Congratulations on you retirement. Enjoy! And welcome from Utah.

I recently did a lot of looking at the Janome 1100SE, the SE is more advanced than even the 1100, and a new model is coming in September as mentioned above. While the 1100SE has all the embroidery magic that you could ever imagine and is much more user friendly than the older versions of embroidery machines...keep in mind that it has built in quilting stitches and designs. It stipples a few different patterns as well as doing straight quilting stitches and they all look like they are done by hand. It has the larger throat are as well, a boat load of decorative stitches and much much more than I can even think of right this moment. There is much info on the All Brands site. Price is not listed but I've seen the 1100 on ebay at around $3K so it's probably in that price range. While I'm not sure I would use the embroidery function all that much myself, while studying the 1100SE I had a strong feeling that it would be the last machine I would ever need to buy. Good luck in your decision!!

Rose L

Welcome to the sewing / quilting world again.

does not matter what you start your new/ renewed life with.. but do use the new tools on the quilt displays, "pizza cutter" = rota blade, templates of all shapes, small rubber discs to grab stubborn needles as you hand stitch.. brows this are of the fabric store. OH and the rubber tipped finger breathable gloves LOVE them..

It is all up to what you want to do, that is how you chose your sewing machine.

I have enjoyed my return! Hope you do too !

Ell

I am newly retired too after 40 years in state government. I bought a new Viking Husqvarna Diamond Deluxe. It is embroidery and quilting; has a 10 inch harp. It was my retirement gift to myself; had to rob the IRA but hey, what are IRA's for....retirement! I am really enjoying my newly found freedom.

I am still using my Pfaff 262 I bought brand new in 1968 at Oscar Snowden's on Congress Ave., downtown Austin. It is on the right in my avatar. Just finished FMQ one side to a tote bag on this ol' gal. Great machine! I even use the embroidery cams once in a while too, especially if I have something going on the Pfaff 2170 (on the left) embroidery wise. I still have lots to learn on the Viking Diamond Deluxe but it is awesome! It just came out this May.
Vernell in Austin

Waving High And Wide From Missouri...........I love my Berninas and would not trade them for another brand. However, I imagine most quilters would say the same for what they are now using.

My little 240 is great to carry to/from meetings and Project Linus Sew days; my 440QE I sold to my best friend and we now sew together weekly. My big machine is from the new Series8 and, while it is touchy with link in the automatic cutter, I love it. I got the one without the embroidery feature because I want to freehand motion quilt more than anything. It has plenty of embroidery straight-line stitches, designs and lettering anyway. Very expensive yet extremely durable for my numerous hours of sewing daily. Good luck finding what you want and welcome back to an old hobby.

A very warm welcome from South Florida. Not knowing anything about the machine, I would probably check things out in the COnsumers Report book to see what they have to say, and ask questions about that particular machine from an authorized dealer if you have one near you.
Smarter to be an educated consumer then jump into something you are not sure about.

Hello and welcome from Very WARM North Texas :)

Hello and Welcome to the board :D:D:D