Wow, Gayle, you have had quite the busy summer...and not all good, what with your surgeries! You're not a bad grandma at all! I'm sure that you'll come up with something special for her...and it doesn't have to be a quilt either!
I also understand about machines being repaired too. I have a 40 year old singer, and a year old inexpensive Brother and neither one of them are working right now. It took several days to finish the shoes because the little Brother machine kept freezing up on me and I'd have to turn it off, and wait for several hours for it to reset itself. I guess that's what I get for not investing in a higher level machine. I went to the AQS show here in MI this last week and they had some fantastic machines with special pricing on them. They were so tempting, but it was just too much to take in and I didn't want to make a spur of the moment decision and regret it later! I'm new at this quilting hobby and I don't know what machines are better. There's so much debate about that out there. Everyone has their own favorites. It sounds like you must have a really good machine if it costs that much to repair it. I hope you can get it back soon!