Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Now What’s Going On With My Free Motion Quilting

 

If you read my blog with any regularity you know that I had one heck of a time quilting a charity quilt recently.  I finally finished it and donated it but not without some frustration.  I was having problems with my Brother PQ 1500 and skipped stitches.  I finally switched to my Pfaff and finished the quilt without further problems. 

I love Steve at my local sewing machine repair shop so I headed over there with my machine, skipped stich samples and lots of information about the thread and needles I was using.  I knew since it was an intermittent type problem, it was going to be hard to diagnose and fix.  After a long discussion with Steve I left it in his hands to resolve.  Sure enough a few days later he called and I went and picked it up confident that my problem was resolved. 

Yesterday I finally sat down to give it a try.  I didn’t have any skipped stitches but it was making an awful clunking noise and when I looked at the stitches I could really see the needle holes even though I was using the same thread in the bobbin as on the top.  (Notice the stitching near the bottom of the picture.)

IMG_5804

The clunking noise really had me worried.  I was afraid the needle was hitting something.  As I pulled the practice piece out from under the machine, I noticed something sticking out from under the quilt sandwich.  Sure enough, I had a manila folder (with paperwork inside) stuck under the quilt sandwich.  Duh!!!!!! No wonder the machine was clunking away.  But by golly it wasn’t skipping stitches anymore. 

IMG_5806

Notice the nice even (no skipping) stiches on the back of the folder.  Thank goodness I can replace the paperwork fairly easily so I don’t have to take the stitching out.  I think I’ll keep it as a reminder to check what’s laying around before I start quilting something for real. 

IMG_5807

Now back to Steve, he really is a great guy.  He takes the time to listen to you so that he’s able to resolve any issues you might have.  Steve can be reached at:

Singer Sewing Center

11891 Valley View St Garden Grove, CA 92845‎

(714) 899-2739

He shares the space with Sheri at the The Quilt Cupboard quilt store.  If you live in the area, both are worth visiting. 

Enjoy,

Signature_thumb[1]

5 comments:

  1. Now that sounds like something I would do. Yeah for the fix!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too funny. Guess your machine was so happy it wanted to do some free-motion quilting on mixed media!

    SewCalGal
    www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my, I had a good chuckle over this. I had another block under my quilt sandwich once and didn't figure it out until I was finished quilting the piece! Boy was I ticked with myself! Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. When the machine doesn't work, it is a killer. Glad it turned out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, you made me laugh. I can just picture it. Remember when we made the bear for Karin?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I love knowing that I'm not alone, blogging into thin air.

Print Friendly and PDF
Related Posts with Thumbnails