where to start??

With the new sewing machine?  I finally got it set up and after having read the manual 40 times to figure out how to thread it, got it up and running.  For the price, it is a very nice little machine. 

There is a lot to like about it. 

THE GOOD NEWS
- It has an automatic threader.
- You can set it to stop with the needle down.
- It has a nice little sewing table.
- The fast-bobbin winder feature is very nice (once you realize that there is such a feature)
- It has a reverse button, which I forget to use.
- The feed dogs work and I can get a nice straight seem if I choose to.


THE NOT-SO GOOD NEWS
- The automatic threader is fiddly. It took me so long to figure out and then to actually make it work, that it would have been faster to thread the needle myself. Except that I can't see, even with my reading glasses on.
- The nice little sewing table is a little flimsy.
- There is nowhere to store your accessories when the sewing table is attached.
- It didn't come with a ¼" foot. I ordered two of them (don't ask me why two)  
- The default needle position is left (why?????) so you have to move the needle every time        you turn the machine on again because it has no memory.
- It is somewhat noisy.
- The lever to raise and lower the foot is on the right.  Every other machine on earth has the lever on the left.  Some kind of zipper foot lever is on the left where the foot lever should be and one of these days I am bound to break it because I keep trying to raise the foot with it.

But I am not complaining.  Just saying.  The best news is that it works and I have been sewing!

Now I am off to meet Bev Snow and Sandy Donabed at the Palm Beach Fine Craft Show.
To be continued...