Saturday, June 20, 2009

One Of Those Days

Did you ever have one? Well, Friday was one around here. I had the day planned and got busy laying out three different projects to work on: doing the backing for the Puppies charity quilt, start the hand sewing on the Jazz binding, and a new project called Quilt in a Cup. I sewed three small orphan blocks together and prepared to do some simple quilting on my straight stitch DSM. As I was attempting a practice piece (haven’t quilted with a DSM for three years) it seemed the machine was slowing down. I tried it several times and it got even slower. So, much like raising the hood of a car, I looked around the machine. And what did I see? Thread hanging out of the wheel:

lots of thread. It took the rest of the morning, afternoon and this morning to dislodge almost all that thread.

There is still some in there but it is not binding anymore. It seems that when I leave the bobbin thread on the second spindle it works itself down the side and get caught onto the wheel.

Anyway, this afternoon I finally got one project done.


It is a perfect use of orphan blocks or scraps. The cup comes with a piece of batting which I used to make a template so I can make different “quiltlets” to change out for holidays and seasons.

After one successful project completed I decided to not take any more chances and spent the rest of the day reading. There is something very restful curling up with a good book.

EDIT: Cups can be found here. They also have a list of retail stores.

8 comments:

Pat said...

LOVE that quilt in a cup. A friend got one as a gift from her secret sister and hasn't done it yet...and it's been over a year. I'll have to "bug" her about it now.

jovaliquilts said...

Eek!!! I can't believe all that thread -- what a job to take it all out. Glad you got it fixed! And that quilt in a cup looks great!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I thought about getting one of those cups but I hadn't gotten around to it. I like how yours turned out. Sorry about all the trouble with your sewing machine!
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/

Kay said...

What kind of machine do you have? On my Janome, I discovered a huge pile of unwound thread once that I couldn't understand. Fortunately it was just on the table not the wheel, but I bet the same thing happened. Good to know. I won't leave the thread on the spindle again!

Browndirtcottage said...

Oh man!! I've never seen anything
like that...what a mess!! But glad you finally got your cup made!

quiltmom anna said...

Very cute quilts in a cup Gari.
That is quite the wad of thread that you had around your wheel. Good for you that you were able to fix the problem_ I am not sure that I would have known what to do.
Happy quilting and reading.
Regards,
Anna

Judy D in WA said...

Yip, that's a mess alright! I've felt your pain, the very same way-I no longer leave the bobbin on the spindle. Now I need to find one of these cups. That is very fun.

QuiltedSimple said...

Love the quilt in a cup - and what a MESS in your machine. Glad it is ok.
Kris