I'm very much a newbie, in fact, I have yet to cut out my first patches. My mother taught me to sew on her Singer Featherweight when I was a little girl. I made a lot of doll clothes, then graduated to making my own clothes. Mom bought a new Singer when I was about 15 and I loved it. However, when I got married in 1970 I needed my own machine. I got in a hurry and bought a new Sears Kenmore instead of a Singer, but it turned out to be a huge mistake. The tension wouldn't hold properly no matter what I did. I finally got so frustrated with it that I put it away and didn't sew for years.
A little over a year ago, I got the urge to begin sewing again. My granddaughters were ages 6 and 3 at that time and I wanted to sew clothes for them and their dolls. I pulled out my old Kenmore, but it had a broken gear, so I decided it wasn't worth fixing. I also had my mom's Singer Featherweight, but it wasn't working properly either. I had it serviced and now it sews beautifully. However, I felt like I'd forgotten how to sew, so I started getting sewing books from the library. It was fascinating reading about all the new products available to make sewing easier. While searching for more books on sewing, I ran across our library's large selection of quilting books. I'd never had any desire to quilt, although I loved looking at the quilts entered into competition at the fair. I started thinking more and more about quilting and finally started reading quilting books. Honestly, I'll bet I've read well over two hundred books on quilting since then and possibly more.
I wanted to buy a new sewing machine, but couldn't afford one, so eventually I bought a used Singer 500A on ebay. I'd read a lot of books and articles about machine quilting and tried to buy one that would allow me to machine quilt. I like the way it sews, but I still need to buy a walking foot as well as a darning foot that will allow me to do free motion quilting.
So, I had two sewing machines and I'd read plenty of books, but I still needed a lot of sewing supplies. I started getting some and was finally able to get everything I needed by the end of last summer. I also finally purchased some fabric (yikes, I was shocked at the prices!) to make some clothes for the girls and to make some small doll quilts or quilted potholders to begin with.
I was pleased to discover the Singer 500A fit perfectly into my Singer sewing table I'd inherited from my aunt, but I struggled to find a place to set up a sewing area in our small house. I used to sew upstairs, but we've since closed the upstairs off to save on heat. Finally I managed to create a small sewing area in the dining room, not the most ideal setup, but doable.
Alas, then last fall, after finally getting everything set up, I ran out of energy. I was busy babysitting four days a week for my granddaughters and my husband and I were dealing with some other urgent issues and I couldn't seem to decide which projects to start on, much less actually begin. I've continued to read lots of quilting and some sewing books, but thank goodness the librarians finally quit asking me if I was actually doing any sewing or quilting. It was much too embarrassing to keep saying no. Now we're in the process of getting ready to move, probably within the next month, as soon as we find something suitable. One of my requirements in a house is that it have a room I can use for a sewing room. I haven't packed up my sewing machine or supplies yet because I really want to begin sewing and quilting now, even though we're moving. I feel like I've waited long enough. My goal is to get quilts made for my granddaughters for Christmas, even if they're just small quilts for their dolls.
I love this site and really enjoy looking at all the quilts in the picture section. And hopefully I'll have something finished that I can share before too long.
Sandy