Heritage, I saw your quilt a few days ago, but it was so nuts around here that I didn't have time to comment. It is so gorgeous! You did such a beautiful job... and I zoomed in and admired all your beautiful loops and hearts that you stitched on there. I know that lady will treasure that quilt always.
Thank you for showing it to us!
Y'all are positively going to kill me. I posted about the $10 thrift store Bernina that (now that the hectic holidays are past) I'll be cleaning and gathering parts for. Wellll......
My aunt posted a link from CL on her FB page. It was for a big garage/warehouse sale... all the things from a furniture repair/restoration/reupholstery business, plus all the other assorted things that were kept in the warehouse. We decided to go by it on our way into town today, having no idea that the sale we were going to was being held by my aunt's sister, being the business items and other belongings of her husband who died in an accident some months ago.
We went in and started running into family, and that's when we found out. The owner of the warehouse had put it up for sale, since it was just sitting holding these items, but no one was actually using it anymore. The widow had been working through her grief, and knew she needed to do something about the warehouse. But the warehouse sold quickly, and suddenly she had to get out of it in a week. So she held this sale, and other family members tended to it when she wasn't there.
Right away, there were two sewing machines (one of which was ancient and frozen), but they were both sold. We started looking around at everything.
After a bit, tucked almost under some upholstery padding that was overflowing a box, I saw this handle protruding from a soft cover. Curious, I lifted the cover and found a portable sewing machine. I picked it up and set it on a table, and removed the cover completely. There before me was this:
My heart almost stopped. :fainting: ARE YOU KIDDING ME, ANOTHER BERNINA?!?
I took it up to my aunt's father and waited with butterflies while he helped someone else. When he was finally free, I asked him how much they were asking for this sewing machine. He replied that he hadn't even known it was there, and had no idea. But.... that old frozen machine sold at $15, so this working machine (yep, he plugged it in and momentarily pressed the pedal) should be worth $30.
You could have knocked me over. It was an incredible deal, I knew... but this is the tight check and I hesitated to spend that right now. My husband came to my rescue, and I bought it.
Then I got it home and looked it up. They still sell this machine new! MSRP is $1600! :fainting:
I called my aunt and told her all of this, and let her know that I couldn't offer more for the machine, but I wanted to give her sister the opportunity to get it back and sell it for more. She told me that that wasn't the point of the sale, and they knew there were probably things of worth in there that would go for way less than they could have. The point was to sell it all quickly and get it out of the warehouse. She said she was positive her sister would be completely fine with it, and for me to just count it as a blessing.
I'm still blown away.
