Grinding to a halt again.

Just as my neck and shoulder problems are starting to resolve themselves and I had the machine flat out making cot quilts, it DIED on me yesterday.  I could scream; it cost me $185 to fix last year, and now it looks like the same problem.  In desperation I looked in the Yellow Pages phone directory to see if there was anyone who did home visits to fix sewing machines.  I found one bloke, but he told me he has since sold his business and is now doing something else.  But he wanted to know what my problem was and he was horrified to hear how much Statewide Sewing Centre had charged to fix the gears.  He told me I should take it back there and have a go at them.  I said the reason I was hoping someone could come to my home and fix it is because the machine is too heavy for me to lift and carry anywhere, so he took pity on me and said as he wasn't far from us, he would come over and have a look at it today.

That was yesterday (Sunday) and he said he could only do it on a weekend or public holiday because of his other job.  This morning he called to say he wouldn't be able to come today because his family had turned up for a visit, but he would ring  me next week.  I thanked him and said not to worry about it, I'd see what else I could do.  Ken looked at my long face and said he will take me and the machine over to  Statewide on his day off on Wednesday.   I can almost read your minds - "why the heck doesn't she just buy a new machine?"  I suppose if Ken can find $20,000 for a new motorcycle, I can put my hand up for a few hundred dollars for a new machine.  Goodness knows how often he has told me to go and buy one!  So I just might.  But being blonde and senior,  I just HATE learning how to work something new... So it is going to have to be something very basic, even if it is new.

In the meantime, this is the last thing I was doing when the Singer carked it.  I had a few of those supermarket bags lying around to decorate, and instead of sewing yo-yos on them as I had done previously, I decided to make ap a little patchwork square with some left overs and sew them on to the bag.  I only needed to finish one more side.  I guess I could hand sew it if I was in a hurry, but I'm not.
Now the damn camera battery has gone flat.   S---T.  What next.  I'll post a pic shortly.  In the meantime I've gone back to paper craft and spent last night making some stuff using paper napkins.  I'll be post them to my Art and craft blog when the camera is charged up again.
Later that night...
Here is the tote bag I was working on, and the other photo is of the sunset applique that I have now framed myself.  It wasn't easy to get that mat border right, and it sure ain't perfect, but I hope nobody will look that closely!