New machine for classes and workshops
 

I know it sounds so flagrantly expensive to non quilters but I thought I needed a new machine for taking out to classes etc. so I treated myself to a new Janome txl607 http://janome.co.uk/janome_products/model-txl607/ and I couldn't be more pleased. At 6.5kgs it is within my carrying capacity which my older machine wasn't and it has all the nice little extras that I have on my Elna 730 and miss so much when giving a workshop, you know the needle threader that works, up n down switch, thread cutter etc; etc. all my quilting friends agree that it's money well spent, non quilters look at me as if I gone off my head. I got a good deal, split payments with no interest and the extension popped in for free, I don't drink, smoke, go out to pubs or restaurants, don't even have a toy boy :) so what else should I spend my money on, other than fabric?

No need to justify your purchase to fellow quilters, AKA enablers LOL. Enjoy your new machine.

Good for you for getting what you wanted. I bought an expensive machine a few years ago and my husband would tell people HOW much money I spent on it. So I started telling people that we had to build a new house with a 3 car garage so he could by a boat, motor and trailer and then he had to get a big car to haul it to the river. He no longer talks about my machine!!!

Good for you!!!!!!

Another good for you! I'm planning on getting more machines if I move into the basement (haha!). Good to know too about your new machine. Machines have been furnished in the classes I've taken the last few years, so I haven't had to think much about what to get yet.

I bought the same machine for class just before xmas and I love it. In fact I use her more than my 4 year old Bernina 830 (the diva) I just thought I haven't got a name for the 607 .... I'll have to think on that one.

I just sold mine, lol! It was my class machine too, but I had an opportunity to buy a used Pfaff QE4. I've been totally spoilt with the presser foot auto-pivot and lift feature which I use constantly. I leave the Pfaff at class - it's great having a machine with the same type of bobbins, feet, etc.

I loved my little Janome from the minute it came out the box and thoroughly recommend it! :)

Thank you all for your encouragement and I love the comment about the husband who told about the money spent on your machine and then omitted to tell about the cost of his man toys, typical :)

Knitette I got the machine from my favourite supplier, not that far from you, David Drummond in Edinburgh. Although I live in North Wales now I have always bought my machines from him because of his brilliant service and personal customer card and he is the ONLY one that I send my machines to be serviced as he does them properly. Hows the weather one of my favourite cities? I so miss Scotland.

Good for you. When I started looking for a new machine (my Singer was 30+ years old), I decided on the Bernina Aurora 440QE. When I told my DH it was $3,000, he stopped, took a deep breath, and said that as many guitars as he had bought over the years we've been married, I never said a negative word, so he couldn't complain if the machine was ONLY $3,000. Just one of the many reasons I love the man!

As for having more than one machine, I own 14 (and two sergers). And 7 of them are "take to class" machines. Six of them are Featherweights and I rotate using them. They go to classes where only a straight stitch is required. The seventh has bells and whistles, if the class calls for extras. And I always take two machines to classes, workshops and retreats. You never know when a machine may break down, so better to be safe than sorry.

Quilting addict....I am cursing you right now. I have a Janome Platinum Gem which I adore but I would absolutely love a Janome about the same size with an automatic thread cutter etc. Now you have put this idea in my head Grrrrrr I didn't know there was one that small with a cutter..

You go girl!!!!

Hugs

Caroline

That man could sell snow to Eskimoes, lol. I'm about three hours away. Weather is great just now. Long nay it last!

You sound just like me. I do nothing besides work and watch my grandkids and quilt, emb so I have the Viking Diamond Deluxe and once I got it paid off I got the Ovation Serger by Brother. No finance charges and classes. I gave my daughter my Kenmore/Janome machine that I used to take to class so when my Serger is paid off I'll get me a lightweight to take to classes. Doesn't sound crazy to me at all. You have to enjoy life and some of us just do it in a different way. When my daughter said something to me I told her the same thing when her father used to complain if I bought anything. I don't drink or smoke (they both do) so at least what I spend my money on is not only healthy for me, not damaging my lungs or liver but it'll be here way after all thier booze and cigs are gone. I have something that I can enjoy and it doesn't disappear because it was consummed.

I LOVE my tiny little class machine. I bought it classes, but now I take it everywhere. It will fit in the overhead bin on an airplane!

Having a small light machine to take to classes is wonderful. My husband bought me the Janome AQS a few years exactly for that purpose. We have a group that meets at church every week to make quilts for charity and that's the one I haul there each week. However, it doesn't have a thread cutter!

Are machines different in the UK than the US? I could not find txl 607.

Yes - although the models are often identical, they sometimes have a different name. We also don't have the same amount of model choice (smaller market).

Pfaff and Bernina are the same as they're European, but the Japanese companies - Janome, Brother etc. are different :)

i am convinced that your purchase was not self-indulgent or extravagant.
it was a very practical and cost-effective decision.

i had been carting my MC 8900 around with me because i thought it would be foolish to plunk down some additional hundreds just to have a smaller, lighter machine for sewing away from home.
that changed when i tripped carrying it back into the house several months ago.

the machine landed on the [concrete] floor, and i landed on the machine.
luckily, it survived without a scratch and it still works like it just came out of the box.
i, on the other hand, cracked my sternum and was in a lot of pain for several weeks.
so ... that forced me to think.

if not for dumb luck and the fact that the machine is so well made, i could have had to junk and replace a machine that costs thousands of dollars.
i'd much rather risk having that happen to a machine that costs hundreds.

so i, too, now have a travel machine. :)
i spent the extra $$$ on one that had all the features i do not want to live without.
which means i have a travel machine i enjoy using and am not afraid to haul around, hither and yon.
and my other baby can stay safe, at home. :)

Patrice, what model did you get.

Just an added point, worth remembering. I took my new machine to a class on Monday and put it in a sewing machine trolley which I have but forgot that I to lift in and out of the car, boy did I hurt. Due to a health problem I get in terrible pain when lifting anything heavier than 8 - 10 lbs and the trolley weighed more than that!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow when I go to my other group I am going to carry the machine, with it's cover on and put my other bits n pieces in a shopping trolley that I have in the hope that works better for me. Oh the joys of getting older :(

Ditto what she said and your money isnot going down the drain. You have something to show for it.

I first bought a Brother-13...Q9185. it's very light and was surprisingly inexpensive, given all the features ; comes with an extension table; but does not have the automatic thread cutter.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brother-13...Q9185/29176878

not having the cutter drove me batty so i shopped around some more and then got ...

Brother-PC420PRW-294
I love it!
every bell and whistle i like except a wide throat.
although portable, it is a very solid "dealer quality" machine. good thing it has a proper handle built in. :)
it doesn't come with an extension table, but it does include a fancy-shmancy hard cover.

http://www.amazon.com/Brother-PC420P...sewing+machine