Nice to meet you, Randy! You sound like me...all over the known world plus some. I like what you wrote about the older sewing machines, they're built like solid rock. And they're works of art. There's beautiful goldleaf stencil on the old Singer in the sewing room, and I've got sticker shock beyond belief from looking at these computerized wonders on the market today. Tomorrow may be the day I take the plunge and pick up the Bernina, tho. Watch them come out with the latest and the greatest ever model on Monday...just my luck! But I need another solid workhorse of a machine. I put 'em through the tortures of heck... :twisted: