Christmas came early...

One of these pretties is now sitting in my sewing room with a bobbin wound and ready to go. If you've been reading my recent posts, you may recall I have had some challenges with bobbins and tension and borrowed machines, always at the worst times when I was trying to finish a gift or build an inventory for the craft show.

My hubby suggested earlier in the year that I should just buy a new machine...likely after he heard me "talking" to the malfunctioning machine and telling it where I would like to throw it. I thought I would hold-off at that point to make sure I was really going to keep up with the sewing. At this point, I'm committed to sewing (and amassing a fabric stash....) and really need a functioning machine.

This one should fit my needs. It has some great features - automatic buttonholer, needle up/down button, locking stitch, 50 stitches (more than I really need), speed control, computerized stitch length for consistency, etc. It does a blind hem stitch and smocking and has some decorative stitches that should be nice for garment sewing.

I purchased from Sew-Ezy a local quilt shop which is, as far as I can tell, the only Janome dealer in Cincinnati. The women at the shop were so helpful and took time to show me features and benefits and let me sew a little. A machine purchase from the shop includes classes that I am excited about. [Just another reason to buy local as often as you can....]

After I've sewn with this for a month or so, I'll be sure to write a review here. The blog posts and online reviews I found during my research were so helpful. I don't make a major purchase anymore without a little help from google!