I have to agree with Mary that the Berninas aren't very intuitive. Nevertheless, I bought one to get the BSR (can't remember what that stands for but it compensates mechanically for the unevenness with which I feed the fabric thru to quilt). I had my new toy for a couple months before they had the class for new owners scheduled. In all that time, I couldn't quite figure it out and the manual wasn't particularly helpful -- these guys are MUCH better at making sewing machines than writing manuals! Finally, I got to the class and, I gotta tell you, the BSR is not the outstanding feature by any means. The smoothness of the operation is wonderful and all those buttons that don't do a thing to explain themselves are designed to make every phase of sewing simple and reliable. I was so impressed by what this machine does on it's own that I'm considering beginning to sew garments again. ...if I can only learn some tailoring to make a standard pattern fit my decidedly unstandard body. That said, I had a Singer that was a workhorse for 30 years. And I still miss the bobbin that wound in place. And I've got a 10 yo Viking that's still the go to machine 'cause it's great and because it's installed in my sewing/laundry room. I also took a quilting class with a woman who brought her Janome and she was nutz about it. The built in walking foot sounded pretty sexy too!

I agree that it would be worth it to "support the cause", and I also like the casual attitude that they take with regards to paying dues and letting non-members attend the meetings and kind of feel them out. My only concern is that I would start to enjoy it and not be able to go because of my silly work schedule (I work one job every other day, and the other 6 nights a week, so weird!).... It makes it very difficult to schedule or attend multi-day classes. Msmeow, mine didn't come from The Sewing Studio either :o), but I know they are the only dealer in the area, unless you know of another one... did you buy yours for a bricks and mortar place or online? When I wanted to upgrade from the vintage metal straight stitcher to something a little more feature rich, I called all the sewing machine shops in the area... I'd seen a demo for the Brother PC420 on HSN and fell in love with the feature set.... most of them laughed at me, one said "we don't mess with those toys", another said "thems Wawmarks mershines, go there if that's what you want, and don't brang itchere when it breaks"... I called The Sewing Studio and the lady was very nice, but she said she didn't have anything that even came close to matching the features for the price but that a lot of people were calling to ask about that machine. I asked if they would service it if I bought it online, and the said yes. She offered me a returned embroidery machine for like 800 dollars, but I didn't want that... Now I see on their site, they sell the PC 420, so that makes me feel better. They have a class on machine quilting so I called about that and they were nice and answered all my questions. I asked if we had to bring our own "something to quilt" or if we made something in class.... the said we would just learn technique and would not be quilting a real quilt... that's too bad because by the time the class rolls around I'll likely have the top of the one I'm working on done and ready to be quilted and it would be fun to do it in class as a learning thing... I've only quilted a table runner so far... The other class they are having is a class for Brother and Baby Lock people to demonstrate all the fun new presser feet available for the machines, and I'd love to go, but it's a weekend, and I work every other day. Peggy, I feel the breeze :o) Waving back! Thanks again, Kate, I really appreciate all your info and advice.

I always think of Lindaoh when I hear row quilts. Her group made a row quilt when I first started seriously reading this quilt forum. Your group makes such nice and generous quilts! The Guild I belong to is very large and very generous. There is always on going projects for donation throughout the year. Last year (or maybe the year before) we made 50 quilts for older boys in the hospital. They were rows - fabric provided, or made from your stash - we turned in a sewn row of our design, and someone else would add another row - these quilts turned out amazing! I started a row using Star Wars fabric as the focus that Kay sent me when she was cleaning out her stash! It was fun to see what people made with the different fabrics, and easy to find time to sew a row or 2 to contribute. It was a good experience for me.

i just got an email from Project Linus. I thought you might want to see this email: Hello! I am writing you to let you know that the store called me about your letter and offered to try to make amends. They asked if I wanted time or fabric. I said that I would like 2 days free use of their longarm machine and that is indeed what I did. We had a backlog of quilts to be quilted, 125 to be exact. I do not own a longarm and had just taken classes, so for me it was perfect. I was able to quilt 10 baby size quilts in the 2 days. A small dent in our pile but a dent! I just wanted to let you know that this happened. l know that what they did was not right, but at least they realized their mistake and have tried to fix it for the future. Maria SimpsonCoordinator for Project Linus I'm pleased. bkay