12/1/22

Getting Started

Happy December, my friends! Is it just me, or was November excruciatingly long? Maybe it was because we'd only just arrived home from a trip at the beginning of the month. Or maybe it was hassling with contractors that made the month seem so long. By the way, remember when I told you they would be here to finish the baseboards about two weeks ago? Would it surprise you to know the baseboard are still not finished? The story was that they hadn't come in at Lowe's. They even had someone at Lowe's call us to tell us it wasn't the fault of the contractor. Well...it scarcely matters whose fault it is. The baseboards still are not finished. Just before I sat down here, they called to say they would be here tomorrow. And if you believe that, then I have some beachfront property in Idaho I'll sell you at a steal of a price...emphasis on the "steal" part of the price.

In excellent customer service news, we arrived home from the grocery store yesterday to find this brand spanking new Le Creuset Dutch oven sitting at our front door.


So here's the story behind this: If you know anything about Le Creuset Dutch ovens, then you might know they carry a lifetime warranty. Mine had developed a small chip in the enamel at the bottom. I knew the chip was there, and I knew it was probably covered under the warranty. Also, I felt pretty sure and certain that trying to collect on the warranty would be a major hassle, and so I just kept using it. 

Well, the last time I used it, the chip became larger...nickel-sized, I'd estimate, and then it was clear I couldn't continue to use it without worrying about enamel bits in our food. Here's the picture I sent them: 


Please ignore all that discoloration. I've been using it for 16 years, and the interior has permanently darkened after so many years of soups and stews. We used to try keeping the interior white by soaking it in bleach and other methods. We finally gave up and let it follow its own dreams. 

Anyway...it's a pretty bad chip. So I looked into making good on the lifetime warranty, expecting it to be a painus in the anus. As it turns out, it was refreshingly simple. You can read an article about someone else's experience right here, but it was even easier for me. In that writer's experience, she was required to send the old one back to the manufacturer for their inspection and approval. I only needed to provide three pictures along with my online claim form. Although they told me to allow a week for a response, I received a response the same day, and the promise of a new one to be shipped soon. When we arrived home yesterday...there it was! Wow! Amazing! And after dealing with unreliable and dishonest contractors for the past year, I was pretty darned happy to receive such excellent customer service.

In fact, I was so happy, I decided to bake some more biscotti to celebrate. (FYI, it was not baked in the new Dutch oven. Silly you.) This is Pistachio-Cranberry Biscotti


It was late in the day before I thought about doing any sewing. I'll admit I'm dragging my feet at getting started on my challenge piece. It's another collage applique piece. They are completely engrossing once I get started. It's the "getting started" part where I get hung up. Today I told myself I'd set a timer for one hour. When time is up, I'll probably want to continue. If not, I'll get going on quilting the Trashy Triangles quilt. 

Knowing I'd made this bargain with my procrastinator self, I decided to get the machine set up, adjusted, and ready for quilting. As a reminder, here is what the Trashy Triangles quilt looks like. It was made from bonus triangles collected over many years of quilt-making. It is one of just four quilts in my "trashy series" so far.


With so many colors on both the front and back, I wanted to use a variegated thread. Shopping through my many spools, I came out with these two that were gifts from my quilting fairy godmother, Ila. Thank you, Ila.


It's a 40-weight thread, and I'll use it on both top and bottom.


So I cleaned and oiled the machine, switched to a new needle, and then went to work adjusting the tension. Smitty helped with that.


When we had everything set up to his satisfaction, he gave me the go-ahead.

You may purrceed.


While it was tempting to do straight line zig-zag quilting, I decided to quilt it with my go-to flying geese motif. I saw this on Pinterest some time ago, and now it's a frequent choice for quilting this shape.


I'm sorry I can't give credit to the person who created this diagram originally. I've done an image search for it, and the only things I can find do not identify the creator. Nevertheless, this quilter thanks you.

So I counted the rows of half-square triangles by twos and found where the middle of the quilt would be if I'm quilting two vertical rows of half-square triangles at a time. (I hope that makes sense.) And then, I gave it a go, just barely getting started on the quilting.


It looked good both front and back, and so I left it there, needle down, awaiting my return...hopefully, sometime today.


And this being December 1st, it's time to choose a goal for


Quilting and binding Trashy Triangles will be my goal for December's OMG. When I sign off here, I'll head over to the linky party that starts today.

Snow is falling outside. We're expecting a couple of inches. It's a good day to stay inside and sew, and that is exactly what I'm going to do.

11 comments:

Barbara said...

Great customer service does not come by chance. It is the result of training and ensuring there are enough assistants to serve the customers. ~ Theo Paphitis

Jenny said...

Lucky you getting a replacement on your 16 year old cooking pot. Who would have known that a life time guarentee really means that, I was expecting you to say that the lifetime turned out to be 10 years or so, according to the manufacturer.

Kate said...

It's nice that the company honored it's warranty. So many have those little restrictions on them that just make them difficult to deal with. You've go some fun projects in the works. If it's snowing, it's definitely a good time to stay and stitch.

Katie said...

I feel like November flew by, so maybe it's just you? But I don't mind the colder months going fast - I'm no fan of the cold and snow, so faster is better! Another positive customer service experience happened here where I called my dentist late Monday, leaving a message as I had some tooth pain. While by no means debilitating, I wanted to get ahead of this. They called me back 15 minutes later (I'm not sure the last time a doc called me back after I'd only left a message) AND had a cancellation they could fit me into Tuesday evening. So sometimes things work in our favor...sometimes...

Karen said...

My November flewwwww by ! Sorry yours didnt. Course I don't have a year long contractor job under my nose. I just have pets and leaves to contend with. Our snow was here, but is gone now. Whew !
Actually got to sew some today!!

Christine said...

I am in shock that December is here already!!! I must be getting old for time to go so fast....
Love that good old fashioned customer service.... Enjoy your new pot, planting up the old one or is it now storage? Just wondering....

Susan said...

Maybe it is just your corner of the world that is in a time warp. My calendar didn't know if it was Nov. 31 or Dec. 1. Really! It has Nov. 31 on Thursday. When I flipped to the December page, Thursday is Dec. 1. I was beginning to think I had that jingle about "30 days has Sept...." wrong. I think it has been the long drawn out chaos of your basement disaster that made November seem long. I do hope that gets resolved before Christmas (of course that would be a nice Christmas present). Kudos to the Le Creuset Dutch Oven company for their A++ customer service.

piecefulwendy said...

Good to know about LeCreuset. I have quite a few of their casserole dishes, but I'll admit I bought them at discount. Anyway, I love them and wish I would've known about them from the get-go. What a fun thing to come home too! Ila sure sends you some cool threads, and I'm liking that quilt (and backing). Next week I hope to get moving on my challenge quilt; I'm dragging a bit on it as usual.

SJSM said...

We are so surprised by good customer service. That is quite a statement regarding our trust in companies and their products. I started collecting some Le Crueset in the last couple of decades. I do love their pots, griddles and pans. Nothing is so comforting as smelling a long simmering dinner in the afternoon and knowing dinner is well under way.

Setting up your next quilting project so you can seamlessly go from one project to the next makes a good sewing day.

Rebecca Grace said...

That quilt of yours is way too beautiful to have "trashy" in its name!! I love YLI variegated cotton quilting thread, and I love my Le Creuset, too! And yes, ours has the stained interior to prove that we've been cooking delicious stews and roasts in it for 25 years, too. Glad they took care of you with that warranty!

Sandy Panagos said...

Not one thing surprises me about contractors and home improvements. Good luck with your OMG. It's going to be so pretty!