There I was, sitting at the sewing machine for all of 30 seconds, trying to get on with the memory quilt I’m making for a friend. When – clunk*#%! The machine is stopped in it’s tracks. What’s wrong, I wonder? Oh dear, the sewing machine needle has dropped out of the shaft and got itself lodged right through my quilt and into the bobbin casing. First I turned the power off for safety, then tried to pull the needle out. It was stuck fast, no matter how I wiggled the quilt, the wheel, and the needle. Help!! And to add insult to injury, my camera had a hissy fit and wouldn’t let me take a photo of the offending needle stuck fast.
Robin was called in to lend some expertise to the situation, so I left him to it. And wouldn't you know it, the problem was resolved in just a couple of minutes. He then proceeded to undo the bobbin housing to see if any damage had been done by the errant needle, (no, thank goodness). Next he asked for my little cleaning brush and then set to brushing out all the accumulated lint. Obviously I hadn’t attended to that job in a while!
With the machine put back together, and a replacement needle firmly attached, I did a test run to make sure everything worked as it should. Thank goodness it did. I remember changing the needle the other day when I started machine quilting in the ditch around the sashing strips, so can only conclude that I didn’t tighten the screw sufficiently. Something that needs checking regularly, I guess.
Now I’ve got my breath back I’ll start work on the quilt again. As you can see, I like to carefully pin each bit before I quilt in the ditch. Yes, it’s much slower, but I feel much happier with it all pinned securely. What do others do – are you a careful pinner or not?
Memory quilt with the sashing carefully pinned
1 comment:
I tend to thread baste rather than pin, but I do like my quilt to lay nicely and behave when I’m quilting it! :-)
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