Creating a Stitch Book for Bernina 880 Plus

I LOVE my new Bernina 880 Plus 

Crystal Edition. 

It is bedazzlingly inviting to sew 

and embroider the hours away. 

But for me- 

getting to know a new machine 

MUST ALWAYS 

start with creating a stitch book

to take it on a true test drive. 

This superhero has 

1,764 stitches 

I had to explore- 

(honestly- there were a few times,

I thought I’d never finish!)… 

but now I am ready! 

Let the projects begin!!!

Each piece is a 10 X 10" 

piece of fabric folded in half

9 days later:

I cut each "sheet" down 

to 4 1/4" and put them in order 

and organized my book...

Wooohooo!

Let the embroidery 

escapades begin!!!

A First Embroidery on my Bernina 880

We did it... We got my dream machine!

I now own a Bernina 880 Crystal Edition. 

The stitches and embroidery 

are to die for and the crystal bedazzle 

embellishment cracks me up...

It came with all the bells 

and whistles this girl could want

 and I am thrilled!

AND

WAYYYYYYYYY

WAYYYYYYYY

WAYYYYYYY

OVER MY HEAD.

So, I knew I had to 

start at the very beginning-

a very good place to start...)

I took 2 days worth of classes at A NIMBLE THIMBLE in Tyler, Texas

and I am watching every online video I can to absorb all I can.

I had already stitched 25 pages 

of folded in half 10 X 10 sheets 

of stitches for my 

stitch sampling book 

when I decided to jump on the 

embroidery project of the month band wagon.

Just putting on the hoop- 

it was magic!

And now... 

back to my stitch book...

The safety device has been activated :(

I have completed so many more 

special baby items for the twins 

as I continued to obsessively nest

 since my last posting. 

BUT... with the obsessive sewing, 

and current use of fleece 

and flannel- my machine 

has been fighting back- 

even more than it had been. 

Honestly, I am beginning to fear she is terminal.

Her current status:

!!!The safety device has been activated. Is 

the thread tangled? Is the needle bent? !!!

Alas, No and No... 

I have replaced everything multiple times. 

I have disassembled and cleaned every accessible inch of my machine repeated times.

I got her in 2011. I'm not quite sure what the life span is on a modern machine? But she was in repair shop in December for 3 weeks and had a total tuneup.

Perhaps I should be surprised that I’ve managed to make a modern, overly-plastic domestic sewing machine last for almost 12 years! I’ve had to sew things I knew would abuse my poor little machine many times. And the past 2 years I have been on it for hours daily. (Not like covid allowed one much else to do!)

Still, I have had it serviced regularly, and been real good to it compared to machines of my past! So, I expected it to hold on, at least a bit longer...

But then came yesterday...the 6 hour bib day. 

In and out of the hoop with layers of flannel between the sticky stabilizer. And after bib 9... she just refused to go on :( 

I took her apart again 4 times today without any recovery... something I have always eventually been rewarded with in the past.

Finally, I had no choice but give up.

She is locked in place... On her screen of refusal :(

I no longer have a shop in town... so it will be a 1 hour drive to attempt repair. (& of course, there is the added frustration... I can't drive anymore).

I suppose my machine picked the most convenient time give up – I did get to finish both baptismal gowns... all their accompaniments. And then moved on to burp cloths and bibs.

Alas... one granddaughter shall have 3 less bibs... and thus will begin the start of one sibling getting more than the other.

... to be continued...

The bibs that did the final demise

And here is all I actually created with the embroidery!

And here are the Baptism gowns: