Oh, Crash, if I could hug you right now, I would :lol: .
I think you may have solved my problem. I think I'm over-basting. I baste with safety pins, and I've been putting them about 1 1/2 inches apart. I can't change that on this quilt (but I'm looking at it again in the light of day, and I don't think it's as bad as I thought, luckily! I think I'm more critical of myself than anyone else would be!), but now I know for the next one. That makes me feel much more confident.
And thank you for the advice on the machine! It will be quite awhile before I am able to buy one (DH and I have put ourselves on the Dave Ramsey plan, and are snowballing some debt and trying to build up a huge down payment for our next house), but I'm starting to look around and get an idea of what I would like. I bought the current machine because I didn't think I'd be using it much - well, it's being used every night and I think it's been used enough to justify the $120 I spent! :D So my DH is actually okay with my saving for a new one since he can see that I'm not about to give up quilting.
Thank you so much for the advice! I'm looking forward to trying it out!