The Power...

So, my old sewing machine finally bit the dust.  It was a Singer that was nearly 30 years old and it had been a floor model before I bought it.  I made a t-shirt quilt and quilted it myself - my first foray into free motion quilting.  Then I pieced and quilted a baby/toddler quilt for my great-nephew.

She's a goner :-(

I finished that one, but when I went on to the next project - practicing for the Free Motion Quilting Challenge, the machine just wouldn't work.  It was making a horrible grinding noise and I couldn't get the tension set right.  I had just had it in for service to the tune of $100.  I don't think the machine is worth that much!

So I went shopping for a new machine and have purchased a beautiful, new Janome 6600 from Marie's Sewing Center in Lockport.  Linda, one of the sales girls there, let me play with one for more than an hour.  I took my own sample fabrics and sandwiches and tried a bunch of different stitches.  It took me another two weeks to decide to plunk down the money, but around Mother's Day, I brought my new baby home.

My new baby!

Now, true to form, I sat down next to my new machine with my 93 page instruction book, and went through everything, step by step.  I got all the way through the table of contents... the parts list... how to plug it in and turn it on... when I came upon page 7, and one of my most hoped for features - the automatic needle up/down button.  Of course I had to try it out so I pushed the button and heard a loud ka-thunk!

Oh no, what had I done?!!  I looked down to find that the needle had, very neatly and easily, penetrated 86 pages of the instruction book!  What power! The needle didn't even break!  I think this machine will have more than enough punch for whatever I'd like to do.

There's a needle hole right above the "i" in finishing...

...all the way through the back cover!

I did tell my husband that it was now impossible for me to return the machine (like I was going to do that!) because I had defaced the book ;-)

I've had the machine for a couple of months now and it is working beautifully.  I did purchase the blue arrow bobbin case for free motion quilting as I was having problems with shredding and breaking threads and I didn't want to mess with the bobbin tension all the time.  It has helped to clear up those problems and I would definitely recommend it.

Now, if the weather would just cool down so my sewing room isn't 100* I could go play.  

Until next time,
Kathy R.