craftgrrl | me again - sewingmachines.com?

I looked, I did. Did someone have something bad to say about them fairly recently? Or was that a specifically used/discounted machines site?

I ask b/c the actual store is near by, and I can't seem to find any other places to look for a new bobbin-holder-thingie (I know, I am so technical) You know, that piece that you actually put the bobbin on. Sewingmachines.com is a Brother (among other brands) dealer, so I am hoping I can maybe just buy that piece, and not for a huge sum of money.

Before I do that (well, mostly b/c they wont be open by the time I hear back from anyone) I am going to ~~steal~~ borrow the 30-some year old cast iron monster from my dad that has been sitting in the closet through two moves now. I last used it when I was about 15 and in home ec class, and it runs with actual belts. That you can see. This thing is ancient. Now sure of the type, but I hope it works, b/c if it does it solves my problem for the time being.

Scary, but had I just hand sewn what I needed to, I'd have been done hours ago instead of still worrying about this. *sigh*

And so this isn't totally without crafty goodness, I bought some beeswax crayon blocks for my kids, and the colour is amazing. I have never, ever seen colour like that come out of a regular crayola or whatever brand crayon. Ever. I use brown paper for them to draw on so they don't see white walls and associate them with colouring, and the colours just jumped off the page.

I also got some coloured beeswax modeling wax for them, and they had fun with dad making sea creatures. Much fun was had. No piccys, sorry, but just passing the info along. They were not cheap, but well worth it IMO, and the crayon blocks should last as very long time (as opposed to crayons which I am forever melting down to make new ones).