Aug 13, 2012

Marvelous Monday Update 8/13/12

SUMMER OLYMPICS
About 6 months ago, the signal for NBC stopped reaching my TV.  I was really disappointed to miss the Olympics as the games are one of the very few sporting events I like to watch.  On Friday, the signal came back!  I was able to watch a few of the remaining events and the closing ceremonies.

Congratulations to the USA athletes on doing so well!
~ 46 Gold Medals  ~  29 Silver Medals  ~  29 Bronze Medals ~

FRUSTRATING MONTH
Last month, I decided to clean the carpet in my living room... The only room in my house that has carpet.  I sprayed the spots on my carpet, plugged in the Bissell cleaner.  I've had this carpet/upolstery cleaner for 11 years and it's worked beautifully.  This time, it was not meant to be.


When I pushed it forward, it made a horrible dragging sound. I went online and found a solution on the Bissell website. Easy enough. I did what it said.... the front end still drug across the carpet and made the terrible noise. I then called "Customer Care" and got a lady with a terrible accent. I told her the problem and explained what I did per the Bissell website. I kid you not, she told me to do what I just told her I did.... not just once but multiple times. Within 15 minutes, I was so frustrated that my sarcasm came out big time. Thirty minutes later and after being put on hold multiple times (When I say multiple, I mean in excess of 3 times), she told me that I needed to take it to an authorized service center. Since it's not under warranty, I asked her if there was going to be a fee (which I knew there would be). After she confirmed it, I said "Well then I can take it to ANY service center... not necessarily an authorized one!" Then I told her in no uncertain terms that I was not happy with the customer service seeing as I told her at the beginning of the phone call what I did according to their website and she could've told me to take it to a service center right then rather than waste and hour of my time having me take it apart only to do the same thing I already did. When she went into her canned speech about how customer care was doing their best.... I hung up on her. I was soooo frustrated at that point! So, I had spot pretreater all over my carpet and nothing to clean it up with.
Mission #1 - Failure.

After I told the tale of my woes to the BF, he looked at the carpet cleaner. I told him what I did. He took the same piece off and said there was a little clip on it that was broken. The little clip holds the piece up so it doesn't drag across the carpet. Funny thing is that I looked at buying a replacement part before I even called customer service! The part ended up costing $10.55 including shipping.  The Bissell site or "Customer Care" didn't say anything about replacing the part.... only removing it and re-installing it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks.  Part is installed and pretreater is once again sprayed on the carpeting.  Furniture extracted from living room.  I turned on the Bissell only to have water spraying out of the upolstery hose.  What the ?!?!  No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to stop.  Most of you know that I'm pretty handy around the house so I was really disgusted at the Bissell. I pushed it in the corner of the kitchen and put the furniture back.  Again, pretreater all over and nothing to clean it up. Humph! 
Mission #2 - Failure.

The next time the BF came over, he started to look over the Bissell to try and figure out the problem. Before he dismantled it, a lightbulb went off above my head. Bzz--Bzzt!  Turns out I had the upolstery attachment in its holder with the sprayer button wedged against the side... which is why water sprayed all over! Duh... I felt so stupid. 

This brings me to last Friday.  Mission #3! I removed all the furniture from the living room and pulled out the Bissell again.  You know the routine by now.... More pretreater on the carpet. Some of the stains from the previous owners re-surfaced, and high traffic areas really needed it!

Mission #3 - Accomplished!!

PHOTO MIGRATION
Last week, I and many other Multiply users received a notice that the site will discontinue blog and photo hosting services as of December 1st.  It's really unfortunate as I really liked using the site for my photos.  After trying many free photo hosting sites (snapgalaxy, dotphoto, flickr, fotki, bravenet, photobucket, mejuba, picasa), I have decided to move my photos to Webshots.  It's got many of the same features Multiply had for their photo gallery.  I've been a member of WS since 2002, I just never used their site until now.

SEWING
A few weeks ago, the local thrift shop had a clothing sale... everything was $1.  I bought a 3-piece suit for $3.  It came with a blazer, skirt, and slacks -- nice additions for my work wardrobe.  The skirt was floor length... definitely needed to be shortened, and the slacks needed to be hemmed.  I knew I could hem the slacks, no problem.  Even though I've sewed clothing from scratch (in high school), I've never attempted major tailoring jobs.  I figured if I screwed it up, I was only out $3, right?  Right!

I have a pencil skirt that I just love, so I used it to pattern the skirt overhaul.  I shortened the sleeves on the jacket, and took in the jacket a bit.  I also put blind hems on the slacks.  Everything fits great now!

STITCHY STUFF
I finished up Part 4 of Fleurs et Papillions last week.  Here's what it looked like before:


and now it's 2/3 done:
Since I finished Part 4 of Fleurs, I switched projects and worked on Sampler aux Bouquets by Jardin Prive.  Here's what it looked like before:

A few days progress.... several motifs are complete:


Until next time,




41 comments:

Vickie said...

Well then!! Glad you got the carpet cleaned! Nice job on the clothes. And you still had time to make good progress on stitching. :)

cucki said...

wow i love your stitching so much..great progress..
great job on the clothes.
hugs xxx

blueladie said...

Bravo on your carpet endeavors! It looks great! When all else fails, persistence counts! :D Love your stitchy items. Fleurs and the sampler look great. Enjoyed my visit. Cathryn

CJ said...

I have had similar carpet cleaning drama on this end and it sucks. Love your new suit, you are so talented. Your stitching is coming along very nicely. Look froward to next weeks post. Have a great week.

CJ

stitchesnscraps said...

Looks like three times is the charm! How horrible! Glad it all finally worked out, getting the carpets cleaned! Lovely sewing! You did a wonderful job! Your stitching is beautiful! Thanks for sharing all your adventures!

Melissa J.

Unknown said...

here am eating on my popcorn reading your blog.carpet sorry it took you a few attempt to get your carpet cleaned, glad you where able to clean it finally, what drama. your stitching is beautiful, keep those needles smoking.

Tricia T said...

I'm so glad you finally got your cleaner to work! How frustrating! Your stitching and tailoring all look great. I especially like your Jardin Prive piece!

Tricia

Emily in NC said...

Good job with the hemming and tailoring, am very impressed. Have to take mine to the dry cleaner. Glad you finally got the carpet cleaned, what an ordeal.

Faith... said...

WOW what a difference on the carpet!

Your skirt came out beautifully!

You made lots of great stitching progress too - congrats!

dixiesamplar said...

Wow, what a nightmare for you...glad it all worked out in the end though!

Love the suit...you did a great job on the tailoring. And your WIPs are gorgeous!

Katie said...

I'm always amazed at what you can do by yourself. You rock girl!

Love the new suit and love the stitching.

Unknown said...

Thank you for the most wonderful post and sharing your carpet cleaning adventure. It was so much fun, and a great way to start my day.

Love the nw outfit $3.00 WOW.

Your stitching as always is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Meari your Fleurs et Papillons and Sampler aux Bouquets are both looking splendid.

You did a great job on tailoring your new suit.

Congratulations on sorting out your Bissell - we have 3 Bissells (carpet cleaner, vacuum and floor steamer) and swear by them.

So glad that you caught the tail end of the Olympics - these were exciting games to watch. Luckily we get to watch both NBC as well as CTV and their affiliates - 5 channels to flip.
Now I am glad that they are done and we return to regular life again.

Tara

Christina G said...

Super tailoring job. Great progress too!

Anonymous said...

You are so talented Meari! The suit looks great!

Diana-Indiana

norafaisal said...

Love the stitching and why do so many gadgets break nowadays

Pam in IL said...

Glad you finally got the carpet cleaned and it looks great!

You did an awesome job on the alterations of the suit. I like that you even have stand to display it on!

Your WIPS are coming along so well and your stitching is, as always, beautiful.

How did you ever stand not having NBC for so long? What caused it to stop coming into your house? Happy that you were able to at least see part of the Olympics.

MaryT said...

Meari so glad you finally got to clean your carpet. So frustrating to talk to these people that really can't speak English much less understand it. The suit was a great buy and looks really great and as always your stitching is wonderful.

Mary Louise in IN

Chris said...

Congratulations on your mission completion. Sorry that is was so frustrating. The end results look great.
Your new suit looks fabulous too.
Great stitcing progress.
You are a very talented woman!
Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

You did a great job on your new suit.

Congrats on the progress you made on both projects.

I had a moment inspired by you this weekend. SO and I were at one of our local thrift stores on Saturday because we have a coupon for $5 off a $15 purchase. We were $.75 short by the end so I said, I'll go look at fabric to use for ornaments, since I know how to do that now (grin). I found two bags of remnants for $1.99 each, and I couldn't decide between them so SO said to get both. So we went over our $15 by a little bit, but now I can hopefully finish a bunch of the ornaments that I've been working on over the last few years so they can actually be used for something. Yay!

Sandy R in NM

Shelleen said...

Happy that you got NBC back and could watch some of the Olympics.
The floor is much better that you could fix your cleaner. Great progress pics and the suit looks great.

Sandra said...

Don't you just hate when things stop working for no reason? Today my water pump didn't work for a few hours, I decided to call the landlord, he came with the technician, turned off and on again (which I've already done) and the thing worked wonderfully lol Thank God since the repaired would have been costly.

The carpet looks nice, my floor is ceramic, it cleans fast and easily, but it's so cold!

The SALs are looking so pretty. The Fleurs et Papillons is so delicate.The Sampler aux Bouquets is so interesting. Any plans for finishing? Makes me want to go and grab my Cross stitch right away :)

Wow! Good job on the suit. I'm scheduled to sew a simple blouse this week. Need to start on clothes making.

Anonymous said...

That must have been frustrating for you but glad that your cleaner worked so that you can get your carpet cleaned.

Impressed with your new suit.

Lovely stitching as usual.

Marl

Julie M said...

Quite the ordeal just to clean the carpet Meari! Looks great thought!

Beautiful stitching!

I admire your ability to take that $3.00 suit and make it into something wonderful! Good job!

Anonymous said...

Wow what an ordeal just to clean your carpet. Your so determined. I would have given up after speaking to that customer service rep & probably rented a machine to clean the carpet. Your new suit looks great. You did a great job with the alterations. Your WIP's look great. Keep up the great stitching.
Betty in AZ (ILCS)

Carolyn NC said...

Well done on everything! Love the suit. And carpet looks great. Congrats on the finish and stitching!

Akila said...

Talking to customer care can be very frustrating, especially if they just read out of materials!! Have faced similar experience with them too.
Love your new suit. COngrats on the great alteration job
Wow, what progress on both.They look beautiful

Anonymous said...

Meari -

Love the suit! Congrats on the find! Your stitching looks great! Glad that you were finally able to get your carpet cleaned!

Marge

Carol said...

Glad your carpet cleaning adventures came to a successful ending, Meari--it looks great! And I'm so impressed with your tailoring skills--what a deal you got! And knowing you, you'll find a great use for the extra fabric you cut off the skirt :)

I just love your Sampler aux Bouquets more and more each time I see it--what beautiful work!! Hope your new photo hosting site works out well for you, too!

Anonymous said...

Meari

I always like to read for your blog and your stitching looks wonderful

Tinna

glenda said...

woohoo! nice job on the alterations! I am very impressed :)

Your stitching is gorgeous, as always.

thank goodness you got the carpet thingy to work. We will be buying one soon...funny...my mom has used bissell for over 20 years with no issues. I'm going to think twice before getting one, though.

Kay said...

After all that I imagine that you are pleased to be done with the carpet cleaning now! The progress on your stitching looks great!! Love the deal you got and the alterations you made to the suit as well look great!

Anonymous said...

Great update Meari. Love the suit. You did a fantastic job on it.

Debi

Unknown said...

Your stitching is lovely.

Nancy M said...

I guess you don't pay for cable if NBC has been out for 6 mos! Glad I leave all that fixing stuff to my DH. I don't have the patience for it. Nice progress on both projects.

Mary said...

Hi Meari! I have come out of the murky water to look at blogs tonight. I noticed for some reason, your blog was missing. I know you usually post a Marvelous Monday and thought last week, well maybe you are on vacation. I hadn't read the feeds into Google Reader for about a month.. sigh...

Anyhoo.... your tailoring looks great. Awesome repurposing of the long skirt. Your stitching is awesome as always. Congrats on finally getting the carpet cleaned.

I'm glad you got to see at least some of the olympics. It's weird your cable didn't have it but we had a problem just like that with Directv and losing some local stations. Needless to say, my mom and I weren't happy campers. Thank goodness we have 2 tv's that are non-cable... and just get the digital stations but we can get the local ones which are the most important.

I hope NBC stays for you and other channels that were "under negotiation" with the cable or satellite provider.

I hope to post in my blog at some point. Life has just gotten way too fast and not enough time to get what I want to do done. I did stitch on a baby blanket but it was such a small section and I've got tons to go....

Take care!
Hugs!
Mary

Wanda said...

Glad you finally got the carpet cleaned. It definitely had time for the pre-treat to work. :)
I love what you did with the suit from the thrift store. I love a good thrift store find.

Anne said...

You've been a busy bee sewing, vacuuming, stitching!! Great deal on the suit! I love it! Beautiful stitching too!!

Sue said...

The carpet looks fabulous after all the problems you encountered; you did a fabulous job on the suit! and all of your stitching is gorgeous! What more can I say? Everything that you do, you do extremely well!!

Hugs,
Sue

Katrien said...

your stitching is so beautiful. I'm glad the 3rd attempt accomplished the job!

fort collins carpet cleaning said...

God job for your carpet endeavors! It looks great! your stitching is so beautiful.