eMotions: Au Revoir, Marie!

Sorry for the long hiatus--I've had little time for sewing lately, but am finally getting back into the swing of things.

Things really didn't improve with my eMotions machine. My machine started breaking needles, and I started getting major thread nests in the bobbin case on occasion--the machine makes a very distinctive knocking noise when it starts happening so I'd know to run for the machine to stop it. (Then I'd be picking out thread of the bobbin case for the next half hour. . .) So long story short, when it was working it was a fabulous machine--when it was unhappy, it seemed like nothing in the world could get it working again.

And yes, I'm using the past tense--this last Saturday I traded mine in towards a new Bernina Aurora 440QEE. I was going to hang on to the eMotions machine for a bit longer and add the embroidery module in a few months, but my dealer offered a $400 trade-in for it so I jumped at it. (I think my dealer was relieved to see it come back so they wouldn't have to hear me griping about it anymore.) =)

I don't regret buying my little eMotions machine at all though--I still think it's a great starter machine and I successfully embroidered dozens and dozens of projects on it. My plan all along was to see if I got hooked on embroidery enough to justify splurging on a "real" machine, so if someone is in that boat I think it's a great way to try it out for a minimal investment. I just ended up using mine a little too much than I think it was designed for so I noticed more of its quirks, and started getting frustrated with its limitations. But I loved the eMotion's USB interface that lets you control your machine from your computer, and it's one of the reasons I decided on the Aurora.

Stay posted for reviews as I try out my new toy, and some photo comparisons between embroidery done on the Emotions machine and my new Bernina to see if it's really worth the investment!