SpeckledHen

Hi, everyone. Since this forum always comes up when I ask an online quilt question, I've decided to join you. Married for almost 40 years to a now retired Air Force Master Sgt, mother of two grown sons, been quilting since the mid-80's, all by hand, including the piecing. I live in what my older son refers to as "Bumblesquat USA", Fannin County, GA, on 5 mountain acres with my husband, cat and about 40 chickens. I do not sew, only quilt, never used a machine until about 5 years ago when a group of moderators I was part of on a huge backyard chicken forum(I'm "speckledhen" on there) wanted to do a chicken quilt block swap. I declined, saying I'd all but given up the hobby due to my carpal tunnel. Then, a huge package showed up on my doorstep-they'd gifted me a little Brother CS6000i so I could participate. I had to learn to use it, super easy with that one. Ever since then, I've pieced on it, but only recently started to try to learn machine quilting so I can turn out projects faster and with less pain. The 5.5" harp space on the 6000i is not great and the lightweight machine isn't super stable at high speeds so I've decided to purchase a good straight stitch machine when I've saved enough money from sales from my internet business I have with my best friend in Kentucky.

I believe I've narrowed it down to the Juki 2010 or the Brother 1500, but I am leaning to the Juki mainly because of the speed control. I've become accustomed to that on my current machine and I'm being challenged during my free motion practice sessions with it running away with me. Had considered the Babylock Jane, what I call the "Plain Jane", but not sure about that one.

We have no Juki or Brother dealers here, only Janome and Babylock. The closest dealer for those is in Chattanooga, TN, about a hour and a half from here. The closest Janome is the Janome 1600, but you can't even lower the feed dogs and I think that's nuts on a $1000 machine. Not impressed with what you are getting for the prices they charge for them.

Currently, I am finishing a queen size bed quilt for myself, hand quilting it, of course, a variation of Tennessee Waltz. Here is my spring colors bed quilt that I call the "Fortitude Quilt" because the pieced top went through our house fire in 2013, had to be washed as a pieced top, was put in a bag for almost two years before I had time to quilt it. I'm working on block #31 of 35 today. Not sure what motif to do on the border. I took time out to finish hand quilting a king size quilt for a 95 year old great grandmother who could no longer see to finish her masterpiece, but I do believe this quilt will finally make it onto my bed this year!

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SuziSew

Welcome speckledhen from Northern Indiana! You should try doing a search for the machines you are looking for as it is a frequent topic. This is a wonderful site with wonderful people. You're quilt is stunning!

PAMAR

Welcome! As SuziSew said, do a search on here. There have many discussions re: Juki and Brother machines.

When in the market for a straight stitch machine, I had narrowed it down to these 2 same machines, based on recommendations from this Board. I ended up with the Juki 2010q and have no regrets.

Good luck in your quest.

SpeckledHen

Oh, thank you! I have been doing research on the board prior to joining and I have seen the many discussions regarding the machines I'm considering. Real world testing sure beats a manufacturer's blurb every time, doesn't it?

@SuziSew, I have a friend in Indiana who used to live here, can't recall the town off hand. I gave her a hand quilted baby quilt for her son when he was born. We shared an interest in chickens and that's how we met. Chickens and quilts are my two passions (other than my husband, of course).

The quilt in my avatar was made for my friend Ellie in California, what we call her winter quilt. She also has a mock watercolor quilt for her spring quilt, the only person on the planet who owns two hand quilted bed quilts made by me (hand quilting makes it a slow process to make a bed quilt, as you know, so not many I make are actual bed quilts). She's hinting for a fall quilt as well, LOL. She's very special so one of these days, she may get one, but it will be machine quilted, if I ever manage to learn that!

juneayerza

Welcome from Central California. Since you have already been searching the board, you know there are many topics covered here and help on any quilting problem you might have is available for the asking. The people here are a great group and host all kinds of swaps you might be interested in trying sometime.

SpeckledHen

Thank you, June. My mother's name was June. I also have a beautiful hen named June, lol.

Tartan

​Welcome from Ontario, Canada. Pretty quilt and hand quilted too!

SpeckledHen

Thank you! A friend of mine, a long arm quilter in Washington State, said to me a few years ago "Don't you ever make anything for yourself?" So, I did. When I came across this Tennessee Waltz variation, I knew this was it. I'd done a smaller, tradtional one previously with the normal snowball block in place of the Churn Dash one and loved how the combination of the two makes a secondary circular pattern. Nope, this one is not for sale, mine all mine!

QuiltnNan

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting

AlvaStitcher

Welcome from sunny and warm Central/Coastal Florida. Glad you are joining us.