 Claws and a Paw.
I’m happy to announce the debut of oversized machine embroidery monograms!
Now that I have a larger machine I am excited to try larger size digitizing and I’m starting with my script monograms.
Each letter is/will be offered individually in 3 sizes which require hoops larger than 5 x 7.
These oversized monograms will be perfect for items such a pillows, seat covers, grill covers, Christmas tree skirts, wall hangings and so much more.
Currently one letter is released at a time – approximately a new letter each week. As each new letter is released it will be offered for only $1.00 which will be %50 off the regular price.
Now for those of you whose hoop size is 5 x 7 or smaller, never fear. A regular size set of the same letter, again in 3 sizes is also available. As with the oversized set, this regular sized set is also offered at an introductory price of only $1.00.
These smaller sized monograms will look beautiful on items such as shirts, jackets and more!
Enjoy working with monograms friends. I’d love to hear what you enjoy stitching monograms on.
Since I’ve been back from Kansas I’ve spent a little time playing with my new embroidery machine. I also took a class on it yesterday. I’m still pinching myself each time I go into my sewing room. Dreams really do come true friends!
So in addition to the oversized monograms that I’ve been creating, I’ve also been just playing around and trying out the different features of the machine. Here what I did was combine a design with built in lettering and worked on lining it all up and centering it.
One of the things I’m doing is I’m making some garden flags as Christmas gifts. I’m doing the embroidery on burlap as that is so popular these days. I used a tear away stabilizer on the back. The large split letter is from 8 Claws and a Paw and the smaller letters are built into my embroidery machine.
Burlap appliques quite nice. In the top two photos, burlap was hooped.
Now this next design was stitched onto osnaburg fabric. You can find this fabric in with the utility fabrics at your local JoAnn’s. I LOVE osnaburg. It is a natural cotton and I use it in a lot of projects, particularly when I make rag quilts. Anyway, I learned something about my machine. Here I am using the 8 x 14 hoop. I have hooped the osnaburg as well as the tear away stabilizer. Osnaburg is lighter weight in comparison to the burlap. I just could not get a tight enough hooping that I had a problem with puckering. Next time I should try using the screw driver to tighten the hoop and also I think that with using the large hoop that it might be wise to use an adhesive to attach the fabric to the stabilizer.
There is a learning curve to this machine for sure!
What is on your embroidery machine these days? I’d love to hear!
What a fun, Fun, FUN week! The American Quilter’s Society held their convention right here in Grand Rapids, my back yard. Talk about an inspirational overload – in a good way 🙂 Fabric, Cool Tools, Patterns, Classes, and so much more.
Enjoy a few pictures I took and you will also see my new toy. It is my birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and anniversary gift for about the next 5 years. I’m so excited.
My favorite booth was The Whole Country Caboodle. Oh my gosh I wanted everything there! It was seriously a 10 on the cuteness factor.
They didn’t allow photography where the gallery of quilts were displayed, but this quilt was at the Gall Sewing and Vacuum booth and was the most adorable quilt there. I wish it was on a plain background so you could really sit the effect of it. It is actually suspended from the ceiling in the middle of their booth. The backgrounds of each photo on the film strip were printed on fabric and then embroidered with the Disney character. We are huge Disney fans. LOVE!
This was also the booth where I got my new toy. I’ve been looking at these machines for over 2 years now and I ended up purchasing the show floor model. It is brand new except for the use at the show so it has all the warranties plus they threw in lots of extras at the best price I have ever been quoted over these two years. Can you hear my squeal? I’m just super excited! Someone pinch me.
The American Quilter’s Society holds these conventions at various locations across the United States. If you ever get an opportunity to attend one, don’t pass it up. You won’t be disappointed.
