Sorry about your machine. It's hard to loose a trusted friend.
I agree with thepolyparrot and recommend the Singer 15-91. Bought mine at a garage sale for $50.
Needed only a little cleaning. The manuals are downloadable that include service information to take of the machine, parts are fairly easy to find, severals places on line to order from. I would get you through the Christmas sewing you are talking about without a lot of money, and you will have a machine that will work for you forever. Mine was made in 1951.
Then later if you do want a zigzag with other stitches, you will have more $$ to spend on that one more modern machine.
Good Luck!

Unfortunately, I purchased this machine before I was educated about sewing machines and their pieces/parts. This one is a brother cs6000i and I swore by this machine and all it could do for a very cheap price. I used it for 4 years and loved it everyday....until it locked up. Repairman says the price of the parts to fix is more than the machine itself. Sooooo....off to do some test driving today! You can be sure that I will give that salesman a thorough list of questions....LOL.[/quote]

The new machines [think white plastic] that can be purchased for under a couple hundred dollars are designed to be replaced in a few years, not repaired.
I agree, a vintage machine like a classic Singer 15, 66, 99, 201, 301, 401 and a few others can be purchased for what you would pay for a new 'cheapie,' and will last much longer.

Now, that's a real bummer. Good luck in findig another machine. It's just too close to Christmas to go without a machine, don't you think?

GOOD ADVICE!

If budget is an issue, you might consider one of the shopping networks, like QVC or HSN....they have the easy payment where you can split your payments up into 4...maybe that would ease your budget a bit?

I love my Singer slant needle 401A. It's a tank and I have quilted several full size quilts on it. Good luck finding what you like and need.

This is the best reason for all of us to have at least two machines in working order !

Rest in peace....

Either a vintage Singer or a Janome 6600P. The Janome has a 9" throat area and you can get a lot of quilt in there.

Rose...so sorry to hear about your machine...thats why its so important to have a stand-by machine for emergencies as yours.....I learned my lesson 2 years ago.....I thought my whole world came to an end losing my best friend okay a machine lol.....but anyways I did so much research on machines online and nearly went crazy and I finally said okay...Iam going to go buy a machine thats not to expensive and after I finish my projects and the holidays are over I will find me a machine that does what I need and want....I ended up buying a brother sewing machine its a sewing horse for me it does everything except pick out my fabric and I only spent $200.00........after the holidays I continued my search and I bought the Singer Quartet from HSN what a wonderful machine......it embroiders....fmq....quilts and so many other things....hyperfonts....omg Iam still learning so much with this machine.....but know what I still love my brother its light I can carry it to the quilt shop and it does a lot too...so now if anything happens atleast I know I have a backup...whew hope I havent made you crazy lol...hope this has helped you in some way...everyone has different likes and dislikes with sewing machines I always say its like buying a car and hope you get a good one...good luck and god bless.....Trish