Sewing Machines
I guess will start on the most important item first, my sewing machine, or I suppose I should say sewing machines. As I’ve mentioned in my YouTube videos, you don’t need to start with a high-end machine.
When I was in 9th grade I got my first sewing machine for Christmas (please don’t ask me to remember what it was!). After I was married, and I was doing a lot more quilting, I figured I was ready to upgrade to a Bernina, just like my Mom had, and what I learned to sew on. Ouch, that price point was out of my league at that time. Instead, I purchased a Singer TouchTronic 2210. That machine served me well for 20+ years!!
Now I was really cranking on my quilting and was ready for something that had a deeper throat to support machine quilting. After much research, and comparing machines, and being aware of where I could get it serviced, I chose the Baby Lock Symphony. I love it!!
It has, and still does serve me well for all my piecing work
Now I was quilting up a storm and was tired of trying to quilt my quilts on my Symphony. It was working fine if I just wanted to quilt in the ditch, but I wanted to do more. I also didn’t want to pay to send them out to be quilted and have to wait weeks to get them back…because usually, I was getting the top pieced about the time I needed it ready to give as a gift! 😊
I had been considering a long arm for a while, and then had a great opportunity when a store in the Cities had a great holiday discount on an older model. Purchased a Baby Lock Crown Jewel… LOVE IT!!
I don’t have any of the automated software, so everything I do on it is just me moving it around. But WOW!! So love being able to make my quilts 100% myself, all the way to the end. Given the number of quilts I’ve made over the years, I think it’s paid for it’s self!!
The reason I mentioned sewing machines (plural) is because my husband Kevin really, I mean really, wanted an embroidery machine. When our local quilt store had a great deal on slightly older model, he got his wish and purchased a Baby Lock Ellageo Plus.
Basically, it’s the same as the Symphony with the additional ability to do machine embroidery. Kevin was the primary user of that for quite some time as he created patches and monogramed shirts. That is until I discovered all of the cool things I could do with it, including making beautiful blocks for baby quilts!! I’m now as addicted as he is! Many of the products sold here are done on this machine.
So now we’re both enjoying the machine embroidery stuff as well as quilting. So when we decided to start building our business, Kevin thought a 6-needle embroidery machine would be pretty handy, AND he could do hats with it (a big goal of his). Once again, couldn’t turn down a good Black Friday special! Once you start with one brand, it’s pretty standard to keep with if as the support and service is available local.

So… now we have a Baby Lock Intreped 6-needle embroidery machine.

It isn’t as simple to use as my single needle, and can be as temperamental as my long arm when it comes to getting the tension right. We’re still working to get it “just right.”

The last and most recent addition to our machines is the Baby Lock Solaris 2. I wanted to do more with machine embroidery and was often wanting a bigger hoop size than what my Ellageo Plus would do. Started researching this one after finding it on sale at our local quilt store that was going out of business. ☹

OMG… the things it can do!!! I’m enjoying it so far, love how fast it stitches things, and the larger hoop size 10-5/8” x 16”!! Really having fun with this one!