A Positive Discovery

Yesterday, I was sewing along on my woven quilt and needed to push the button that enables the securing stitch. Well, I pushed that button--I thought--and continued sewing only to hear a very loud groan coming from my Bernina 200. I, of course, stopped immediately; however, it was too late. I had pushed a button that made a Wide zig-zag and I had a foot attached that wouldn't accomodate that. Long story short--I messed up my machine.
I had heard good things about the Bernina store--Accent Sewing--in Murrell's Inlet--which is about 68 miles from my house. Yes, we have a store here, but one doesn't always want to go somewhere just because it's closer. Anyway, we went up there this morning, were greeted as we came in the door, immediately saw the owner/mechanic, had the problem diagnosed and were told that it would be ready on Monday. And the price he quoted wasn't bad either. The shop had a really nice air about it. There was a class going on and everyone, obviously, was having a great time. I am pretty sure that I have found my "home" store! What a delight to feel that good about a Bernina store and if I buy another machine, it will be there. They also sell Baby Lock and I was able to get some new bobbins for my Quilter's Choice. So I call it a really positive day.
On another note: This spring I planted 3 tomato plants in pots near our sea wall (you can see a little of the wall at the right of the picture). I didn't know how they would do that close to salt water and, at first they looked REALLY bad with deformed leaves. Well, they picked up after about a month and have grown beyond my expectations. But, at that point I didn't want to go out and buy supports for them and my husband hasn't been able to make me the support cages he used to because he is supposed to stay out of the heat until his heart heals a little better. So, I started rounding up bits and pieces in the yard to do the job. My latest addition is a Charleston Bench that I picked up along the side of the road. The framework is good but the slats are in poor shape so it would do as a tomato trellis for now and then, hopefully, we'll make new slats for it this winter and have another bench for the yard. And there are LOTS of tomatoes growing on the plants. Since this part of the yard is where we have a lot of sun, next year I am going to try more vegetables there and see how they tolerate the salt air. It's worth a try anyway.