New Toy!!

After the scare of my sewing machine almost crapping on me before Christmas, it decided to start for real the other night.  Nessie came over for an evening of sewing to work on the Harry Potter house quilts on Thursday.  She was sitting on the floor cutting fabric while I assembled some of my plaid squares.  I paused to adjust my material and heard the faintest *pop*.  I thought it was possibly my tummy telling me I shouldn't have had so much coffee and let it pass.  When I paused a second time I heard *pop pop sizzle snap pop sizzle* coming from the ground.  Realizing that this was not digestive issues, I picked up my foot pedal.  It was HOT!  Turns out there was a short in the pedal causing it to go off when in use.

I consulted a friend in the MLHS who is our resident expert on all things sewing.  She advised she had a similar thing happen and managed to re-wire her machine and it worked fine.  I tend to be somewhat of a magnet for bad luck and decided that a 12 year gap in any soldering or electrical work was not the best idea.  The other option was to take it to her sewing machine guy to have him repair it.  I paid $25 for the machine two years ago and knew that repairs would be more than the initial cost.  The machine only does straight stitching and as my creativity evolves it was only time before I would need a new machine.

I had to pick up some things at Walmart tonight and decided to stop by the craft section and drool over the shiny new machines. (The 3 I've had in my life have always been used).  Wait...what's this!  A Brother sewing machine on sale for $99!  This must be too good to be true.  Sure enough, some poor associate failed to remove the tag from the sale that ended on January 6th. Darn, so close!! It was then that I thanked my Mom for all the little lessons in saving money over the years.  If it's tagged at that price, it must be given to me at that price.  My mind was made up, I was buying the new machine with it's extending table for quilting and 35 stitch option!  What I forgot was that Walmart adheres to the scanning code of practice, and at the register the cashier reminded me that I would also be getting another $10 off for their mistake.  What's more is when I stopped by my parents place for dinner and to show them my wonderful find, they offered to treat me to the machine for all my hard work and deal hunting!  So here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is my BRAND NEW SEWING MACHINE!!!!

It even has beautiful, quilt specific stitches!!

So of course, after unpacking the quilt and giggling like a maniac, I got right down to some sewing.  I got 4 blocks and the first row of the "Home at Last" quilt done!!  I feel like the luckiest girl right now!!

I really love how the beige thread makes it pop!

Four blocks complete and sewn together!

Time to get my ridiculously tired self to bed before work in the morning.  I'm happy that it's only a 4 hour shift, but they frown upon sewing machines at our desks.