I'm glad you had your aha! moment (but how frustrating in the meantime). I agree that tools (and fabric) really do matter. I had a rotary cutter that was always catching on the sides of my rulers. I bought a new rotary cutter for a completely different reason, and I've never had that problem with the new one. Don't know why it made a difference, but it sure did, and now I'm not ruining my rulers by nicking them.

I was fortunate in that my machine was originally bought in part, for my small business so I was able to get the brother dream machine. Quite a machine to learn on! The only thing it lacks is the ability to glide over really really thick stuff. I wish I had a juki for that.

Hi Phyllis,

Mind sharing which machines you have? I'm looking to add a straight stitch machine. Thanks!

Lynda

Now that I live alone and my time and space is my own, my back gives me trouble and it's tough to quilt for more than 15 - 30 minutes at a time without retreating to my LazyBoy.

I have had a lot of back pain from whip lash, slip and falls at work, and uneven muscle use (from always carrying trays with my right arm) making my back get out of alignment. When I started riding my bike instead of driving a car, I found that it gently strengthened the muscles of my lower back enough that it quit hurting most of the time, and is less easily strained when lifting things. It's hard to explain how such disparate things influence each other, so I just figure it's that "knee bone's connected to the ... ankle bone" thing, lol.

I agree with you. I have had many sewing machines in the past: Neechi, Singer, Bernina, Janome, Juki and Viking. None of them sewed the same. All were good sewing machines for their time, and they all had their quirks, but none of them sewed alike.

You have to be really careful when buying some of the new, less expensive sewing machines they have on the market these days. They may sew well at first, but after a while, they will sew terribly. At the senior center, where I sew, a lot of the elderly ladies are getting these lighter weighing sewing machines and they work fine for a while, then the stiches don't sew right or they skip stitches, they won't sew over thick seems and worse. They end up buying another sewing machine and pay even more money. As they say, "Buyer beware!"

Unfortunately

Unfortunately, mine is from Arthritis and the strong meds take me on a trip of neasua etc, so I have to just stick it out. I have a whole bunch of braces and they sometimes give me another 10 minutes or so, but when the back hurts there is nothing like my LazyBoy. Going shopping is a trip! I can't wait to get home. At least I'm still on my feet and can walk. Grateful for the little things. :-)

Ditto. I can't sew for more than a few minutes now. The back won't tolerate longer. My rollator is my best friend. I do try to do some limited mending and do make a small quilt every now and then, but I have one quilt with all the blocks finished but the construction is difficult. Guess one of the grand girls will finish it.

I "upgraded" a machine years ago only to find out that it was a horrible beast in real life. It got so bad (noise level of the machine and bad words used by me) that DH insisted that I trade her in for a different model. Didn't just switch models, I switched brands. Now we are "purring" along in sweet harmony.