Sewing machine parts and projects

A little set back recently...my pfaff sewing machine decided it wouldn't sew very fast.  And, it acted like it had bad gasoline in it - stopping and starting and sputtering.  What to do.  It seems like I always have the pedal to the metal, so to speak.  This was really slowing me down!  So, I wiggled the cord. That didn't work...it sewed, just not fast.  Not very productive.  And still sputtering.  Soooo, when sweetie came home, he checked the wiring of the foot pedal with his handy dandy ohm meter.  All clear on the electrical front, so he took it apart and there was a little connection that slide up and down the metal spoke and it had broken off.  (These are very technical terms, and I know what I'm talking about here.)  A VERY small piece of plastic with a smaller round metal connection centered in it had broken off.  This piece was the size of a large piece of pepper out of a grinder!  So I got out the super glue and hemostats so I wouldn't glue my finger to the little plastic thingy (again, technical terminology).  We let it dry over night, and lo and behold, the next day it still just sewed very slowly and still sputtered!  So I called a couple of Pfaff dealers, I checked online for a new foot pedal.  I even took my old foot pedal out shopping and tried it in a new machine.  Didn't work there any better than it did at home!  After all that, this is what I found:

That if you want a new foot pedal for your sewing machine be prepared to cough up some moolah to the tune of $135.  Do you suppose they know they have you over the barrel and will charge what they want to because they can?  Or do you think they really have figured out the cost of the foot pedal & passed along the true cost to me/us as a consumer?  I am not blaming my local Pfaff dealer for the cost -I know they just did their usual mark-up before selling me the piece that I needed.  And, I want to help keep my local dealer in business. It just seems steep.  It's a foot pedal!

But, now that I have gotten that off my chest (thank you very much) and I am back to sewing full speed ahead, here's a glimpse of the project I am doing now.  Can't show much as it is a gifty-gift for Christmas. From the book Frosted Memories:  it does have snowmen in it, and pinwheels.  I really like snowmen, and I really like pinwheels.  Maybe it won't go find a new home!  We'll see. 

And:  MORE QUILTING done.

The first THREE are more of Billie's. 

She sure is prolific, isn't she?

These are more of her block of the month projects.  Very large, too.  And, no, I didn't duplicate the pics, there really are two of them!   Both Steelers' black and gold.

This one is also a block of the month that
she did a while back.  Love the brights, don't you?

(above left) Annette's beautiful batik

Louise's (above right) bright and cheery quilt

She makes up her own patterns for these, and pieces her backs and puts in family members' photos.  I will have to get a pic of the back of the next one!

And finally, Helen's red and white, also one of the block of the month choices from the lqs.  I really like  love the setting stars in this one.  I told Helen I will use this design layout at some point. 

That's enough quilting for now, so moving on to rainbows:

Today while I was out doing my turkey-day grocery shopping and errands the sky was dark and cloudy and a little rain was sputtering (like my old foot pedal!).  The sun looked like it wanted to break through and it did just a little.  Just a little enough to have a rainbow. 

It was much more

beautiful than the pics show. 

I should learn more

about filters.

The one on the left was just taken with my plain ol' camera.  The one on the right was also taken with my plain ol' camera, but I put my sunglasses in front of the lens.  (I told you I should learn more about filters!)  I always think that my sun glasses make me see the world in a little more rosey light, so I thought they might help the rainbow, too.  Can you tell the difference between the two?
Rainbows make me smile.
Hope your day is a rainbow smilin' day.