My sewing and quilting activities have been slower than usual lately. This past week I was away from home for job-related travel. My sewing studio has also been in disarray for the past two weeks as Dear Husband and I set up space for a new addition.
I had been thinking about a new sewing machine for some time. I certainly didn't need a new machine, as I have some wonderful workhorse vintage machines, but that didn't stop me from daydreaming. I first read about the Juki TL-2010Q on Kim Brackett's Magnolia Bay Quilts blog. I was intrigued enough to search for more quilter reviews on this machine. After a fair amount of research, I thought this might be an affordable option to dedicate to quilting. I filed the idea away for "someday".
I bought a Pfaff 7550 for sewing and piecing over 20 years ago. It was a big investment at the time and has served me faithfully since day one. It's just not real friendly for free-motion quilting. In fact, it gets uncomfortably hot just doing straight-line quilting. Hence, the wish for a more quilting-friendly machine.
Thanks to the salary bump from my new job, I decided I could celebrate a little and get the Juki machine. It didn't hurt that my birthday coincided with the first increased paycheck! By happy coincidence, I discovered a sewing machine dealer very close to our weekend camp, so I was able to test drive the machine before purchasing. Even more fortuitous, the dealership is also a full-fledged quilt store - so now I also know about a quilt shop near the camp!
I knew I wanted the new machine to have a permanent set-up in the studio, so it would be ready to use at any time. I shared some sewing table tutorials with Dear Husband, and he agreed to do the construction chores for me (this tutorial was our prime inspiration). It took a little shopping to find the right table, but we lucked out and bought this farm table from K-Mart, where it was seriously marked down as the style was being discontinued.
It took some moving and re-arranging, but now both machines are set up side-by-side. I still need to put away fabric and projects that were moved during the re-arranging, but I should have time for that this week. What I'm really looking forward to is having some free-motion quilting play time - soon, I hope!
