That !&%@##* Machine!!

My Sunday fun-day started out well, messing around with some orphan blocks and making a fun top from them, but then it took a dark turn. Millie was quilting a vintage top I have, and she decided to rear her ugly head and eat the thread again. This is the third time she has done this, and I consider it a major design flaw in the APQS longarm system. My Gammills (I have two of them) have never done this, and I have been quilting with them for 14 years. Mr Wazoo had gone off to Home Depot and I needed to handle the repair myself. I got the machine opened up and it took forty five minutes to get the wad of tangled and stuck thread off the needle bar shaft. I cleaned up the mess inside the machine, re-assembled and oiled everything and was back in business. What a dirty and tedious job!

Here is part of the quilt so you can see how well constructed it is.

All hand pieced with tiny, perfectly spaced stitches. I  marveled at the maker's skill in that the top is perfectly flat!

Meanwhile, here is the trouble...From the outside, it just looks like the thread entered the slot and is probably stuck on something inside the machine.

With the side of the machine removed, I found the problem.

This tangled and oily wad only took a few seconds to form, as the machine moves at remarkable speed.

After thirty minutes of careful cutting and pulling the threads away, I finally got to the shaft. Lighted tweezers really help with this tedious work.

All better. I cleaned inside the machine and re-oiled everything.

This is what I had to remove!!

The side back in place. Six screws and a hex nut on the black clamp part.
What an ordeal!

Good thing we have a box full of tools and parts!

After the delay, I finished quilting the top, and was pleased with the result. I decided to cut off the small green border because it had tiny holes on all four sides where it had been safety pinned for 60 or 70 years. They were big enough to have to patch, and I hadn't noticed them before the quilting.

The panto: Simple Chevrons

The backing is a thrift shop sheet.

I did the hand sewing while watching the super bowl game.

Blue binding frames it nicely

The finished quilt. A nice large queen size. I love the pattern and the colors she used. So cheerful!

I worked on the smaller orphan block quilt while doing the quilting on the vintage one. Here it is stage by stage. I need to put on the binding, but I think it came out very pretty!

I started with eighteen 6" blocks. I made two more  to be able to have a 4 x 5 grid to work with. I couldn't put it on point to make it bigger because some of the blocks were directional.

Adding the drop shadow effect made the blocks 7 1/2",
 and using 3 1/2 " sashing made it almost lap size.

I pulled this batik from my stash and  with the 5" borders brought the quilt up to 60 x 70"

All quilted and ready for the binding. I'm using the sashing fabric for the binding.

Panto: Woven Wind

The squiggly batik for the backing was also a stash pick.
The sashing fabric was left over from the back of another quilt project. I'm using from my stash to finish these UFOs!

Molly was in attendance as usual. Here she is, resting up after barking furiously at the four deer who dared to walk across the yard. All in all, the day wasn't too bad. I still have the love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with the Millie, but got the work done despite her fickle performance.

Zzzzzzzzz...

Another day in the mountains ends perfectly.