Machine Embroidery and Me

I'm not certain how I first became aware of embroidery machines for home sewers.  Maybe ads in quilting magazines?  As I recall, the ads I saw featured Bernina machines and designs by designers such as Precious Moments and Debbie Mumm.  Then a quilt shop in a nearby town became a Bernina dealer and I decided to make a trip to check out what they had to offer.

Well of course you know I bought.  My first machine was a Deco 600, a stand-alone embroidery machine with a 4" x 4" embroidery field.  And it cost me $1800!!  And the year?  1998. The quilt shop had a monthly embroidery club and I began driving the 45-minute each way trip on Thursday evenings (a good night for me because there was only one day of teaching left in the week).  It was three hours of learning and sheer fun each time.  Of course, I always seemed to come away with a new card of designs and more and more thread. An inexpensive hobby this wasn't! But sooo fun!

As time went on, I began to hanker for a larger embroidery field.  Four by four isn't very big.  And bigger designs were coming out.  Meanwhile, we had become grandparents for the first time and daughter-in-law Amy had chosen Winnie the Pooh as the theme for Ryan's nursery.  Well, it just so happened that the Brother company had acquired the rights to Winnie and Disney characters and had built them into several of their machines, including their top-of-the line ULT 2002.  The designs, along with additional 5x7" and 6x10" hoops were irresistible.   I bit.  

And so it went.  Later I upgraded again to a Bernina 730 and then again to their 8-series 830.  Oh the huge designs I could now stitch out!  Ten by sixteen!!  

But backing up, there was more to my stitching than just the fun.  I loved teaching but it is a stressful job and takes a lot of energy.  Machine embroidery allowed me to continue to be creative by stitching beautiful designs on premade items such as tea towels or make simple projects such as pillows or wall hangings without too much effort.  That part of me that needs to be creative was allowed to continue to flourish.  And let's not discount the soothing sound of the machine as it stitched.  We didn't call it Deco therapy for nothing!  

And now fast forward to last year.  My Dad had died in November of '16 and then suddenly in the  late spring of '17 my mom discovered she had cancer that had rapidly spread.  She died June 25th.  And then our cat, Buddy, died in August.  I was in serious need of some therapy. While I love my huge 830, it needs to be set up to embroider and then babysitting while it stitches.  I longed for the simplicity of my old Deco which I had long since worn out.  I mentioned this to my long-time (sixty-four years and counting!) pal Kathy and true friend that she is, she did some research and found a machine she thought might work.  

She was right!  My old Deco, while sporting the Bernina name, had been made by the Brother company and the machine Kathy found, another stand-alone machine, was a Brother PE-770.  With Dan's encouragement I ordered one through Amazon and it showed up two days later.  It's price?  A mere $540!!  It can stitch 5x7" designs and I've discovered over the years that most of the designs I use are no larger than that.  I was thrilled to thread it up and sit and silently hum along with its stitching.  I can walk away and come back--no babysitting needed.  It truly got me through the end of last year.  Deco therapy at its best.  

(And Kathy?  Well, she ordered one, too!)  ♥