Greetings! Seeking your advice...
Greetings Everyone!
Long-time lurker, first-time poster here; love the forum.
May I pick your collective brain a moment? It has so happened that my DH has gifted me a budget of $150 to spend on quilting-related infrastructure (meaning I'm not allowed to just blow it on fabric). Being that I am a reknowned tightwad, I would like to get the most bang for my bucks. There are five options as I see it:
1) Have my Brother CS6000i cleaned and serviced. It's just dusty and dry and will stop running at half speed. The quote I have from the lovely folks at Allbrands is ~$99 plus Suprise Expenses.
2) Purchase a refurbished BrotherCS6000i from Overstock for $135 delivered. Use the other one for parts.
Let me add at this point that I have invested in walking and free-motion feet for this model machine, and it is the only one in my arsenal capable of free-motion quilting and fancy stitches. I have a Riccar c1980s w/o cams which I'm using for straight stitch piecing and SITD QAYG. It also occurs to me that I'm a big girl and really should just clean and oil it myself because a hundred bucks is a lot of money.
3) Purchase the $110 conversion kit for machine embroidery designs for my FREE Brother PE-150 and a 4x4 hoop, stabilizer, thread, etc.
4) Sit on my $150 until craigslist shows a better machine than my basic Brother CS6000i that I can aquire, and continue working on the Riccarasaurus until then.
5) Blow it on fabric anyway.
What would y'all do? Any input y'all have is appreciated. Thanks for reading!