I am so darn ticked off!! Something happened to my machine last weekend and it is broken and now in the shop. I wasn't very pleased with my owner's manual. It doesn't really show how to clean and oil it well and I've been so scared of breaking it trying to do it myself, so I send it in for maintenance once a year.

I've pieced more in the last 15 months than I have in my whole quilting "career". I'm in the middle of piecing a 25 block sampler for my DH for our anniversary this year (our tenth), I have all this pretty boy scout fabric I just ordered for a signature wall hanging cut out and ready to go.

I have been piecing 2 days a week 4 months in a row last year, and again from January this year working on my projects. Now I have no machine. I don't know what happened to it. I don't know how much it's going to cost or when I'm going to get it back.

I feel like I'm going stark raving mad!! I cut all my pieces for the next few piecing sessions, that didn't help. I redid my list of things I need to buy soon and things that can wait a while yet. I've looked through patterns. I've hand mended some of the older quilts around here. I don't have a quilt in the frame yet cause the DH quilt isn't completely pieced yet.

Hubby told me when I get this one out to take an old one my late MIL gave me, get it serviced and in the house so I am never without a machine again. He thinks I'm nuts and I'm right behind him. Have any of you felt like this? What helps you?

have you verified that the heirloom machine doesn't work?

i'd be fiddlin' with it whether it did or not. if it did, i'd be a-piecin'. if it didn't, i'd be tryin' to figure out why and bullyin' it back into action. :lol:

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.

I have two sewing machines and just love it. I am never without!

I have 2 machines. When 1 seems to be getting tired I switch them out so I always have 1 to use.

She gave it to me about 8 years ago. Garage Sale purchase. No manual or anything. It wouldn't sew and I was incredibly naive, so had a shop fix it and spent what it would have cost to get a new machine. I thought she was going to kill me. I stopped using it because it's 50 pounds and I can't heft it around by myself. Hubby's project for tomorrow is pulling it out of the garage so I can reaquaint myself. I'm hoping to get to fiddlin' with it tomorrow.

Hubby did promise me a day of thrift stores tomorrow to ease my agitation from lack of piecing. I might just take him up on that offer.

Haven't had it that bad, only a little when I was sick again recently and had noo energy or a lucid thought so I could quilt.

I went through a similar situation this year. I learned the importance of having a second back-up machine. Now I've got 2 so when one is getting it's tune up I'm all set. Good luck.

I have 4 backup machines and 3 more that I need to get serviced. LOL

Simple solution, buy a portable machine. Sears has excellent ones for under $100.