Lingerie Chest & Janome L-344 Limited Edition

Ever since I found my first lingerie chest to put in my quilting room for storage, I have wanted another one. I had this narrow space right inside the door, and I thought that would work just perfectly. Today we went junkin’, and I went specifically looking for something that would fit into that space. I have been looking on Craigslist, and I have found a few, but by the time we make contact with the seller, it is gone.

We hit all the Goodwill stores on both the Iowa and Illinois side of the river in the Quad Cities, and we even hit West Kimberly Mall (an antique and consignment mall) in Davenport, with no luck. On the Illinois side of the river, we also went to Country Fair Mall in Coal Valley. We started on the total opposite side of the building, thinking that if we found one, it would be on that side. We went down each aisle and looked in each booth, and when we were nearing the very last aisle, I said, ’Well, I guess we aren’t going to….Oh look! It’s exactly what I was looking for!’ A lady near us said, ‘And at a very good price!’

There is a huge machine shed, which is ‘Country Fair Mall’, and there are also two antique stores on the same property. We asked if we could put a hold tag on the lingerie chest while we walked through the other two buildings to see if there was something we would like better. There wasn’t, so we came back and bought it.

It’s just perfect, and not too wide front to back. Now I just have to fill it, and that will be NO problem at all… ….but not today.

I also found a Janome L-344 Limited Edition PINK sewing machine for $6.38. It did not have a power cord/foot control unit with it. Luckily, I had one that goes to one of my Kenmore sewing machines that fit it. It was very dirty. I gave it a bath and inspected it visually, and then tested it out. I bought a manual for it online, or I might not have figured out how to thread it, as it was totally backward to how machines normally thread, until you got down to the needle. I do not know anything about how old this machine is, or why it is pink. I would like to, but internet searches have shown me nothing, really.

All the stitches work, but I did have to make some adjustments to the tensions. It also sounded loud, like a pounding, really. I thought perhaps it needed a new needle, and that would have been my next step, but I took the bobbin case and shuttle out, and it was very quiet without those in the machine, so I oiled where the shuttle rides, and the edge of the shuttle, and now it is very quiet. Amazing.

I think selfish me will keep this one…at least for awhile. It IS PINK, you know!