Brother!

As I was finishing the binding on the Disney quilt, my Elna started making an odd noise, very similar to the one it made before I took it in for service last summer.  It has had an average amount use since it came back from service.  I opened it up and did a thorough cleaning.  Sunday I cut out pieces for one of my blocks of the month - I'm behind a month and wanted to spend the day catching up.  When I started sewing, the metal-on-metal grinding noise became more and more excruciating, and I just couldn't continue.   I'll take it to my local quilt shop where a guy from "up north" will pick it up eventually and repair it (I hope).  This will be a different person from the last repair.

I sewed 12 flying geese by hand, thinking all the while about what to do next.   I gave my old backup machine to my niece, so how would I endure 4-6 weeks without a machine?  Clearly, I couldn't.  So I started hunting around for lighter, less expensive machines, both new and used, and settled on a new Brother from Walmart.   I didn't even have to go to the store; it could be delivered free to my house.

Although I would have preferred a mechanical machine like a Featherweight, this SQ9825 is computerized and comes with quilting feet and the ability to drop the feed dogs.  The harp is teensy but will be fine for smaller projects or quilt as you go.  I ordered it Monday, and it came on Tuesday.  It was easy to set up, and there were quite a few online videos about it.  It is light enough to carry to classes.

Today I put Brother through its paces, finishing the 24" block of the Barn Star Sampler, the first block of February's five.  There's no automatic thread cutter, but I coped.  It has an automatic threader, but I can't figure it out yet - I never could on my Elna either.  Getting a scant 1/4" seam required a piece of tape that I've been using on the Elna now and then.  And the machine sews smoothly, quietly and in a straight line which is most important to me.  The LED light is almost useless, but I have good extra lighting.