I bought a Singer 99K and decided I didn't want an old machine to take to classes. I didn't want to take my Bernina 830 out of my house. Well, I have the Viking Quilt Design that doesn't weigh too much and I just purchased an acrylic table for it, so I'm done searching for the perfect machine. It has needle up/down and suppose to self thread but that puppy hasn't worked right since I bought it home. I need to take it to my dealer (1/2 hour away) and have him adjust it. It's nothing fancy at all, but just right for classes.
You know, I use to love retreats until the getaway we held ours at went belly up and they decided that the Ascension School in my home town is the perfect place for our retreats. I went the first two years, but it wasn't the same. I had to go home and feed the dogs and once I was home, it was hard to go back. The third year I set up my machine and just stayed during the day and stayed home at night and saved a bunch of money (1 mile from my house ... makes sense to stay home) but didn't even go on Saturday and showed up Sunday to pick up my machine and haven't been back since. Why can't we find a place where no one lives? I walk by the school every day. It's not like a retreat at all to me. Sorry, I'm whining.