Woe is me.

So, my sewing machine broke. Finally. I've had a plastic Singer Confidence that I purchased at JoAnn's nearly 4 years ago. The feed dog lever went down and just never went back up, I'm guessing some kind of spring broke. I have been wanting to upgrade for so so long but couldn't do it if I have one working just fine. Just couldn't justify spending that kind of money. I even took it in to get repaired, but the sewing center in Arlington Heights charges a whopping $120 for a tune-up, plus repairs (!!). Last December, the good folks at Sewing Concepts in Carpentersville only charged me $75 for a tune-up, cleaning, and fixed my timing issue. The Arlington Heights shop also wanted $12.99 for a yard of Lotta's new fabric.. and the store was clearly booming. Ahhh, I will never understand these things. There must be a very short supply of sewing machine technicians in the area.

Anyways, what the heck do I do now?? I have a Necchi Supernova on my table. The motor hums, but the needle doesn't move, even when I engage the flywheel. I'm guessing there's a belt problem. Either way, I certainly don't want to put more money down on it, so it's going back to the thrift store tomorrow. They charged a high price for it because they claimed it worked, but clearly it does not.

So, what to do. Scour Craigslist for an old Kenmore for $50? I'm supposed to "hold over" until February and then I can get "whatever machine I want" for my birthday. Does my DH not realize how far away February is??? I have my eye on a Juki 2010Q or a Pfaff QE 4.0.

I don't see myself going for more than a week without a machine.

In the meantime, I've dug out my sketch book and will focus on designing. And cleaning the house, I guess.