My New Setup!

Bernina 820 & Accessories

There she is...isn't she pretty?  I've been craving a new sewing machine for years now and while my husband was deployed, he sent me a voucher good for one new machine.  Well, I never bought it...never did the research...but, set myself a budget.  I didn't want to spend any more than $1,000.  

Fast forward 4 years and still no machine.  My old JCPenny held up well over her 18 years of heavy use.  But, she's been missing her bobbin winder for a good 5 years now and I have been using my daughter's machine to wind about 15 bobbins at a time.  Then my wonderful family decided I needed one of those independent bobbin winders (The Sidewinder) and so they got me one, in pink, of course. That was 3 years ago.

Now...I've got my lovely, new Bernina 820 (no, it wasn't within that $1,000 limit I set for myself)!  I just love her!  She's been sitting in the box for a few weeks now, but my friend Belinda kept messaging me on Facebook encouraging me to get her set up (not to mention my husband and kids asking me if  was going to use the new machine for the projects I was working on!?!?).  What is it about the comfort of an old machine...even with all it's eccentricities?  It still works!  And will be my workshop/travel machine (with lots of pre-wound bobbins...I'm not hauling the sidewinder, too).

So, yesterday, Belinda and her son came over to help me set the machine.  I was busy folding fat quarters I had just washed when she got here and by the time I was done with my pile, Belinda had gotten the entire machine out of the box, manuals and extra parts organized, and had her son sorting all the accessories!  Belinda must LOVE setting up a new machine!

First attempt at machine quilting (well, second, if you count in the store)

Belinda is also a great teacher.  She came with a basket full of teaching tools!  By the time she left, I learned how to thread the machine, wind a bobbin, use many of the computerized function settings and what most of the feet and accessories are for (all without having to read a manual, my pet peeve).  I also learned to spray baste for machine quilting, to pre-draw designs on a dry erase board, and how to translate those drawing to machine quilting.  I probably learned a bunch more that I forgot to mention.  Not bad for a days work, huh?  Thanks, Belinda!

Thanks, honey, for my new machine...now what should I do first?