Waiting Impatiently

Although I toted my sewing machine with me, from Michigan to DC, it's broken. It was broken when I left the Mitten State and remains broken. I think it's fixable, but it's not worth the money to fix it. I took it with me in case someone could easily fix it or I magically figured out how to do so.

My never-named but loyal machine served me well for about 6 years. My grandma gave it to me as she had it but wasn't using it (to be honest, I don't know why she had it because I never saw her sew). It was a low-end Brother, but it worked well for me. I want to reiterate this point: I grew tremendously as a sewer, quilter, and bag-maker while using a low-end, very basic machine. I bought a darning/free-motion quilting foot, but aside from that didn't alter or add a thing. I found that it really didn't like bobbins that didn't come with the machine, so I stuck with the 4 originals. To the new quilters and sewists out there: you can do a lot with a basic machine. If you're just starting out, use what you have access to or can easily afford. You can learn a lot without the bells and whistles.

That said, when I realized I would need to acquire a new (or new-to-me) machine, I decided it was time for an upgrade. I'm at the point in sewing and quilting where I can reasonably consider a machine a worthy investment and an item worth spending money on (which says a lot as my family knows that I'm notoriously frugal when it comes to buying things). I admit that it helped that when I returned home, I discovered that the bank account into which I deposited my high school and college job earnings contained more savings than I realized.

When it comes to big-ticket items, my decision-making process is a hybrid of my mom and dad. My mom is a pretty quick decision-maker; my father likes to deliberate. I like to research until my gut tells me something is the right option for me, research it some more, sleep on it knowing I've mostly made a decision, check a few more websites in the morning, and then commit. In this case, I dwelled with the Janome MC4400 for a couple days. It had the features I wanted, I found it for the right price, and it just felt right. When I read Rashida's review, I knew it was the one. But I still needed some confirmation or a touch more reassurance. When Rashida affirmed that she still loves her machine a few years later, I was sold.

So then I ordered it, which became a saga unto itself. And so I wait, rather impatiently for it to arrive. As this post is getting pretty long and wordy, I'll save the saga for my next post, as I wait a couple more days for UPS to get a machine to me, via my parents' house...

On a more positive note, I received good news this week, via its own circuitous route through my spam folder. I got into...