Just So You Know

Saturday morning after the garage sales is a great time to visit Deseret Industries. In the AsIs section we found a wonderful desk with Oak drawers and pedastal but the laminate top was cracked, broken and easy to peel off. Even better, the drawers are the full 34 inch length, not the half length of most later models. Since it was AsIs we got it for $15.

While DH was looking at alternate desks (since the one we got will hamper opening the closet) I spotted a cute little sewing machine table.

As I started opening up the table to make sure the hinges worked, I saw that the sewing machine was still attached! Inside the lovely maple cabinet was an Elna Supermatic C1. At this point I grabbed an employee to see if he could get me an extension cord. Yea, baby! plugged in this machine goes forward and backward so the motor is not burned out and the lightbulb still works.

And Wait!!! That's not all folks!!

In the lovely drawers of this delightful maple cabinet were the original owners manual, the Elna STRETCH fabrics instruction book, 17 embroidery stitch cams, the container with spare faceplates and all the feet attachments (including both parts of the darning foot), the original receipt showing purchase of the machine and the cabinet from Golden State Appliance on 5/28/71 for a cash price of $471.40 after tax and a card from salesman Edwin Hines at Golden State. The call for service sticker on the machine is for a shop in AZ and I'm finding this at a thrift shop in UT.

Needless to say, I plunked down the $50 and loaded that puppy in my truck and drove straight to Valley Sewing and Vacuum who is the authorized Elna repair shop in town. He told me I got a steal since the package of cams alone is worth more than the $50. He's going to tune the machine up and it will be ready in 2 weeks. I can't wait to get it back. I'll have pictures as soon as she comes in the door.

Now the hard part, first, to stay off eBay and keep from purchasing the cams I don't have. Second, how do I reorganize my craft room to put her in? I have the perfect work flow going now...

Yes, I can hear my MBA professors saying "Multitasking is inefficient." I am an ADHD crafter. This means my attention span lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. If I had to clean up and set up the next project nothing would be done. I have set up 5 stations in my craft room *(okay 6 if you count the computer)* Sewing machine, iron, quilting on the stand, cutting board and stitching. I have an iron that turns itself off so I don't worry much about forgetting to unplug it.

Each station has a project in process. True the sewing machine, cutting table, and ironing board are all the same piecing project but it's in different segments and when I leave each station, it's set up so I can sit down and start on the next step without having to gather things. The Quilt on the stand is almost done. I can do about 2 motifs before I need to move on to something else. The cutting board is between the quilting and stitching because they are different hand movements and gives me a break between the two stations. The ironing works well after the sewing since I can press the pieces I just finished sewing and they can move from ironing to cutting and back to sewing without my losing interest. The pressing part is also a way of doing quality control on what I just finished so that I don't forget what it was supposed to look like in between the steps. I can tell you I've been much more productive in smaller increments of time for my hobby by having this set up.