March 21, 2013

meet:My Machine

I'm linking up today to the meet: My Machine party going on this week, hosted by Sew at Home Mummy and The Tilted Quilt. It has been so much fun reading about what machines other people are using.

Here's my machine. She's a Kenmore, model 385.19110 (yes, I had to dig out my manual!). She was a Christmas present a couple of years ago when I wanted a machine with a few more stitches for doing machine applique. Specifically, I wanted a blanket stitch and I do use that one a lot. There are plenty of other stitches I still haven't tried.

After I got her, I also ordered a walking foot and a embroidery foot for free-motion quilting. Those two feet have really changed my quilting. I used to do all my quilting by hand, which took forever. Now I can machine quilt, which takes a lot less time. Plus, I can play around with much fancier designs than I would ever have attempted by hand, again because of the time factor. I'm still learning, and having a blast.

In the picture, my machine is set up on my sewing table, otherwise known as our kitchen table. It's a very hard working table, serving as snack space, homework space, art centre, sewing table and main eating table for our family of five. Only once have I declared an 'eating at the coffee table' supper because the quilt had taken over the kitchen table and couldn't be moved. That's not to say it won't happen again.

 This is the one kitchen cupboard I have claimed as sewing space, though a couple of board games have recently taken up residence (thanks Adam!). I have no illusions of being organized, though I can usually find what I need. Mostly I keep current projects in here, along with the basic notions. That yellow container on the top shelf holds my scissors, pins, rotary cutter, marking tools, etc. That big empty space on the bottom shelf is where my machine sits when not on the table.
This steamer trunk, which originally belonged to my mother-in-law, sits in our family room and holds my dwindling stash. I've been making a lot of scrap quilts the last few years and only buying as needed. I have definite stash envy when I see shelves and shelves of neatly folded fabric on other blogs. Obviously some quilters are more organized than I am!

 And here's the inside view. As I said, not a hint of order to be seen. I'm slowly cutting the small pieces into more useable units so it will be even easier to make my scrap quilts. In the meantime, I do enjoy rummaging through this mess of possibilities.

Thanks for stopping by to meet my machine.

9 comments:

  1. I popped over to your blog the other day...it's nice to be visiting again. Thanks for sharing your space and machine in the hop...I've truly enjoyed seeing all the machines and reading everyone's story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing and linking up today - Kenmore makes a great machine - that's what I used for about 10 years before my recent new machine purchase. I'm proud of you for sticking to the stash - I'm weak, very weak, when it comes to fabric purchases!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Leanne, my fellow Canadian (from the other coast!)
    I've heard such great things about Kenmores. I was just saying to someone else my sister has one, and she thought I was nuts for buying a new Singer!
    Thank you so much for linking up with Stacey and I - I hope you had as much fun writing your post as I did reading it!
    Best,
    Erin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi! I came across your blog because I was searching for some information on this machine you posted about. Do you still like your machine? A friend of a friend is selling this exact make/model (almost new) for $200 (I'm in the US) and couldn't find any reviews on this machine. Do you mind me asking if you think that is a good price for this machine? Any feedback on the machine that you would be willing to share would GREATLY be appreciated! Thanks so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, ABB! I'm replying here because there's no contact information in your Blogger profile, so I'm hoping you'll check back. I do still love me machine! I've never had a problem with it and I do a lot of sewing. I would certainly recommend it. As for the price, my husband can't remember how much he paid for mine, but thinks it was somewhere in the vicinity of $300 (and it was on sale then), so $200 sounds reasonable. I hope that helps :)

      Delete
  5. Hi, found this part of your blog from your recent placemats (great quilting there on them!). I also recently bought a new machine, a Brother NV410, I've only had it for 4 days and its so exciting!! Looking forward to quilting on it. Thanks for your post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for posting. I am hoping you could share which foot you purchased? I have a 385.19150, looks very similar, but I am confused with which foot as there seems to be some confusion! I appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Jess, I'm replying here as there's no contact information included in your profile, so I hope you'll check back. Unfortunately, I don't remember which feet I bought and I'm using a different machine now (I upgraded in 2019). I do know that Kenmore machines are made by Janome, so you might be able to check with a Janome dealer to see if they could help. Sorry I can't be more help. Good luck!

      Delete
    2. Thanks you Leanne! I appreciate your response and for the original post which gave me the ah-ha moment that my machine could *do* this. I ordered 2 feet and am awaiting their arrival. Really excited - happy stitching.

      Delete

Thanks for taking the time to leave me a message. I love hearing from you.