Don't feel bad. I forgot about having it too. Aren't we just a pair. LOL!!

Been there. I run my own business, raising my 11yo DGD, make 4-6 quilts per month, every month, visit 3 hospitals a week, feed 5 in the family,all home cooked. I am 72 yo and dear DR says, "I don't think you have the strength to recover from an operation on your back, so just continue taking pain pills, after all, youndon't have that many more years to worry about". Off to find a new DR, I fired him!

If you really, truly love your current machine, take it to another repairman. You may get a different cost. Probably whatever you replace it with will not be as well made unless it's vintage.

I wouldn't recommend the Brother CS6000i for quilting even though it is advertised as a quilting machine. I purchased one just for quilting and it just simply has a hard time going thru several thicknesses of fabric and batting. I also have an Vintage Singer 201 and 301 both of which I feel are excellent for quilting. I also quilt for charity and make doll dresses for charity. Just my opinion.

I loved reading this thread, and I'm so happy for you that your grandma's machine is such a gem. Happy quilting!

Oops.

You go girl!! Don't let some idiot doctor talk you into an early grave!

That looks exactly like my mother's Singer that I now have. I don't sew on it at all, though. Perhaps I should. She got it new when I was about 5 years old so that would make it 59. Pretty old!

It depends on what your price range is and what kind of quilting you do, there are simple straight stitch machines like the brother 1500or juki 98 run about $600, but if you want fancy stitches but more high end I recommend the babylock symphony or brother laura ashley. I have the older model the espire, and have never been disappointed with the quality or how it handles. Me I always recommend the brothers, some people don't like them others love them, I have had my cheap ones for a long time, one I had for 13 years and gave away to my MIL, Have had my other one for 5 years , still runs great. Had my Espire for a year and a half , no problems with it ever. Also If you are sewing constantly not occasionaly, I recommend something more heavy duty and high end, some of the cheaper machines are not meant for heavy constant sewing, I just sew occasionally. If you want heavy duty it will cost you more. I see people complain about certain machines breaking down, but they are cheap in price to begin with so you can't expect for it to be heavy duty for that price, you have to be willing to spend the money for the higher end machines, look to spend over $500 for something that will last, and even then I have heard of some of those not working after 3-4 years with heavy use. One lady who sews a lot on hear said she purchased a new Janome Jem every 3 years and those run about $400. If you want something built with more metal parts look to spend in the thousands unless your buying vintage many machines have a lot of plastic now, but I suspect that is to make them more lightweight and portable than the all metal machines which can be rather heavy

If you really liked your Singer, there is a repair shop in Dallas, TX that restores embroidery Singers. The reason I know this is that the same thing occurred to a friend of mine. She had her embroidery/sewing machine (Singer) repair for $200.00. Otherwise check out the Husqvarna embroidery/sewing machine. Good luck.