Ongoing Quilt Projects, Continued from the "No Appreciation...." Thread

[speckledhen]

I was dizzy just laying in bed last night and reeling a little when I got up. You think it was the quilt border?

 

[speckledhen]

Making these blocks with the really soft colors of the card tricks blocks in the center, but without the gold. That really makes the center "float" on top and though it appears very light, it's nowhere near the end. And then after this round, I'll do a border, maybe two borders, one very narrow and one wider, in different colors. That dark blue I put down to test the look, I ordered two more yards of, but I may use the gold, not really sure. Or a narrow blue border, then slightly wider gold (also, reordered). No idea about the step after that, but it will take me a bit to finish making all 24 of the 8x12" blocks for this go-round.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, glitch! It's not going to show the twist unless the 12" sides and the floral print meet! Look! I may have to change that. Same number of blocks required, but have to figure a corner 12" block for that arrangement.
See on the left how you can see the twist? Turned on their 8" sides, you can't.

 

[speckledhen]

Doing it the original way:

 

[speckledhen]

Hey, I'm considering bidding on a Janome 7700 QCP on ebay (please, nobody steal this out from under me, haha). It is by the original owner, here is the description below. Bidding is super low, but it ends Thursday afternoon, so room to go way up. It's at less than $500 right now, amazingly. There is another one ending tomorrow, but does not appear to have a quilting foot or have been used/ owned by the person selling it, cannot tell. It starts at $800, only one person has bid on it so far. I like the one below better. Shipping is $68, reasonable for the weight from Texas, surely. Would you go for this? It has 11" throat space, but less height than my Brother (4.7" vs my 6"), has better lighting, auto tension and other features I've love aside from the computerized part that I may or may not ever really use. I want straight stitch and a lock stitch-my Brother has no lock stitch, I have to go in reverse to lock it. This has the big acrylic extension table with it, too. Thoughts??

The Janome Memory Craft 7700 was designed to be the perfect sewing companion for Anyone—Beginners thru Master sewers/quilter alike!! It is in Excellent Condition with -Near Perfect Condition! It’s a great one owner machine. This machine is a joy to sew and quilt on. The machine has been professionally serviced and is in perfect working order. Only two issues is the foot pedal cord has a few abrasions in the cord, does not affect its operation. Also the two-spool rear holder has one missing/broken. This machine has Janome's built in walking foot and automatic thread cutter and so much more. Great machine at a great price.

 

[speckledhen]

Adding to the above, how much do you think I should go up? I was thinking maybe $700-750 and if no one bids near that, I could still get it for less, but this one has 28 watching and surely, most of them know what it's worth. The first one that has two bids is still at $800 but ends tomorrow evening. I'm not as sure about that one, though the seller has 100% satisfaction rating on ebay, same as the one I'm more interested in.

 

[User395221]

Does it show photos of the "abrasions" on the foot pedal cord? are they superficial "scuffs" or hunks out of the plastic coating? With the latter, you could be looking at having to replace the foot pedal.
How does one break a spool holder? If there's a non-worrying reason for that, ok. From my (older) machine, you'd have to do something weird to break it off, but maybe these are less solid and it's more easily done.
If it's a good deal, and you're prepared to take the risk of buying sight unseen then go for it. How much do these machines usually go for locally? Have you seen that model before to judge prices? I'd be inclined to bid only up to $700 (with postage, that means you'd be paying close to $800). If you miss out, there will be another down the track.
It's really up to you, but generally, I'd prefer to buy secondhand expensive complicated machinery locally, so I can see that it really is in the condition the seller reckons it is (one person's "perfect" can be another's "old and grotty").
I'd be more concerned about the damage and how it happened than I would be with the other machine maybe having been owned by more than one person. If each of the owners kept up the servicing and nobody broke bits off, I'd probably go for that one over one with "things that I don't really understand".

 

[speckledhen]

@ potato chip, here is the actual listing with photos. I can't see the scuff on the cord, but usually, electrical tape would seal that up okay. I've never seen one locally, no idea where I'd find one. At least with ebay there is some protection.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Janome-Horizon-7700-QCP-Computerized-Sewing-Quilting-Machine-with-extra-large/183203574462?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

Here is a spool holder. Seems it might be easy to snap off one of those, being plastic, depending on what was done to it, maybe some klutz move like I've done on occasion.

 

[User395221]

Seems it might be easy to snap off one of those, being plastic,

and it's a removable item, not part of the machine, that's no biggie, IMO.
Go for it. I can say that (maybe, sort of) the "equivalent" (ie with the big table and more of the "bits and bobs) current model here (the MC9400QCP) which is now on sale is selling for $3999AU, so to get that level of machine for that price looks like a pretty good deal (depending on what it's got, it's hard to compare the features of the machines, but that big table is on the more expensive models). Even the one I've been looking at on sale is 1999AU and it doesn't have the big table or a cover...
If they don't come up that often and you really want it, figure out the absolute highest you'd be prepared to bid and put it in. You'll kick yourself later if you get outbid when you'd have gone higher.

 

[speckledhen]

I am limited in how high I'll go. The $800 one is closing today, but I'd rather stay below that to compensate for shipping costs. I think probably $725 is the highest I'd like to go. It's at $490 this morning with 2 days to go so could easily outpace my limit by then.