Hi everyone! Thanks for the encouragement. I have to say I spent the day tearing my stash apart, and found things I'd forgotten I had. Isn't that always the way? But just playing with the fabrics made me feel so much better, and now I have all the fabrics I need picked out to finish a log cabin quilt I was working on when the machine broke. I had finished the blocks in the other colors, and knew I had enough related colors so they'd blend but look different, which is what I was trying to achieve, because this is the border. But I'd never pulled them out of my stash. So now I have some washing and pressing to do. I partly dry my fabrics outside, and adore the smelling of pressing fresh cloth with that outdoor smell. Makes the pressing go so much faster, and if the fabric never goes in the dryer, it still has "body" to it. Which means lighter starch when I get around to cutting it.
And I have my stash to reorganize. I just bought a shelving unit off Craig's list, beautiful and cheap. and I can finally get things out of boxes and out where I can see them! I can see I'm going to enjoy this part!
And I can get the house cleaned. I have guests coming for Thanksgiving. We just moved here in April. I still have boxes in there that either need to be unpacked or stored.
The machine that broke is a Brother Sewing Machine. It was one of the cheap models. Less than $200. I hadn't even looked at sewing machines in over 30 years. Didn't know what I was doing. Didn't realize anything this cheap was mostly plastic and made in a 3rd world nation. I just knew money was tight because we were moving, and I desperately wanted a sewing machine. The sales man had the gall to tell me it was an "industrial strength" model, sewed through anything. Heck, it wouldn't even stitch through a thin quilt! Every time I tried to quilt something, I broke needles and jammed up the bobbin. So the word is, if the price sounds too good to be true, it is. There are some great Brother Sewing machines out there, but if you buy one, make sure it's made out of metal, the face plate is metal, the bobbin cover is metal, the inner workings are metal, and it costs more than $200! The repair fellow told me that I overheated the machine when I was quilting because it was working so hard, and warped some of the plastic innards. That wouldn't have happened if they'd been made of metal, or if the motor had been up to the task.
All I've heard about Janome has been awesome, and in fact, I went out and sewed on 4 different models before I made my choice, and I mean I was there for 2 hours, putting them through their paces. It was awesome! Love that machine!
So I will play with and organize my stash, get the fabrics ready for the log cabin blocks, make plans for my next project, and I can start pulling from my stash for that, and even start some cutting. And of course, I can get the house ready for guests and Thanksgiving. Sounds like I'm going to be a busy lady!
I knew I would find understanding here. Thanks ever so much!