She Has a Name
Monday, March 16th, 2009I’ve been working on coming up with a name for my long arm quilting machine. The original owner called her T-Rex. I don’t think my mom had a name for her, other than “the older or other” machine. I’ve tried out a couple of different names but nothing really inspired me until this weekend. Her name is Cranky, it fits her perfectly. I had such high hopes of getting both mountain quilts quilted this weekend. I even dreamed of getting the binding sewed on by machine. Cranky had other ideas.
I got the first quilt loaded, did a trial run at the stitch on the excess at the edges….the stitches looked good so I started in…..then the thread broke. I know this pattern well, it means I have to time the machine, AGAIN. Timing really isn’t that complicated now that I know what to do but it is awkward since you have to determine the needle position by looking under the rails. I was feeling good though because the first timing job did the trick. I was off and running. I got to what I hoped would be my last turn of the take up rail when I realized there was just a little quilt left on the rail. See that little bit left on the roller on the right.
Almost done, right? NOT!! When I started Cranky up, she jammed immediately and the hand wheel would not turn. There was a thread caught in the hook assembly, in the race I think is what my dad called it. I gently pulled and tried to coax the thread out and finally just jerked it loose. It felt like it broke so there was nothing to do but take the whole thing apart. It just wouldn’t turn no matter what. How can it be sewing so nicely and then WHAM? I was holding the threads when I started so that wasn’t it but perhaps there was a loose thread on the underside. While contemplating the problem, I decided to go use my Featherweight (which also needs a name by the way) that almost never gives me any trouble. I finished the two first Sat blocks and made some more 9 patches. The red Kaffe Fassett print did not photograph well.
After some therapeutic piecing, it was time to work on Cranky. So I now have experience taking the hook assembly completely apart. I found quite a lot of black, oily lint built up but strangely no thread. So all the cracks and surfaces were cleaned and the whole thing back put back together again. It was getting late. So I decided to wait ’til morning to do a test run and see if Cranky was happy again.
Evidently Cranky wasn’t put back together well, because she just won’t sew properly. Grrrrrrrr. I spent an hour & a half early Sunday morning trying to get the timing set but I think it must be more than that because, in addition to breaking the thread, she’s skipping stitches. She only skips stitches when moving counter clockwise from about 6 o’clock to 11 o’clock and then she starts sewing again. Grrrrrrrrr. I know my Dad’s first question is, “is the needle in right” which it is…..scarf in back and clocked so that the eye is centered.
So there she sits with a temptingly close-to-finished quilting job. When I feel like talking to Cranky, I will remove the hook assembly, again, check that all the screws are tightened down and then perhaps call my Dad to see what is next on the trouble shooting list. Grrrrrr. Now you know why her name is perfect for her 
