A tale of two machines..( or three, or four)

Back in 2009 when I embarked upon this quest to improve my quilting, I had a 20 yr. old Jamome.  That was it, it did everything, piecing, quilting, binding whatever.  I had taught myself to machine quilt on this little machine from Robbie Fanning ‘s book on machine quilting using the continuous quilting ala Ernest Haight. 
As I worked at improvement, I became convinced that I needed to improve my machine as well. So the search begain for the “better” machine.
This lead to:  1) the feather weight; 2) the 99; 3) the other 99; 4) the Necchi.  The Necchi has settled into the primary piecing machine with the featherweight as the secondary.









All along I was wanted one that would do free motion quilting in addition to the straight line/ walking foot style I was now doing.  So last spring my dear hubby (the enabler) found a Kenmore that would drop its feed dogs at a price we couldn’t pass up.  So 5) Kenmore.
Then the treadle bug bit and I wanted a treadle. We found a really fancy cabinet for dirt cheap and made plans to fix it up and get a treadle head for it. Easier said than done. It wasn’t a Singer and finding a head proved difficult. Plus DH didn’t get the refinishing done. I think, just like me, he would rather build new than repair.


So all the way home from NC I looked at every treadle in every antique mall we visited and took pictures of them, working out what we wanted and how much we would pay. Once home he got looking and for our anniversary bought me 6) Singer 66.
In addition to the treadle quest, DH has been urging me to upgrade to a long arm. I’ve been dragging my feet due to the cost and size. I can’t justify spending that kind of money on what is after all just a hobby for me. Hence 7)the new Janome 8200 that is now occupying my dining room table. A compromise machine that has a larger harp and lots of bells and whistles I didn’t know I wanted until I used them.



Honestly I was just trying to improve my quilting, I wasn’t trying to get on Hoarders.