Marg Kneebone

I am a 62 year old wife of over 40 years, mother of 2 and grandmother of 2, living in Whitby Ontario Canada.

Quilting-wise, I am an amateur....working on my 400 hours of learning time. Originally my husband built me a frame for hand-quilting. Found out quickly it was too hard on the back and retrofitted it to take my Elna 6200. Liked it a lot but the space was limiting. That lasted a year.

Last summer we found a Kijiji add for a Gammill from an upholstery shop in the States. The man I bought it from said "You deserve this machine". This was not a compliment. It turns out this is one of the original Gammill's (actually Number 245) made by Ken Nolting for Gammill in the early 1980's. They are very rudimentary machines based on a Consew 230 industrial machine. No bells and whistles i.e. no stitch regulator, no channel locks...just a basic machine. Who knows how long this one had been sitting unused. The wheels were shot and the track bound up. It was filthy and had miles of thread wrapped in the works. Luckily my hubbie likes a challenge and has an affinity for old machines. He found out the wheels were from sliding patio doors and changed those out for $40. The track was more difficult. After some false starts, we ordered ToBeQuilting's nice stiff plastic spline and retrofitted it into the grooves of its 14 foot table. It got wired with a new laser from a garage door opener and we added wheels to roll it around.

I just love it.

Now am working on my 400 hours to be competent. Struggling with the lack of regulator. Finding that the free motion appeals more than pantographs....and just learning. Hope there are lots of classes here.