I recently had the misfortune of having both my "workhorse" Pfaff and my Serger crap out on me at the same time. Since the shop where I take my machines for service also sells new machines, and, since I've been lusting after a new, more specialized machine for quilting anyway, I decided to take advantage of my machine-less state and dive in and get the new machine sooner, rather than later. My primary interest in a new machine was to acquire a larger work area to make the quilting process itself less confrontational. Although I seldom make a piece larger than 5-6 feet square, the effort I had to expend to cram even that small a piece into the small work area of my beloved 7550 and then perform some actual quilting maneuvers went off-scale regularly, leaving me a sweating, irritated, totally frustrated wreck, and, ultimately, resulting in the embarrassingly large number of UFOs I find myself trying to justify every time I start a new piece.
My new Pfaff Expression 2.0 has a 4-inch larger work "desk" than the 7550, which, Pfaff claims, is the largest available on non-long arm machines. In addition, it has lots of other bells and whistles I appreciate on my 7550 (plus a bunch more I may or may not ever use) - built in walking foot with even feed (so necessary for quilting), two really bright lights to illuminate the sewing area, automatic tie-off, needle up/down at stop positions, adjustable sewing speeds, needle threader, extra-large stitch plate, as well as a generous selection of basic stitches - plenty for me since I seldom do much except straight ahead stitching anyway. I set everything up last night and it all came together well... I even put in a half hour's work on the quilt that's been hanging on my quilt wall for far too long, and which I'm thoroughly ready to finish!
Browyn is as excited about "our" new machine as I am! Nanuq, looking through the extra-large work space, thinks it's pretty cool too!
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