jesirose

My teflon cutting strip came yesterday, along with the carrier sheets I needed - now I can finally do some major cutting! I should have bought some blades too, but I has no more monies. I installed the strip so I will try to cut some stuff later.

Here’s the thing.

The BACK of the machine says:
24V — 1.875A

Yet the power adapter reads
24V — 2.0A

While it might seem like no big deal to round 1.875 to 2.0, I was always told not to use an adapter that is NOT the same. So when I checked the cord that I THOUGHT was my CR cord and saw the numbers were wrong, that is when I started looking for the right one. Having not found it after a month, I decided to buy a new one. After all the trouble I went through I get the new cord and plug it in and find out I had the freaking thing the whole time, but since the two are labeled differently that whole ordeal cost me $50 not to mention all the phone calls and emails. I realize I could have just tried the cord that I thought went with it, but I didn’t want to risk damaging it by using the incorrect ampage. Why the heck are they not the SAME like every other electronic device known to man?

I sent the above back to the company because I was seriously pissed about this. The reply I got:

“Sorry you had so much trouble. I hope all goes well now.”

*sigh*

I have a Craft Robo. It cuts paper. Sounds exciting right? Well, the cool thing is that I plug it into the computer, and can cut any shape, font, whatever I can draw in Visio, etc. Sounds more exciting now, right? It has some downsides. The blades don’t last that long, and if you run paper through without the carrier sheet just once, the cutting mat gets ruined. It also doesn’t cut cardstock that’s actually CARDSTOCK, but just thicker paper.

I used it pretty heavily for a while, then needed new blades and a mat and didn’t replace them for a while. So we painted the office a while back. Moved everything out, and back in. For weeks the Craft Robo was sitting on my desk, with a USB cable and power adapter next to it. I go to plug it in about a month ago, and low and behold - that power cord was NOT for the Robo!! No biggie, I go to look in the closet where Colin has drawers FULL of nothing but power cords. Not a single one was it! It uses some funky volt numbers and my robo power cord has dissappeared into thin air.

I figured surely I can’t be the first person to lose the power cord, somewhere in the corners of the Web there must be a store with some. Since Graphtec (the makers of the CR) don’t have an online store, you have to go through retailers. Nope, no stores had a power cord.

Now, Graphtec has more websites than I do. The actual Robo site’s support section has no contact info. So I went to the main site and found some options. When I found the list of numbers for American Sales, I also found another site.

I emailed them a few times with no response. I called them and left a message. A week later I hadn’t gotten a call back, so I called and got the machine again. I called the next day, same thing. Repeat. 6 messages. I didn’t get a call back until today, when I had called this morning and left a message that must have contained the F word a few times. The person I spoke to said their phones and email were having problems and was very apologetic. So I said okay, I just needed to get this part. He transferred me to their receptionist who couldn’t find the part number, and she sent me to tech support. Which went to voicemail. I left a message and called right back, and got the same people. They sent me BACK to the voicemail. I called back AGAIN and explained that since THEY called me back in the first place, I didn’t want to leave any more messages. It’s not like I wanted something for free, or needed to fix the machine. I just wanted to buy a part.

They finally got the part from tech support, and took my payment info. Hopefully it will get here soon. The tech support guy said he’s worked there 20 years and never had someone need to order a power cord. I find that hard to believe - someone else HAS to have lost their power cord - I guess they all just bought a new machine. I considered buying the new model but I really can’t afford to pay $300 because I lost a $40 part. (Also, the machine isn’t 20 years old, so it’s not like he’s been doing support for the CR 20 years.)

When the freaking thing finally gets here I’ll go nuts on cutting and post stuff for my lovely readers to see just why I really wanted the stupid cord.

Check out ALL THESE PIECES! And my artsy close up focused shots.

I even sewed the first star. Only one corner is a bit crooked. I think it’s good. The time and effort I took cutting these exactly perfect REALLY paid off! I can’t WAIT to see more of this quilt.

Whew! This quilt has a TON of blocks! I’ve cut out about a third of them so far.

Photos coming

Today Sadie finally responded to the Kennel command. She BOLTED into the bedroom and into her kennel and stared at me. It was awesome. She repeated for me and Colin. The golden training tool? The clicker and a carton of 100% Freeze Dried Liver Treats by Gimborn

It’s a bit pricey but the carton is pretty big and if you have sharp fingernails or a serrated kitchen knife, it’s easy enough to cut them up and double or triple your treats. They are huge.

Sadly, she’s still not relearned “Sit”. Her down is awesome and it’s become her default behavior, but every time I try to capture sit, it becomes a down right as I click! A bit frustrating.

She is also learning “Go to bed!” thanks to Lizzie’s mom’s suggestion. She has learned if I point at the bed she should run into it, but then she just gets back out Silly dog!

In general I had a pretty bad day, but I did pick up the new fabrics for my next quilt. This is a surprise for my grandparent’s 50th anniversary.

Silly me, when I chose this pattern I didn’t read the cutting instructions. The squares are 1.5″ x 1.5″ - holy mole! I have to cut over 1000 squares for this. I lost my rotary cutting grid so I am going to pick a new one up tomorrow as I cannot cut all of these without it. I’ll go nuts.

Pretty, isn’t it?! I tried to get some accurately colored photos of the fabric to share, but if the colors look weird - they look better in person. I had help from experienced quilters They didn’t have enough neutrals so I went for green and gold too. They look awesome in person.

And here is the one I made for Mom and Dad’s 9th anniversary. This is just the top before I quilted and bound (binded? adding the binding? hmmm.) it.