Ugh! My 35-year-old, always faithful German Dressmaker sewing machine died. It is tragic. That old, white, solid-metal, friend has been with me a very long time. It has been totted from home to home -- from Colorado to New York, back to Colorado, to Kentucky, and now Cincinnati. I've sewn everything on this machine from denim to canvas, from sillk to rayon, to miles and miles and miles of quilting. It's stitches were always precise. It's throttle was even.

I was just sitting down to start piecing the Joel Dewberry fabrics I told you about a couple of weeks ago. I had actually decided on a pretty contemporary strippy pattern of Flying Geese. I put the fabric under the stitching foot, pressed the throttle-- NOTHING! I pushed again -- NOTHING! How could this be? I felt suddenly alone, completely rejected.

I packed it up and hauled it off to my sewing machine dealer. The motor was gone. He could replace it but it would take awhile to order a new one and the cost will be around $200. I said "order it up", went home feeling that I had left my one-and-only to fend for itself in the lonely repair shop.

But I got home, pulled out my trustly 101 Ways to Use Your First Sewing Machine, and got my Bernina set up to rock-n-roll. It has been awhile since me and the Bernina had bonded. We are well on our way to forming a new team. I started to wonder. Have I been a bad owner? Playing favorites with my very first machine, while six others sat and waited their turn? And what about my mother's old Singer that has just found it's way to my studio. Then I realized that everyone of these machines is capable of making great quilts, ones I can be proud of.

It was time to let the old Dressmaker go -- I just cancelled the order for the new motor.