Topsy-Turvy

I love this quilt. Now that it's finished. As previously noted, using 1.5" strips produces a wonderful visual effect alongside a harried mind. Luckily I had more strips than necessary so the blocks that didn't quite fit together made their way to the recycling trash bin without too much worry or pain. I thought about making some "not-quite-perfect" coasters but I realized they made my eyes hurt. So I spared my eyes at the cost of a touch of fabric. In a few cases, I ripped out the seams to use the scraps in the border. Recycling thus occurred, and my green sensibilities felt better.

I just love looking at the quilt, with the deep chocolate brown and Arcadia prints twisting and turning all over. As you can see, I opted for a mix of straight line quilting, along the diagonals and along the vertical seams (which look diagonal in the picture above).

The back shows off the quilting well. It has two rows of Arcadia charm squares amidst a cocoa sea. The quilt crinkled up really well in the dryer, and it should have arrived in Stamford, CT today. I should have mailed this about a month ago, at which point it was still 6 or so weeks late. Late only if one believes in giving baby gifts that coincide with an actual birth which, for me, is more of an aspiration than a reality. As a friend reminded me, however, no kid is going to outgrow a quilt in a few weeks or even a few months. It should take Ezra Noam -- a name I really like, by the by -- at least a few years.

{Warning: Unintended Post Office tangent ahead. Read at your own risk.}

My new local post office did not extend a welcoming hand when I went to mail the quilt this week. I am well aware that the USPS faces severe deficits, and I really try to support the postal service. I think, on the whole, it does pretty well. But let me suggest that persnickety enforcement of "rules" does not help increase business. I packed the quilt in a flat-rate envelope. I fully admit that stuffing a quilt into said envelope makes it thick. But I could close the envelope on its own and didn't even add tape as I often do. The postal worker deemed it "manipulated" and thus unfit for the flat-rate because it was thicker than 1/2".

Yet the postal service website says, "When sealing a Flat Rate Box or Flat Rate Envelope, the container flaps must be able to close within the normal folds. Tape may be applied to the flaps and seams to reinforce the container; provided the design of the container is not enlarged by opening the sides and the container is not reconstructed in any way." I should have taken a picture, but this envelope was "closed with the normal folds," not "enlarged by opening the side." and was not reconstructed in any way. Moreover, I've sent many a package like this before with no trouble whatsoever. And had I paid for the mailing online or at a self-service kiosk, it wouldn't have been an issue.

What bothers me most about this situation is not that the worker made an assessment or cited a rule, but that the assessment and citation didn't actually flow from the most-available posting of the policy. If there is a new rule in place that says FREs can only be 1/2" thick -- which would be a terrible rule, in my opinion -- then that rule ought to be on the website for all to see. But it's not.

To wit, I'm well aware I am not the only person who has faced this problem. I've heard that some small fabric businesses are facing this as well -- a good fabric shop can fit 7-8 yards in a flat-rate envelope and still close it. It's thick, but it's closed. But some post offices are refusing these packages and applying an arbitrary-in-that-it's-not-posted-publicly policy of 1/2" (or so) thickness only. And I'll spare you my consternation with the obnoxious enforcement of the post office's "all credit cards must be signed" (that is, no "check ID" allowed) policy.

I didn't mean to use this post to vent, but I did. I will end with this point: blaming my packages for the postal service deficit is not exactly going to endear me to the USPS, though I will continue to use the postal service because I believe in the importance of a postal system that is accessible to all, no matter where one lives. But perhaps the Postmaster General would like to clarify the FRE thickness issue -- and I suggest adhering to the "if it can be closed, it counts" method.

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My Saturday Evening Companion

My new sewing machine arrived earlier this week. Once I made a decision about what to get, I thought the hard part was over. But ordering a sewing machine is, it turns out, a complicated affair. First, the sewing machine industry may as well be run by the mob, given the racket companies insist on maintaining. From what I can glean, the major sewing machine manufacturers do their best to suppress information by requiring their retailers to keep prices off the web and limiting markets such that retailers can only sell to people within a certain geographic realm. A lot of retailers only carry 1-2 brands and don't necessarily have a full selection, thus limiting options as well. For example, I stopped by a local Bernina dealer and the very nice saleswoman informed me that she only carried machines under $300 or over $850. And then only some of the models. While I've heard fantastic stories about strong relationships between sewers and their local dealers, I wasn't getting that vibe in my area. And I move around, so even the best local dealer is not going to be able to help me when I'm 1000 miles away.

While I'm sure there are magical dealers out there somewhere that stock all brands and machines in every price range, that seemed not to be the case in my area. I thus moved online, where the sewing-machine-mafia continues to enforce its will. Internet dealers seem to carry more brands but often not the most recent models. For my needs, that was just fine.

I ordered a Janome MC4400 from Sew Vac Direct. Or tried to. As you may be able to see above, my machine is not a 4400 as they were sold out (but still available to order). I received an email from them that included a link to the MC5200. I didn't realize that I was supposed to tell them that this would be a suitable replacement until I called. And I called because they told me that I needed to add my shipping address (where I'm currently living) to my credit card (which goes to my home address where I'm not currently living). I didn't want to do this.

From Sew Vac Direct's perspective, this request centered on preventing fraud. From my perspective, this was absurd: do you add an address to your credit card account every time you send a gift from an online retailer? Moreover, when it comes to credit card companies, I believe in keeping everything as straightforward as possible; otherwise, bills will inevitably be sent to the wrong address (even if you usually get them online) and somehow payments won't be recorded and the interest rate will skyrocket and your credit score will plummet (even if you pay your bills in full online every month). It's just the way of life with credit cards: if their is an opportunity to mess with you, they will, so do everything to avoid it.

Several phone conversations later, Sew Vac Direct agreed to send the machine to my parents' house because they could confirm -- online -- that they lived there, which apparently they couldn't do for my brother's address. There are substantive issues with fraud-prevention that assumes what kind of information can be gleaned or confirmed online: it doesn't surprise me that my parents are linked to their single-family-home-in-the-suburbs-in-which-they've-lived-for-30-years address while my brother is not tied to his apartment-in-the-city address. I recognize that fraud prevention is especially important for small, internet-based companies that sell goods valued in the hundreds of dollars, but there must be better methods than those that (unintentionally, I think) discriminate by housing type and location.

In any event, despite my frustration with the ordering process, I actually think Sew Vac Direct is a great company from whom to order. First, they did respond to my emails and notes in the order form. Second, when I called them, I talked to real people and real people who could get things done. Nothing is more frustrating than calling and talking to robots (which was my experience with those devils at Comcast earlier this week, but I digress). Their employees were responsive and ultimately made this order happen. Third, they answered my questions about the MC5200 and sent me, gratis, 2 extra feet that didn't come with the machine but I wanted. Therefore, in the end, I would recommend buying from them, and I share my earlier frustrations to be informative and suggest, publicly, that there are better fraud-prevention mechanisms out there.

I'm now spending a good amount of time with the manual and the machine. Indeed, it was a lovely Saturday evening of getting to know you -- figuring out how you work, determining what makes you zing (or wince), and how to use all sorts of features I'd only heard about before. After all this, I think my machine needs a name. Any suggestions?

Thus far, some of my favorite features are the needle up/down programming (not shown here), the window onto the bobbin (so helpful to know if it's going to run out soon), and all those amazing markings to identify seam allowances and distances for quilting (at least that's what I'll use it for!). More updates soon!

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