This one's for Hayley!

Several months ago I wrote about how my MIL was in a serious car accident fracturing a vertebrae in her neck. She underwent surgery, had some complications, recovered from them, went into a rehab home, then a nursing home, and is now back home almost fully recuperated. She has a neck brace and can't drive until she gets it off, but is getting situated very nicely. She is approaching 90, looks and acts not a day over 60, and is rarin' to go to get back into her volunteer work. Her office desk is stacked with paperwork for her to help her clients. Her recovery is truly a testament to the human spirit, immense personal drive, and positive attitude.

Anyway, she's downsizing her home and asked if DH and I could come over and look at things we might want. Well, I said yes to everything LOL. She has some really nice things and some of our furniture has seen better days. To top it off, here's the really good part, she has a Sears Kenmore 158 series machine from some time between 1975-1980. It's in a cabinet that looks like a small table. Today I polished the entire cabinet with Liquid Gold cleaner and also cleaned the metal exterior of any dust (which wasn't much) that accumulated when it was in storage inside the cabinet. Tomorrow I'm taking it in for service and oiling, new needles, new bobbins, and a zipper foot. She didn't have the accessory box, nor the manual, but that's okay. I'm downloading the manual off the Internet.

I checked the reviews for the Kenmore 158 series of machines at PR and found many fantastic reviews, which is why I'm very excited about this sewing machine. It has all the necessary features for a beginning sewer. Of course, that's not me, but that is why I'm so happy about it. I'm going to teach my friend's daughter how to sew, and she'll be able to borrow this machine for a while until she decides what she would like in a new sewing machine. She'll go back and forth between my computerized Janome and the vintage mechanical Kenmore. I'm particularly pleased because the Kenmore will not overwhelm her. We're talking a solid, sturdy machine with straight and zigzag stitching. Nothing fancy, but just enough features for a beginner.

As she goes back and forth between the two machines, she'll learn about the different bobbin styles, drop in vs. the kind that goes underneath inserted sideways in the bobbin case, using the knobs of a mechanical vs. the buttons of a computerized, the "fancy" touches of a computerized machine, as well as the ease of making a buttonhole on an up-to-date machine.

Gosh, I'm "sew" excited about this. And when she eventually gets a new machine, this vintage Kenmore will be coming back home to me :) . I'm not in any rush because my machine stash is growing. Holding at four with my sewing machine, serger, coverstitch, and embroidery machine. This will make number 5. What is that saying, "A girl can never have too many shoes"??? Um...no. The fact is, a girl can never have too many machines :) !!!

So this post is for Hayley! When the machine comes back, I'll do a little video clip of it and include it in a future blog post. Then off to her house it goes :) .

And BTW, make sure you visit Erica's blog to check out her beautiful DK dress if you haven't seen it already. And those shoes? I love them! What a match for the dress.