More agonizing

If you haven't noticed, I agonize over decisions, even the minor ones. Well, I've been agonizing over sewing machines since I began this hobby. I have a bottom-of-the-line, 1987 Singer. Which in some aspects is fine - a quilter only needs basic stitches, and that year had a decent throat size, much larger than current models. But in other aspects, not so good. Apparently, Singer made crappy machines that year. That decade, among others. Lots of plastic inner parts to wear out. Where this is evident for me is with my tension. Not long after I started quilting, my tension started giving me fits & in fact, the whole tension knob would just fall off with the vibration of the machine. So I took it to a repairman who assured me he could fix it, and he did $109 later. So me and my machine hummed along just fine until about a month ago when I noticed my tension was getting off again. It would start looking like the top thread was perfectly straight - laying on top of the fabric. I turned the knob all the way down to 2, the stitches looked just fine, and I decided to play Scarlett O'Hara & just worry about that tomorrow - I can't think about that today.

Well, tomorrow just came. Saturday I was innocently walking thru my Joann's store, heading toward the clearance fabric rack, when I was stopped dead in my tracks by this:

I commented on what a beautiful machine it was and the sales lady was all too happy to tell me that it was on sale for $450, down from $599. Wait, three digits? But it has a 7" throat - I didn't think you could get more than 5" unless you were willing to get into 4 digits. So I drug my husband in and forced him to look at it, and then I went home to agonize some more. I've spent a lot of time online researching it, and today I went to three different sewing machine stores - where I learned that one is going to be renting out time on their long arm for just $10 an hour!!!! But I digress. One confirmed what I already suspected, that my machine was going to continue to need repairs to keep the timing and tension in line and all three confirmed what I previously thought - that you can't get a throat over 5" without paying the big bucks. The internet gave me the assurance that this machine is solidly built with a metal frame, and allowed me to find it for $377 with free shipping. It also had a handy little field for entering my credit card number, which I did quickly.

I have a quilt all basted up and waiting on it!