Blanket

So I'm attempting to make a blanket for Lewis. My "new" sewing machine came with a table, so the machine folds down into itself. I can't figure out how to get it out. I also don't have any pins to pin the material together to sew it. I find that I often do this. I just dive right in with an idea and come across all these obsticles and sit there baffled as to why in the world things aren't easier than they are. Because in MY mind, it should be perfectly simple to make a blanket. Mind you, I've never made one before, but that shouldn't be a problem, right? I've watched my mother make one, I went to college, I consider myself relatively smart. But no, all that college education can't help me when I can't figure out how to get my sewing machine out of its self-made cage!