I did not plant any of these flowers. I actually planted parsley and basil in this spot. Obviously the wrong seeds were in those packets. JK. Zinnias, cosmos, and vinca reseed like weeds here. I don’t have much luck with parsley and basil.

I actually pulled those zinnias that are laying across the path. Terry said one of us was going to eventually trip and break a leg.

It’s hot here but I’m still working in the yard. Cause if I didn’t, the real weeds would be taking over. (well, in reality, they already have) And maybe I had too much heat one day and after a particularly aggravating sewing session with my Babylock Unity, I threw my hands in the air and said I give up.

And now I have a Brother PQ1500SL. And here it sits in the box at the moment. Beside the shrouded Babylock.

I tend to procrastinate when I get something new. Even clothes. They have to hang in the closet for a few days, even weeks, before I wear them. I must first consider all purchases very carefully. (Plus Monday through Thursday are usually jammed packed with meetings, music, and volunteering.) I have nothing scheduled for this weekend. Unboxing will commence.

And why did I need a new machine although I already had the Babylock Unity, a Babylock Serger, and a Bernina Activa 720?

Here’s the mundane back story…

I love designing and making totes. Way back in February I was making a new design and the BabyLock Unity refused to sew through a few layers. I have made many bags on this machine with no issues as long as I used a large denim needle. Anyhow. The machine not only refused to do it’s job, something broke in the bobbin area. The repair guy told me all about it and his work around but I didn’t keep that info in my limited memory space. Didn’t get BabyLock (I’m calling her Baby) back for about a month. Cost a lot of money. And when it did return, it still didn’t sew through layers plus it didn’t work with any needle bigger than 90/14. My work around has been sewing the interior and exterior of the bag with Baby then dragging my old Bernina (we will refer to her as Bernie) out to stitch the layers together. Which I decided was okay until……

I was finishing my Baby Rock Star quilt and discovered an entire seam in a HST that wasn’t stitched. There were needle holes and some thread, but not actual connected stitches. I’m guessing the bobbin thread didn’t come through. This was AFTER I had already basted and quilted most of the piece. I think I’m very detail oriented and couldn’t understand how that could have happened. What did I do wrong?

Then last week I was doing some Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) and realized Baby was skipping a LOT of stitches. With FPP you have to use a very small stitch–I use 1.6. There were large gaps and I had to sew a bunch of seams back together on closer examination. That was the last straw. i love you Baby but you can not be trusted.

And my new machine arrived! (No name yet, we really aren’t acquainted) Prior to ordering, I did a whole lot of research on YouTube and blogs. I knew I wanted a “mechanical” machine rather than computerized. I only wanted it to do straight stitch–nothing fancy. But it had to be “heavy duty”. I checked out Janome, Juki, and BabyLock and narrowed it down to the last two brands. I had decided on either the Juki TL2010Q (because that’s what a lot of the tote makers use) or the BabyLock Accomplish (because I do love BabyLock and I have a local shop). Both at the same price point and both with the same specs. Then I stumbled across the Brother PQ1500SL. It looks exactly like the Accomplish and has all the same features but $370 less. I have heard an unsubstantiated rumor that Brother makes BabyLock which would account for the similarity. Now, I’m all about buying local but I don’t have a local Brother store. And $370–that’s a lot of money I can use for fabric! I ordered from Amazon.

So here sits my new machine in the box. Very excited. In my research, I understand that there is a big learning curve with this machine. I’m okay with that–I’m looking forward to mastering a new skill.

My BabyLock is a great machine–does all the fancy stitches plus embroidery. Until this latest breakdown I was in love with her. I’ll eventually take her back to the repair shop and hopefully she will come back all shiny and happy. (I will not use her for totes!) And Bernie will continue being my machine that goes to the “Sew Cool & Crafty” workshop. Because she’s small and portable and still amazing.

I also need to do some rearranging. Three sewing machines plus a serger in a small room requires moving things around! I have a really hard time getting work done in chaos. There might be some organizing posts coming up!

And I’m blaming my sudden purchase on the heat. Yep. That’s what it was!