April 2010 - Page 2 of 2 - Ruffing’s Artist Dolls and Toys

Posted on April 22, 2010January 9, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Return of the Platinum 775

I made a great discovery yesterday. I unscrewed my presser foot ankle from my Viking Sarah sewing machine, and screwed it onto my new Kenmore 19233…and it fit! That means I can use all those Viking presser feet I’ve collected, on the Kenmore, which is a relief, since I’ve invested a lot in presser feet so far. And who wants to have two sets of everything anyway? Update: I also found out you can buy a spare Viking Accessory Ankle , if you want to leave your Viking ankle on your original machine.

Well, guess who came home today? My Viking Platinum 775, which has been MIA for almost six months now, showed up with the UPS man. I couldn’t help making a mental note of the “Keeping the World Sewing” logo on the side of the box. That hasn’t quite been my experience with it.

I was afraid to open the box, feeling sure there was going to still be something on it that didn’t work, after coming back from the second repairman, who is also the original seller, all the way from California. I turned it on, and it did a few basic stitches, sewing forwards instead of backwards, like it is supposed to. It had been sewing everything backwards before. Then I selected some more intricate, decorative stitches, and it still sewed the same few basic stitches! No decorative anything. No alphabet. The needle up/down button was still broken too. I wanted to cry.

I came back later, after typing a draft of a letter I thought I’d send but didn’t, and miraculously, it was willing to sew all the stitches on its menu. Perhaps it needed to warm up first. I stitched a sampler and it did fine. The needle up/down button was still broken, and the grit behind the panel was still there, things that I noticed after it came back from the first repairman.

The buttons and the panel had not been replaced, as the first repairman had told me they needed to be. Yet, here is the machine, sewing with those original parts. I did have to wait another 2 1/2 months for a different part to come from Viking though.

I’m not sure what to do about the remaining repairs that need to be done. I think the second repairman may have just missed my note about the additional repairs, since I had to write a second time in regard to them, after I got the machine back from the first repairman. But, I would have to ship the machine back to California for him to fix those things. I have no one I trust to go to here in North Carolina. I have to say, I’ve had a problem with everyone I contacted so far who is officially connected with the Viking company. Each of those people made insinuations about the seller of the machine, saying he must be doing something underhanded, but really, he’s been honorable so far, as far as I can tell. And he didn’t charge me anything. He honored his own warranty, even though the Viking company would not honor the warranty on their machine. I just had to pay to ship the machine to him.

On a brighter note, I made this red fleece “Hug Me! Slug” with my new Kenmore sewing machine. He’s on his way to the west coast to cheer up someone who has lost a dear friend. It’s nice to have a project to do that means something to someone else. That makes me feel good. I hope the new sewing machine and I will be great friends.

Posted on April 21, 2010January 9, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing — 5 Comments

My food and sewing revolution

After watching a Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I decided that this was the year I was finally going to get around to planting at least one fruit tree, some berry bushes, and a vegetable garden. I’ve meant to do this for about ten years now! Time for some fresh, garden-grown produce!

I planted the vegetables and herbs in my flower bed. Easy enough.

The peach tree was more of a challenge. Before I started digging, I was quite certain I had enough stamina to plant at least two trees. Then I struck ground. Have I mentioned before that I don’t garden like I used to because the ground is mostly clay here? Well, it is.

At first, I felt like I was trying to dig using a spoon, because that’s about the amount of dirt I was moving at a time with my shovel. Then I got out the pick ax, and I felt like I was trying to chop my way out of prison. I said I wished it would rain, and my mom said, “Why don’t you just get the hose?”

So, I dug a 4 inch basin, and filled it with water. After letting it sit for an hour or two, I was able to dig a little deeper. I filled it again, and repeated the procedure until my tree had plenty of room. I replaced the dirt with a bagged mix for trees and bushes. I’ve still got a pile of clay-dirt to move.

I’ve got six blueberry bushes to plant next. I thought that sounded easy before! I’m determined to follow through.

I looked all over for an ornamental Kwansan cherry tree, and finally found one. But, it was too big to stuff in my Corolla. I may still give that a go.

I also saw Sears was having a good sale on a their Kenmore 19233 Computerized Sewing Machine this month. We’d looked at that model before, as a good potential spare machine. I decided to go for that too, on the same day I was thinking about finagling that Kwansan into the car. I considered the challenge, for a moment anyway, of getting them both in there, but quickly realized that was not going to work. I’ve been packing plants, and tomato cages, and who knows what in there like it’s one of those clown cars lately.

So, the Kenmore 19233 is very nice, I’m pleased to say. The inside parts are metal, and you can open the side to clean it. That’s an option that used to be on all sewing machines that I remember, but has been missing on a lot of the current models. I guess most companies want you to go to a repairman just to remove fuzz and dust, or they don’t want to invest in this extra, extremely useful feature.

It has a good selection of stitches too, and a nice alphabet. I tried them out and the quality was impressive. I didn’t expect such a nice machine in that price range. I’m very pleased.

As I’ve said before, I’ve been waiting a long time for my Viking Platinum 775 to be repaired. Wouldn’t you know, the part finally came in from the Viking company, the original seller repaired the machine, and he sent it on its way, even before I opened the box of the new machine. That’s okay. I’m keeping the Kenmore. The Husqvarna Viking company took 2 months to send repair parts the first time, and 2 1/2 months to send parts the second time. I’ve been waiting almost six months since that machine malfunctioned! Unbelievable. I’m just hoping it works when it gets here, and that it keeps working. I’ll be testing it out soon.

Posted on April 8, 2010January 9, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Spring blog migration

I’ve moved 310 blog posts to the home page of this site and I’m in the process of writing nearly 100 redirects for elizabethruffing.com alone. I haven’t touched the Ruffing’s site yet. I’ll be adding a banner eventually, and I’m working on the sidebar. Wow. What a lot of work!

I took a break and came across a great clearance sale at Michaels. I had to have these artist mannequins. I never had one before. What do I need two for? I have no idea whatsoever. But they do make good dancing companions for each other.

I grabbed a bunch of Claybord tools too. I really enjoy painting on Claybord. I have every intention of painting something as soon as I can break away from the new computer. I keep having to stop and learn things, but even having the bigger monitor makes things easier. I can open two windows at once and see what I’m doing, and the photos look wonderful. I can’t wait to get those new Pixie Kitten photos edited and up online. We took some with chrysanthemums, and they look so pretty.

The Great Wall of Pink is blooming. I can remember seeing azaleas like these back in NY in the local nursery at Easter time and wondering if they’d ever survive outside. They sure do here. They’re amazing.

Well, this is my first post using WordPress. So much to figure out.

Hope everyone is enjoying the spring!

Posted on April 4, 2010March 13, 2022 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Happy Easter to you!

Happy Easter! I woke up very early this morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep. Rather than flop hopelessly from one side and then to the other for another hour, I decided, since I’d never gone to the Sunrise Easter Service at the North Carolina State Capitol before, that it would be a good time to go.

I made it there just before the sun came up over the horizon. The weirdest thing happened just as I was approaching the Capitol. When I’m driving in low light, I always fret that animals will cross my path. So, I jumped when I saw a low-flying dove come flying out right in front of my car. I just missed it, but it was grazed, at least, by the car next to me. I went back, and couldn’t find it. It must have just been stunned, and then recovered. I hope it was okay, but I thought, that is the strangest thing to happen on an Easter morning, and to a dove of all birds.

I parked in the church lot, which was mostly empty, and walked to the Capitol. I just listened for a while, and then I took out my camera. Cameras are funny. People change when they see them. One man waved at me, and another just kept smiling and smiling. I guess he wanted to make sure he was smiling in case I took a photo? A young couple stopped me and asked me if I could take their picture with their camera too. I tried to get a couple of good shots for them.

The news teams were there, and some press photographers. One man was sitting in the grass, with his dog. Church where you can sit on the grass with your dog sounds appealing to me. I don’t have a dog, but I bet I could easily find one or two who would enjoy such a thing.

After the service, I walked around for a while. One of the cool things about going out when other people are “in”, is that you can stand right in the middle of the street. You can’t do that in Raleigh most of the time. And, of course, the other cool thing is watching the sun come up.

When I got back to the church parking lot, there were some homeless people just getting up. One was still asleep on the steps, and another asked me if I had enough money for a bagel. I hope he got himself one. And then, there was this lady, sitting barefoot, on a bench out front, with two kids, a teenaged girl next to her, and a young boy who was exploring. She’d taken off her silver or golden shoes, and was playing a flute of some kind. She was facing the sun, as it was coming up, and seemed to be playing directly to the sun, like she was paying a tribute. She was very absorbed in her song, and didn’t seem to mind, or maybe even notice, me taking photos of her. Then, I got in my car and headed back home, glad to have a nice, comfortable one to go to. When I returned, everyone was just getting up. Had I not left a note, no one might have known I’d even been gone. I went back to work, at our beautiful new computer, and felt stupid for all the things I was chewing on earlier, while I was tossing and turning. We’re doing just fine.

I did some photo editing. We’ve got a new little bunny that I just put up on her own web page. Her name is Tulip. You can read Tulip the Dutch Bunny’s cute story here. I think I’m going to take the plunge and switch to WordPress very soon. So, our blogs may be on our home pages, at ruffings.com and elizabethruffing.com the next time you visit. If that doesn’t work, there will be a note there instead! Check our Ruffing’s Facebook page too. I’ve been updating that with any new items. Enjoy your Easter and your weekend! I’m hungry from getting up so early! Got to go get some lunch…