Buyer's Remorse

Usually I don't splurge on expensive things. Sometimes I buy a ridiculous pair of shoes or an expensive piece of cheese at the grocery store. But usually if I have a high-priced purchase to make I do a decent amount of research before I take the plunge. Like my fancy camera. I looked around, went to a camera store, emailed friends and then made a purchase.

This weekend I think boredom got the best of me, and I made a purchase I kind of regret. I bought a Viking Emerald 118 at a Viking dealership inside a Jo-Ann's. I have been sewing for my entire life (since I was 5 or so) on my mom's New Home Full Rotary machine, and I actually love it. It's totally reliable, I've never had it serviced, and it does the job. So why did I go astray? I'm not sure. Maybe I thought it would make me a better sewer. The whole time I was buying it I was thinking about how I could "make up" the price by selling stuff I sewed with it.

Tonight was my second night using it. Last night I whipped up a cute little purse to hold all the feet and doo-dads that came with the new machine as an excuse to use the automatic buttonholer. But tonight...ah tonight. I couldn't get the dang thing to do anything without jamming. The last thing I did last night was lower the feed dogs to test sewing on a button, and tonight the darn thing won't advance the fabric and really just wouldn't do anything without getting tangled and making a sad sound.

So, back to the store I go, I guess. No returns. Oh, well, hopefuly they'll at least tell me what I did wrong, or fix the machine, because right now I'm about to run screaming back to my old workhorse a whole lot poorer than I was a few days ago...

Anyone have any experience with these machines? I hope I didn't pick a lemon!