Facebook Friends

Social media can be a wonderful thing when it functions as it should. It can help us find friends, those with shared interests, find lost classmates, connect with people from our distant past, even find relatives we didn't know we had. We can also embarrass ourselves on a public scale by using the wrong word (auto correct OFF), or say more than we intended due to temporary loss of sound judgement. There's been more than one time when I typed in a comment only to delete before hitting enter. What was I thinking of? But lately I have connected with several women for our mutual benefit.

In a post about Viking sewing machines, Judy wrote that she was in need of an extension table for her Viking 6030 sewing machine that she was getting ready for a young girl to use. As it turned out, I had an extra extension table that came with a donor Viking 6010 so I replied that maybe I could help her out. We took our conversation over to messages where you can now even have correspondence with someone not on your friends list. After photos back and forth we settled on me sending her one of the extension tables and a set of Viking feet (sorry, no extra cams) that looked like this:

Extension tables to fit up to free-arm models

Collection of Viking snap-on feet

I sent Judy the package all the way to Wyoming and then waited. After about a week I got a check in the mail and Judy sent a message via Facebook that the extension table fit perfectly and the feet were fine, too. Then I heard the rest of the story:

The manager of the [thrift] store was telling me about a 12-yr. old girl that sews by hand. A kind soul had given her a new Brother sewing machine but it had broken already. I took her a straight stitch Singer to use until I could find the right machine and found the Viking/Husqvarna just recently. We will be taking another load of things up there soon and I just need to do a little more cleaning and it will be ready for her. Thanks for your help with this project! 

Now that's a great social connection!  There was another post yesterday where someone wanted an Elna  62C SU for her granddaughters to learn to sew on. I love that sewing machine, too, but I thought it was a bit too difficult to learn on so we took our conversation to messenger where we discussed alternatives and the reasons for a simpler sewing machine. She lives a few hours from me so I wouldn't have to ship a sewing machine yet one of us would have to do some traveling but with the holidays coming there are many opportunities for travel to take you far from home. She decided to think some more about it and I suggested trying to locate a good, solid Kenmore as a starter sewing machine. If she's on the look out, one will find her!

Today I was reading several posts about Elna's because I had just picked up an Elna Plana that came without cams or accessories. Wouldn't you know it, Cindy had a set of Elna accessories with cams that she no longer needed so we figured out a price and how to send, a real win-win! I can't wait for the cams to come so I can try them out in my new-to-me Elna.

Elna cams and accessories

 I ordered a new friction wheel, the cause of the thump/thump/thump because it has a flat spot, but it will take awhile to come since the supplier confesses to not getting to his mail right away. But that's okay because I have plenty to keep me busy. I think I better get to work on one of those sewing machines that will only run backwards since I have quite a few and no one else is going to tackle them. As always, stay tuned for the further adventures of Sewing Machine Mavin!