Thursday, June 16, 2011

A New Friend

A package filled with fabulousness arrived at the Goodlaff house two days ago.  What did it contain?



A new playmate for me!

My old sewing machine broke down before the wedding as I was attempting to sew the clutches for my bridesmaids, and a few weeks ago, I took it in to a repair shop to see about getting it fixed. Turns out my old machine was dead, and would never live to stitch another day.  After an appropriate grieving period of about five minutes, I went on the hunt for a new sewing machine. The sales lady at the repair shop was happy to show me some options, one of which was $499. Sure, it was expensive, but it was also incredibly cool.  I love new gadgets, but I also love a good deal, and wanted to do a little more research before committing to anything that expensive. I left the store and poked around online, finding the same machine in multiple online venues for $299--$200 less than the store's price. Big difference.

Now I know I live in a small town, and we pay more for convenience, but really? Just because this is rural area doesn't mean you can charge 67 percent more for something. One thing was clear: that store wasn't getting any of my money. I'm all for buying local, but massively inflated prices like that are the reason people shop online. Just sayin'...

Eventually I decided on a different machine--the Brother CS6000i--because it had tons of features and tools that I was unfamiliar with, was heavily discounted, and came highly reviewed--plus free shipping! Now that I have it in my hands, I love it even more.

Because it was a fancy new sewing machine, I knew that not any old project would do: I had to have an appropriately reverent first project. Instead of going with a pattern of someone else's design, I decided to throw caution to the wind and make something of my own. 

How did it turn out?  Stay tuned!

Are you a comparison shopper?

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