I have been sewing/quilting for the past ~18 months on a brother machine, I purchased of amazon for $150.

It is a great lightweight machine (very portable) and a great machine to learn on, as I was 18 months ago.  However, I have been struggling on it recently because:

• It is having trouble going over seams and I have to lift the foot slightly to keep it moving (probably need the foot pressure adjusted)
• The stitches are a little irregular.
• Lastly but the most important point….it has a little harp space. I have been pulling my quilts through that tiny space.

So, I had made the decision that I will look at another machine. My biggest criteria was enough harp space that I can easily quilt without slipped stitches or moved stitches from yanking it through that space. Luckily, I was going to Sew Down and I was excited about using one of the supplied machines to see what sewing/quilting was like on another machine. In the FMQ and Paper Piecing classes they provided Janome 8900 QCP.

I liked it so much, and the fact there was a 60% discount/ no sales tax/free shipping…just made it so appealing….that this came home with me this week…..

I have been sewing yesterday on it, trying to finish up my Carolyn Friedlander Aerial Quilt. My favorite features so far:

• The hidden thread and the storage compartments for all the components.
• The wonderful large pedal
• The cool automatic thread cutter feature.
• The evenness and smoothness of the stitches

We are definitely going to be “Besties” for life 🙂

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash (see button on the right).