i would be going nuts too. Hand piecing does help. I have done all the blocks for a rick rack road quilt by hand, it was fun, not something i would do a lot of tho, but it was something i wanted to try. i did all the pieces of the block by hand while i was in a quilt chat in the mornings and evenings, thnk i will sew the pieces together by machine tho. yes definetly having a back up machine is a good idea. i have a back up for my back up now. hang in there hopefully it won't cost to much to fix it.