Come Stitch With Me

On September 24, 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed September as National Sewing Month. Read the full text of Proclamation #4976 courtesy of the American Presidency Project sponsored by the University of California Santa Barbara. This proclamation was designed to celebrate millions of home sewists for their self-reliance skills and contributions to the US economy.

Ways to celebrate:
1. Treat your sewing machine to a spa day.
2. Indulge in a little retail therapy at your favorite fabric or quilt shop.
3. Learn a new way to do something – install a zipper, make a buttonhole, finish a seam.
4. Organize a sew-in with your sewing besties.
5. Make a handmade item to donate to your favorite charity.

HAPPY SEWING!

At the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum in Carrollton:
Fall 2024
Sewing Machine Maintenance: Saturday, October 26th from 2:00-3:30 p.m. Cost: $40 + kit fee
Meet Your Sewing Machine (private lesson only)
Tentative: Finished Edge Applique (Lori Holt Method)

Spring 2025
Meet Your Sewing Machine (private lesson only)
Beginning Sewing for Teens & Adults (series of classes)
How to Read a Commercial Sewing Pattern

The SQTM fall schedule is being finalized and will be published shortly.

In my Smyrna Studio:
Did your sewing teacher press the pause button on Friday sewing classes for your homeschool group? Or you discovered the sewing class is not offered at the 6-12 homeschool co-op this fall? If you can switch to Thursdays, I have some daytime availability. Let’s talk! If not, I’ll gladly refer you to another teacher – especially if garment sewing or cosplay is your focus.

Are you aware the EPA’s new HVAC refrigerant rules go into effect January 1, 2025? Prices on new HVAC systems are expected to rise by 30% as a result of complying with the new rule. The biggest gotcha is consumers will not be able to replace existing equipment with like equipment as they have in the past. You will be required to replace (or upgrade, if possible) your entire HVAC system to meet the new standard. Ouch!

As I mentioned in the previous post, our main level HVAC stopped blowing air. Turns out, the system froze up due to a refrigerant leak, plus the technician found a big pile of oil all over the outdoor condenser unit. Not good. Our coil is toast. He estimated we’d lost half the refrigerant in our unit. No cheap or easy fixes here. Our HVAC system is 11 years old. It makes more sense for us to replace the entire a/c half of the system (coil and condenser unit) rather than make any repairs.

We’ll be driving our vehicles a while longer since we decided to be proactive and replace the a/c components in our other system, as well (also 11 years old).

Main takeaway: If your system is 7+ years old and you’ve thought about replacing or upgrading your HVAC system, you might want to do it before the end of 2024.