First finish 2014, on a machine I’ve never quilted with

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off.  Rob was helping some friends move on Tuesday and Sydney had her head buried in her Kindle, so I moved some machines around and found out I had a really good quilting machine I didn’t know would quilt.  My Bernina was in pieces, and I didn’t want to start something else, so I pulled out something I already had pin basted and gave it a try.  The walking foot didn’t work on this machine.  Not sure why.  So, I put my darning foot on and did it all free motion. 

This is a cute little runner made from a pattern I borrowed from a lady in my bee.  She made hers and I liked it and she shared the pattern and I pieced mine and took the pattern back and somebody else in bee borrowed it.  So, another pattern that is going viral. 

I did lots of very simple quilting on it, limiting myself to just a few feathers in the star centers and lots of straight, marked lines with a leafy vine in the border.  Easy-peasy.  I learned a lot about invisible thread.  If you run your hand over your work, top or bottom when using invisible thread and it feels rough, like sand paper, it’s because the tension is too low.  I don’t understand it, but found it to be true.  I picked all that out, fixed the tension and the invisible thread is as smooth as a cotton thread would be. 

Unfortunately, while I was doing this, I broke my good darning foot that I need for class on Saturday, so I’m taking a repaired foot and all my others in hopes I’ll be able to make do.  That was a special order foot and I’ll need to find another one.

This is my Grandmother’s Singer 15-91 from the 50’s.  She did all the quilting in that little quilt.  When I worked with her before, she had a problem that I couldn’t figure out.  She dragged.  Not sure how to describe it.  Anyway, it would keep the motor in a bind and it ran slow, so it moved to the garage sewing storage area.  I pulled it out to work on it Tuesday and whatever it was had resolved itself.  For all I know, it could have been gunk in the foot pedal that was causing it.  I know I pulled a scrap of paper out of the pedal when I was setting the machine up, but didn’t think anything of it.  I also remember that the pedal used to get very hot, very quickly, but that’s not happening anymore either. 

I don’t know what the gunk is on her machine bed.  I can clean it and it looks like it goes away, but yesterday, it picked up lint from the fabric and now you can see it again.  I’m hesitant to do much until I understand it better because her decals are in good shape and I don’t want to ruin one to cure the other. 

I’ve been servicing my Bernina to get her ready for class this Saturday.  One of the things I don’t like about my 930 is the spool pins. They’re hollow plastic and if you use them to punch through the paper on the ends of a spool, they get broken and chipped.  Rob bought me a new pair for Christmas and I spent about an hour taking the skin off the machine to replace them.  (Oh, I need a service manual.)  Anyway, from now on, I’ll be sure to punch the paper out BEFORE I put the spool on the pin.

She’s cleaned, she’s oiled, she has replacement parts and a new needle.  She’s ready for class on Saturday.  Ready to work long hours.  And, I now have an alternate that is just as fun to quilt on. 

So, what did I do after I broke my darning foot?  I quilted on that 15-91 without a foot.  And, it worked like a charm.  I just had to hold the quilt a bit tighter and closer to keep it from bouncing up when the needle pulled up. 

Because I’m going to be in class, we took Christmas decorations down yesterday.  All day.  We were some tired monkeys last night.  But, it’s ready to be loaded back into the attic for 11 months. 

Everybody have a great Thursday.  It’s my first work day of the year. 

Lane