New addition

Finally! The Aurora 440 has landed! Actually it arrived at the shop earlier, but I could not pick it up because Benji was really ill earlier this month. Anyway, it is home with me now. Happy as can be. I have not done much sewing with it as much as I’d like to. But the BSR is a dream! I tried it out on a scrappy piece of quilt sandwich and it is much easier compared to my old Singer machine. Of course, I will need more practice with it to make decent stippling, etc but already I can feel the difference.

The instruction manual is marvelous too. Very detailed and also very clear – and that helps a lot too! The machine looked quite complicated, but it is quickly de-mystified with the instructions. Will be spending quite a bit of time playing around with the settings, the stitches, etc. I’m definitely looking forward to that ;>

Bernina Aurora 440 QE

I must be mad! Just placed an order for the Bernina 440 that costs me an arm and a couple of toes. So much for ‘no big ticket items’ for 2008!

How this madness started was when I took a machine quitling lesson with QNSF. First of all, the walking foot that came with my Singer was a high shank one (the shop gave me the wrong one), so that didn’t work. And I realised how hard it is to control the speed when you need precise stiching on

the drawn lines and also for free-motion quilting. The Singer (a quilter edition too) was simply put to shame when I asked that I try it on a Bernina 240 at the class. What a difference! Things I loved on the Bernina was the Free Hand System, needle down function, the great control (you can do one stitch at a time with the foot control!) and the fact that it was very smooth and quiet.

I was tempted by a Bernina when I started doing patchwork a couple of years back but decided that it was too huge an investment, and I could hand sew if I wanted. After the baby came, I really am not keen on handsewing because I don’t want to risk needles misplaced and I really do not have the time/patience to wait for it to come together so slowly.

The Singer is a good machine for what it is. It is not the cheapest machine, but it is not as forgiving to a bad sewer like me as a Bernina would be. Decided to placed my crafty money on the 440 mainly because of the BSR (Benina Stitch Regulator). That would help a idiot sewer like me! And I’m going to justify this purchase with loads of projects!

Delivery for the new machine is end of March or early April. Can’t wait for it to arrive. In the mean time, I will sew as little as possible (to save it for the new machine) and start cutting up my fabrics then! :>