New sewing machine!

My old sewing machine was beginning to wear out.  Often, when I lifted the foot to remove some fabric, it just clonked down again, meaning I had to repeat the motion a bit more forcefully, which was a real nuisance!  Well, I had it 17 years ago, and I do quite a bit of sewing, so it's not surprising! 

The problem was, what to replace it with?  I had been very satisfied with my Elna, so decided to go for another, and delighted to find that my LQS Sew Charming was able to advise and order one for me. 

Here is the Elna EXperience 580, which I think is just a bit better than my old one.  It has a much wider throat (8.5" as opposed to 6.5") which will make quilting large quilts much easier.  It also has an automatic thread cutter, which will be very useful, and means I can save enough on thread to eventually pay for the machine!  I rarely use alphabets, but once in a while they're fun, and this machine even has the Russian alphabet!  I can see that being really useful.  Unfortunately it doesn't make cup of tea or make sure I get points on my triangles, but I'm looking forward to giving it a workout!