What’s most important? What’s your why? First things first. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Well, to answer the last one – a 65 pound Labradoodle named Sadie – ’cause big girl has to go outside.

You’re probably familiar with many of these questions that are used in goal setting exercises to get the you to drill down to what’s truly important to you. This is like a big picture of how you want your life to be. You generally focus on a single aspect of this “ideal vision” for a period of 6 months to a year. Many folks like to choose a word to represent their area of focus for the set period of time. I often choose a word in late December to focus on for the following year.

My word for 2021 is THRIVE. I created an acrostic to go with the word. Most everything I do meets at least one area outlined in the acronym. I think my unofficial word for 2021 must be CELEBRATE because COVID’s constant Blursday was so depressing. So, celebrate we have – seasonal decor (including table linens) is regularly refreshed and I check the National Day Calendar for the silliest celebration I can find each day.

For the past 18 months, we’ve been focused on healing from surgery and learning live with a cancer diagnosis that has no known cure. Work and maintaining a consistent schedule in the midst of COVID became very important to achieving the sense of normalcy hubby craved. There are some glimmers of hope as hubs is now willing to focus on the future and possible early retirement.

While early retirement is a consideration when it comes to developing my social network outside of school, I would venture to say that financial independence (or FI) has been the true goal for quite some time. This is why we’ve worked so hard, saved, invested and delayed gratification on many things over the years. It’ll be my choice when to transition from the day job to devote more time to my creative biz (or passion project as my financial advisor likes to call it). It also provides a sense of peace and confidence that I will be able to handle whatever life scenario A-Z that might come my way.

In the meantime, I need to focus on the T in THRIVE – transform my health – and go take big girl for a walk.

You CAN teach your kids to sew using any sewing machine, but there a of couple features that will make life much easier for you, the teacher:

1. Speed control feature – this is a slider, usually featuring tortoise and hare icons, that allows you to limit the max speed of the sewing machine when the foot pedal is pressed all the way down.
2. Automatic needle threader – makes threading the needle a cinch for older eyes.

Speed controllers can be found on a variety of mechanical and computerized machines. Caveat: not every computerized sewing machine offers a speed control feature. Viking Emerald 118 and Janome Magnolia 7325 are more recent mechanical models with this feature. Some older mechanical Swiss Elnas of the late 1970’s-80s’s era (Carina, Air Electronic, Stella) also feature a speed control feature (but no needle threader!).

Many newer computerized machines in the $200 & up range offer the speed control feature. Several Brother and Singer machines sold at the big box stores meet this criterion. Smarter 260 by Pfaff, Elnita EC30 Janome MOD 30 & 50 models are other options to consider in the “around $300” price range. If you are willing to up the ante to the $500+ price point, look at the Baby Lock Jubilant/Brother NS80, Elnita EC60, Viking Jade 20, Pfaff Passport 2.0 and Janome MOD 100/200 or 740 series machines. Here’s an article written by sewing machine repair guys listing their favorite machines by price point.

Note the Elnita EC30 is their recommended machine for the under $300 price category.

Machines I have available for kid’s sewing lessons include the Elna STAR Edition, Elnita EC30 and Baby Lock Jubilant. The Elnita EC30 does offer good value for the money. My local sewing machine dealer recommends this model as a travel/back-up machine. (It’s a minor thing, but the stitches on the front of the machine need to be a darker color. There’s not enough contrast.)

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was looking to replace my Janome 8900 with either a sit-down mid-arm or a newer machine with a similar size throat space. I was able to sew on all the machines at the Kansas City Quilt Festival last week. I will say that I wholeheartedly agree with the aforementioned sewing machine guys’ assertion that the Bernina 770QE is one of the best sewing machine-only machines (meaning no embroidery module) out there. The M7 Janome is a fine machine, but the Bernina 770 felt just right. I was really impressed with the Juki Kokochi machine, but the stitch regulator on the Bernina 770 was even more impressive. I’ll be practicing the ruler work skills I learned in Kansas City on my Janome 8900 for a while, though. A new washer/dryer and hot water heater are much higher on the priority list right now. Who knows? Perhaps with some practice, I might decide I don’t want a new machine after all.