Sapphires

A girl shouldn't have to buy herself gems, but then again, in this case we're talking a sewing machine, and I've just brought home Viking's newest model, the Sapphire 850. I've been sitting on some Christmas money, always on the lookout for things that will solve ALL my quilting problems and am delighted that my loyalty to Viking has been rewarded.

Its biggest draw for me is the 10 inch space between the needle and the arm. My current machines are only 7, and stuffing a quilt into any opening to machine quilt it is a trick; the more room the better.

This isn't their first machine with the wider opening, but it is classed with their Designer line, meaning it has many of the cool features of the top of the line machine, but fewer of the embroidery options that I'm not interested in. Thus, this is priced more in my range and I feel I've gotten the best of both worlds.

I haven't played with it yet - was journal quilting today and didn't want to double stress myself - but I've read through the owner's handbook. Some significant differences from my current machines, so there will be a bit of a learning curve while I get used to it, figure out how to override some features and tap into others. But I'm pretty excited about this and anxious to fire it up!