Not ready for March

Like most people, February ended way too soon to suit me. I don't know why we can't borrow a day or two from other months. January can afford to be a day shorter, and March would never miss a day here or there. Too bad those decisions aren't mine to make.

Because of various factors eating up this month, I've decided to forgo the vintage machine swap out and resume it again in April. I'm already happier!

For the past several weeks I've been quilting the Shoo-Fly Leader-Ender project from 2019. I chose a clam-shell pantograph that came with the New Home quilting frame I bought way back when. Because the Glad Press'n Seal is twice as wide as the pantograph strip, I doubled up the pattern so I could trace everything in one go. The paper was long enough that I could loop it around the table and secure everything with binder clips.

Yesterday, with just one more session to go in order to finish, I applied the final Glad Press'n Seal strip . . .

. . . and headed for my Viking. Unfortunately, that's as far as I got. She wouldn't go! She's laid up with "Motor Speed sensor error" and there's no information anywhere on the web that leads me to believe I can get, let alone replace this sensor. After wasting far too much time under the delusion that this could be a DIY fix, I called my LQS and scheduled an appointment for 8 weeks from now.

So now what? Well, there's always my Brother/Nouvelle! So back to the dining table I went, quilt and sewing machine in hand.

 

It occurred to me that I could try out the quilting foot that came with the astonishing array of feet the previous owner included in my purchase. It's been hanging around the Brother box o' parts for.e.ver and it was high time I broke it out of its packaging and let it out to play.

Impressive looking, isn't it?

With this fancy foot in place, I turned the wheel to draw up the bobbin thread . . .

. . . and she wouldn't go. What is going on with this day?!?

Thinking perhaps the thread cutting button had accidentally been hit (causing problems before), I popped off the needle plate for a look-see.

But that wasn't the issue. The needle path is quite clear of obstructions. In fact, when I tried turning the wheel the needle stopped before it was low enough to get inserted into the machinery. So the problem was elsewhere, higher up in fact.

That fancy foot was in the way! The needle screw was hitting the arm (leg?) of the foot (that's a lot of appendages) and preventing the needle from descending all the way.

Well, thank goodness that was an easy fix! There was another foot I hadn't tried yet, so that was the next one I put on the machine.

It didn't work well for what I needed. Not enough pressure or surface area or whatever, because the quilt bounced and flounced and stitches skipped.

I finally put on the tried and true FMQ foot I've used for years. 

I'd been avoiding it, thinking the plastic center would catch or drag on the Press'n Seal, but the plastic never touches the surface because the metal edge wraps around to the bottom.

It didn't take long at all to finish up the quilting. I was so pleased with how easy it was that when I was done I put the machine on the Viking's table for any other quilting projects that might present themselves in the next 8-12 weeks.

A note about the surface damage along the front edge of the Viking's table. The table overlay (propped up on the left side) was losing its stick and shifting around while I was quilting, so I looked for some strong but thin double-sided tape with which to secure it. I found some! I didn't realize how strong it was until I pulled up the overlay to get the Viking out, and the paint came up with the tape. In case you want something really strong, or want to avoid this yourself, this is what I purchased (from MegaLoMart).

March's walker banner is coming along. I discovered how small is too small when it came time to piece the lion's eye.

At this point I decided that brown and black Pigma pens would serve the purpose quite nicely, rather than fuss with even smaller minuscule pieces. So far I have the lions and lambs done ("March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb") . . .

I've since added more black to the lions' eyes, making them look less cross-eyed.

. . . and the shamrocks are coming along.

As long as the machine gremlins leave me alone, I should get this banner done before Monday. Fingers crossed!