I bought it!

You with a new 440QE brings to my mind Mr. Esther's sweet little Aunt Georgia. Her husband was an Oldsmobile dealer and always drove the newest with the most bells and whistles. Aunt Georgia was only 4'8" and kept an open driver's manual on her lap so she could take on whatever new gadgets the Oldsmobile makers could produce. That said, prepare for enough bells and whistles on the 440 to keep you entertained for a long time. And, I reckon, you may need to drive with the manual on your lap for a while. The cute little pictures/icons on the 440 don't mean diddly to me. The needle up/down button looks like a bullet with ^v beside. To get to the very beginning of a fancy stitch, the button has what looks like a dark sail with a dash up at the top of the mast. To advance to higher numbered stitches than nine, first you punch the dark sail with the # beside it. Somebody's notion of logic but not mine. It is okay to tack post-it notes all over the machine until you get comfortable. Or forever. Polly

"Polly Esther" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Nothing wrong with using the driver's manual, even if it's forever. Mind you, if I haven't used one of the older machines for a while, I need the manual to thread the bobbin correctly. Well, I use it, just to make sure. ;-) Hey, I'm not too proud to use a map (unlike a former lover of mine who, young, inexperienced and wanting to impress me, his slightly older conquest, ventured into Cologne city in search for a pub where some event was to take place. It was dark, it was cold and he was determined on taking us right to the doorstep of that pub in a labyrinth of pedestrian areas and one-way lanes. I said I didn't mind walking a few steps but he drove and drove until he drove me mad and I told him to get us home straight. I was cultivating a bitchy attitude at that time, since I had just left behind a very unpleasant relationship; so much for my excuse. But that is an entirely different story.) Anyway, I was so impressed with the power of that machine, going through four layers of denim that I just threw overboard all my doubts concerning me using all those bells and whistles in my life. But then, I hope that I still have a couple of good years left to take the machine to its limits. Or the other way round; who can tell. ;-)

U.

I made my first school/church dress at age 9, some 70-years ago, as I've mentioned several times before. I always keep the machine manual near the machine when sewing, especially now that I am aging just a bit.

Emily

Emily, you're not aging a bit, you're becoming a bit more mature. Juno

Right!! Some of us are "ripening." LOL!! Maybe that explains these strange brown spots.......

And the bits that used to be firm now being a bit squashy?

YES! Yes, that's me! Whew, I thought something was wrong with me, but now that I know it's just the natural process of ripening... ;-)

U.

I think I've gone to seed...

My rind is getting loose.

Never mind, as long as the filling doesn't come out... ( like this:

U.

Thanks for the compliment, Juno. Emily