Thimbleweed Quilters Will Start Meeting Again!

 Hello Quilters. We will be meeting once again starting on Thursday June 17, 2021. Same place and time: 9:30am at Sabana Grande Parks & Rec Center.

• Show & Tell will be limited to 2 items only. 
• Mask wearing is optional.
• You need to pay your annual or bi-annual dues, either online or at Sabana Grande*
• Fall Retreat sign ups will be taken at the meeting, so bring $ to hold your retreat spot. *You must pay your Thimbleweed Dues in order to attend retreat
• Drunkard's Path quilt block demo
• Prizes
• Committee sign ups (if you want to be on a committee or resume with the committee you were signed up for before)

The Best Sewing Machine Service & Repair in Albuquerque: Affordable Sewing & Vacuum Repair

 After dealing with every dealer in town at one time or another for the past 22+ years for having my sewing machines serviced or repaired, I have not been happy with any of them for one reason or another. Last October I took my Bernina sewing machine in for repair to Ryan's as it stopped working. I was told it would be 6-8 weeks before a tech could even look at it. Ridiculous!!! But I wasn't happy with any service place, so I left my machine there. 8 weeks later I was told it couldn't be repaired because it had a cracked bushing. Bernina doesn't make the part anymore I was told by the service tech. Sadly, I took my machine home and thought I would sell all the accessories and machine for parts, but I couldn't deal with that yet. 

A few months went by and I thought I would take photos of everything I had to sell and start selling my Bernina things. I listed in a Bernina Buy & Sell group and listed some presser feet and sold some and sold my bobbin case. 

Meanwhile, Tara needed her Brother machine repaired. I know she didn't want to be without her machine for 2 months, so she was referred  to Affordable Sewing & Vacuum (located on Eubank) by another repair shop. Tara was pleased and impressed with Rick. She got her machine serviced and fixed and back in a couple of days for less money too. She said her machine worked better than it ever had before.

So that got me thinking, why not see if maybe Rick could repair my machine? It was worth a try to see if it could be repaired. I emailed Rick and I was impressed he responded back that same day. I had emailed Ryan twice over the years and never got a response back either time. Why have an email listed  on your website if you don't bother using it?

I took my machine in on Wednesday morning. Thursday afternoon it was ready. The traffic was too heavy then, so I went on Friday morning to pick it up. Rick fixed the problem which was NOT a cracked bushing at all, but thread wrapped around the inside. He removed the handwheel and the handwheel needed to be replaced because the last person who removed it didn't replace it properly and broke it. It wasn't too costly to replace. The stitches Rick stitched out on a piece of fabric looked like a brand new machine had stitched it! The new handwheel turned so nice and easy now. It had been impossible to turn when everything was jammed up.

So if anyone ever tells you your machine is broken and cannot be repaired, please get a second opinion and take it to Rick to see if he can repair it. Those dealers are trying to sell you new machines because there is more money to be made for them, so they don't care how much you might love your machine. In this throw away society it is so refreshing to find someone like Rick who loves to repair machines (sewing and vacuum) and does it well. He takes his time doing the repair, yet he still manages to get it serviced or repaired in a few days, which is 2 months sooner than some dealers.

I am so happy to have my Bernina working again, but I was sad and now angry that I was told it couldn't be repaired. I ended up buying a new sewing machine (not from Ryan's) which turns out that I didn't have to or need to buy another machine at all if I had only been told the truth about my Bernina machine. So shame on Ryan's Sewing and all the other dealers that also tell the customer their machine cannot be repaired! So people get a second opinion from Rick at Affordable Sewing & Vacuum Repair before you get rid of a machine that you were told cannot be fixed.

I want Rick to stay in business because he is honest, affordable, responds back to you the same day, does a thorough job, gets it done quicker than anyone else, and isn't a dealer with something to sell you. He worked for a few of those dealers and so he knows the games that are played at the dealers. Rick loves to repair machines as much as we love to sew on our machines. If you want to buy a new sewing machine then you can buy from any dealer you like, but leave the servicing and the repairs to a pro like Rick and save yourself time and money. I wished I had known about Rick before I ended up spending so much money on a new sewing machine and having to buy parts and accessories that I sold all because I was told something that was not true.

So yes I am giving a huge thumbs up to Rick because we need more people like him. And if he gets so much business that those 2-3 day turnaround ends up becoming a week or 2, well I am willing wait longer to get a top notch job done.

Normally I wouldn't use this blog to promote a business, but I am tired of getting poor service from others and find it refreshing to find someone who is passionate about repairs like Rick is. My husband owned his own business too and he is much like Rick in giving great service and doing it right and getting it done quickly. People would come to my husband's shop because they liked talking to and dealing with the owner and not just an employee. This is another reason I want to give Rick my business because I can deal with him directly.

If you take your machine to Rick you can tell him that I sent you. And please write a review for Rick on Google reviews and Yelp too. Let's help to spread the word and keep him in business. You will be happy you took your machine to Rick and will be amazed at how great your machine is working now.

2021 Outdoor Quilt Show for Thimbleweeds is Cancelled

Photo from 2017 Quilt Show.

For the second year in a row, Thimbleweed Quilters has had to cancel our annual outdoor quilt show. Let's hope we can have the show in 2022 and that it is the best show ever!

I am sure we have all been working on UFO's, and new projects that are quilt related. I have made so many bags of all kinds that I will have plenty of inventory for years! I have also made a lot of quilted table runners and wall quilts too. And still I have a mountain of fabric in my stash collection.

I hope you are all creating up a storm and that when we can meet again we will be inundated with so much inspiration from Show & Tell and so many classes that can be taught that we will be busy for several years more to come.

You can share your creations on our Thimbleweeds Facebook Group (go to Facebook and request to join); or send me your photos and I can post them here on our Thimbleweed Blog. Email me.

Donating Fabric Masks

If you are making Fabric Masks to donate to Rio Rancho Police Fire Fighters, and more see info below. And Thank you All for making masks!

 

Closure News

Since I am still one of the admins of the Thimbleweed Blog, I thought I would post this just in case anyone happens to read this blog. 

Thimbleweed meetings have been cancelled until further notice.

 

The Outdoor annual Quilt Show in April has been cancelled too.

Thimbleweed Quilters does have a Facebook page. I have suggested we do a virtual Show & Tell on the Facebook page so that we can share and remain connected throughout this time of staying home. Plus that would be the best place to post any up to date info about what is going on locally.

I know that blogs in general have become dinosaurs and most people tend to connect through texting and other social media, so I doubt anyone will even be reading this at all, but if you do read it, then please pass along any info to your fellow Thimbleweed members.

I am not going to take over doing the blog, but I can post things here once in a while as I do have the ability to do so.

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Reminder!  Thursday, July 4, 2019 Thimbleweed Quilter's meeting has been Cancelled! There will be No meeting on the First Thursday of July. Please join us on the Third Thursday July 18. 

Pattern Copyright Info

Hello Quilters. I wanted to bring up something that I feel is important and that is concerning pattern copyright laws. When I say pattern, I am talking about pdf patterns, paper patterns, patterns from books or magazines and online tutorials as well as these are all considered patterns.

When someone teaches a class at Thimbleweeds or elsewhere, the teacher cannot copy the pattern and hand it out to the students as this is illegal and breaking the copyright law. The students are either required to purchase the pattern that is being taught (whether the teacher is the pattern designer or not), or the teacher can teach the class and have the students take notes without buying a pattern. The teacher can also get permission from the designer to copy parts of the pattern, but if that permission is not obtained then you cannot copy even a part of the pattern.

I have written a few patterns myself and I cannot stress to you how much time it involves to create the item and write and take photos and edit and have the pattern tested and edit some more. It can take months to finally have a pattern ready to sell. And then when sales are so few that it hardly makes it worthwhile to have written the pattern and you find out that one person who did buy your pattern has copied it to teach and you don't make a penny off your hard work, that is not fair or right!

I test bag patterns and quilted items for a few online designers too and I know the amount of work they put into their patterns. They are designing for a living and so have to pay for more professional programs in order to make their patterns look top notch. As a tester, I see all the things we testers question the designer about to make sure it is clear and not confusing or there are no typos, etc. After months of their hard work, they deserve to be paid and not have people copy their patterns to give out to their friends or quilt group to teach. Contact the designer and tell her you want to teach their quilt or bag, or whatever and I am sure she will offer a volume discount of some kind to your students. PLEASE DO NOT COPY PATTERNS to hand out to others!

There is a law from the late 1800's that says that it is the images (sketches, photos) and the text is copyrighted on all patterns, but not the idea of the pattern itself. So as long as you rewrite in your own words and use your own pictures and to be ethical, change at least something in the pattern, then you can call it yours. In other words you can get inspiration from something you saw and create a pattern of your own to sell or give for free. You just cannot copy verbatim an existing pattern, even if you are giving it away and not charging for it. In fact if you write a pattern, copyright is implied automatically.

Also once you purchase a pattern, you can make an item from the pattern and sell the finished item, or give the item away, as the pattern designer cannot tell you what you can do with the pattern once it is purchased. You can even give away a paper pattern or sell it at a yard sale, since you did not copy the pattern, but are selling the original pattern itself. However, when it comes to pdf patterns you cannot email them to give away, since that is essentially copying the pdf.

I get concerned when I see members teaching and then copying patterns and charging for the printing costs, especially if they are copying a designer's pattern without their permission then this is a violation of copyright law. So a heads up for those teaching classes here or anywhere, have your students purchase the pattern or do a story board showing the steps with your own examples and have students take notes or photograph your story board. While it would be a costly endeavor to be sued over copyright violation for both parties concerned, it could happen if one day someone just wanted to prove a point, even if they didn't win much money after paying for attorney and court fees.

One more point is that if you copy patterns that you could have purchased from a local quilt shop, then you are not helping to support that shop. They would lose potential business because you copy a pattern instead of having students purchase the pattern from a local shop. We have several members who do work for the local stores too and what if they told their bosses what Thimbleweed teachers are doing. Those shop owners might not be too happy about that.

I do not know for a fact that anyone at Thimbleweeds has violated the copyright law, but before it happens and a possible lawsuit results from it, I wanted to just give everyone a heads up about what is legal and ethical about teaching from a designer's pattern.