Horrors!

Last week my long-arm looked like this...

It all started right here with this tiny little spring or, rather, this broken spring.

The problem, of course, required getting into this ridiculously tiny hole with a ridiculously long-handled (correctly sized) hex tool. 

Since these tools come in many sizes and two types, it's good that I remembered that Innova is an American company.  Turns out that their machines require American tools.  Yeah, that's unusual.

While everything was open, I attempted to clean and dust.  There wasn't as much fuzz and dust as I expected.  The machine is about four years old (I guess) but for all the fuzz that I remove from the outside and bobbin area, cleaning was surprisingly easy.

But my baby was in good hands.  See these handsome (somewhat hairy) hands?  They are the only ones I'll trust with my machines. 

And since one thing leads to another, Richard also worked on the motor since it was dragging.  He cleaned something called the bushings (sorry, I was at work and didn't get a photo).  He's quite adept at sewing machine repair, my sweetheart is (having retired from a supervisory position at a garment plant after 25 years), and although it's a bit disconcerting to see my machine's insides, it's all good...baby is back!