So sorry to hear. Most quilters are amazing and inclusive but I have ran into a couple like that too. Glad you are coming to join us. What a beautiful story of your family's side and how you are building on that now to quilt. Those old machines are the best. I piece on a Feather Weight but have many older machines my hubby bought for me and fixed up. I do not have a 99, it is on my bucket list. You can do the actual quilting on your vintage heavy duty Singer. Just google and you will even have videos coming up.