Congratulations on a great find. I have an older Brother, which I picked up free at the swap table at the local incinerator - people dropped off things they no longer wanted or needed and you could take home what you wanted. Someone was coming up the stairs with this sewing machine in it's original carton, he said it still worked, but his wife no longer sewed. I have to come clean, as I originally got the machine for my daughter, however, my Janome needed some time at the dealer's, so it became my backup. When I did offer it to her, she said to keep it because I was still using it. It is nice to have it as a backup, it works great and I actually like the zig-zag stitch better than the one on my Janome. By the way, the blocks are lovely. I think your sons will have fun learning to sew on this machine.