By the time I get to Phoenix

I, Thread, first owned a Pfaff sewing machine when we lived in Switzerland. It was a workhorse. It could do three stitches: forward, backward, and zigzag. When we returned to the States I needed to get a new machine. I purchased a Pfaff that had quite a few more stitches. I ended up giving that machine to a family member.

Around 10 years ago purchased a newer Pfaff from a local dealer. It was a Quilt Expression 2046. That model has since been discontinued. It worked well for me, but one day it needed service. I took it in to the dealer in the town where we now live. I left instructions that it needed cleaning and the tension adjusted.

When I got the machine back it was clean. However, the tension had not been adjusted on the inside of the machine, just the outside - the same place I would have adjusted it. On top of that, the bobbin sensor was no longer working. I decided I could no longer trust that dealer.

We thought it was time to get a newer machine. After doing research, we went to a dealer in Phoenix that I was familiar with. We live three hours away, so we made an appointment to have my older machine repaired, and planned on shopping for the new machine at the same time.

I purchased a fancy Pfaff Performance 5.0. It has all sorts of capabilities, and a larger needle to tower distance. That gives more room for large objects like quilts and purses. It also has plenty of fancy stitches.

I have liked using the machine, but one evening when I turned it on, the magic just didn't happen. The needle didn't do it's little start-up dance. It was frozen. I tried turning it off and on. I tried updating the software. The update "took" but it again froze at the same point of booting up.

The next day I called the dealer. The repair department asked me to bring it in. We dropped off the machine, did some shopping, and went home again. Some days later I received a phone call from the repair shop saying that the boards were bad, and that they had ordered replacements from Pfaff.

The day finally came when I was able to pick up the machine. As it was still under warrantee there was no cost to me. Since then I have been sewing bags for our yet-to-open store, and it has worked well.