Mabel and Her Table

Mar 14, 2017 by tlmiller

Mabel is the name of my HQ18 Avante. She has an 18-inch throat, stitch regulation, and she moves like a dream along her 12-foot frame. She has three feet on each side and takes up about 8 feet in width, which gives me plenty of room to move around her on all sides.

I purchased Mabel from Blakeman Vacuum & Sewing and I couldn’t be happier. Mabel was delivered in six large boxes that were carefully maneuvered down the stairs into my basement; the only place in the house that can handle her size.

Caleb from Blakeman carefully assembled her and spent the next seven hours crawling around on my basement floor, putting her table together, making sure she was level, at the right height for me to use, and that she would glide smoothly across the frame. Which she was, and is, and does. She was quite the project and I enjoyed seeing come to fruition in my home.

I hadn’t planned on naming her Mabel though. I tried out a number of names from the cute to the profound and finally figured that at some point she’d let me know what to call her. About 5 hours into the project of getting her put together, I was talking with Caleb and the name Mabel just tumbled out.

Mabel. Her name fits her. Beautiful, loving, lovable. My own personal Bertha is named Mabel.

In the mornings, I go downstairs and say hello as she patiently waits for me to decide what I’d like to work on. There were some decisions that needed to be made from what type of system I’d use to load quilts to some basic instructions on how to get the tension just right. I’m getting there. Mabel and I have played around some and I grin like a fool the entire time.

Mabel and her 12’ table are here to stay and our adventures in quilting await.