A New Chevron Project

Last week I began a new project. Half square triangles set in a chevron pattern. I started with the small chevrons in the middle. They are left over HSTs from a signature block project from a couple of years ago.  

I did not want the corners to go to waste, so I sewed on both sides of the line and kept the extra HSTs. There are many more, but the original quilt colors are blue, gray, green and navy--all dark colors.

Wedding Signature Quilt

This quilt may go to a six-year old, so those colors definitely needed a girly touch.  Ta da, lavender and a pretty blue plus a hit of red for a surprise.  Don't you know that I preferred the top arrangement, but got things mixed up and the second design is on the long-arm? I didn't even realize it until I saw the pictures tonight. Shoot! The purple on top really works better!

So, except for sewing some parts upside down, all was going well. I loaded the quilt on the long-arm and started quilting by following along the chevron pattern. 

Then the thread started unraveling and breaking.  At first it would happen about once on every 70 or so inches. Today it broke at about every 20-25 inches.  Not okay! 

I was able to get Richard to make a few adjustments and things are better, but they're not perfect.  (yet)

Much worse, though, is what happened on Sunday evening. I had just an hour or two for some fun, and I was really getting some quilting in using my nice acrylic straight edge. Then! the acrylic piece popped up right into the needle. I imagine I was holding it incorrectly, and it got away from me. What a mess! 

The needle broke and bent but the machine sews so fast that I couldn't stop the machine in time to keep the needle from going down into the shuttle. There went the timing and with it the tension. I changed the needle, but no matter what I did, I could not get it in straight.  I just knew the needle bar and shuttle and who knows what else were done. Finished.

Thank God for good husbands! My good husband worked on the machine Monday, and on Monday evening he told me it would cost about $700 for parts. I wanted to cry. Imagine what that kind of money could buy.  Well, I figured that the money would have to buy all the parts that I bent and broke. I was still heart-broken and upset, but there's nothing else to do.

That is until my good-for-teasing husband confessed that I was stressing for nothing. My sweet machine was fine.  I was so upset with the whole maybe-I-broke-my-machine episode that I couldn't put the needle in correctly. Richard had, instead, corrected the needle, cleaned and oiled, and checked the tension. 

This afternoon we were rolling right along.  Here are a few pictures to prove it.

I'm almost a fourth of the way with this quilt. It will be nice to have something to work on this weekend rather than just worry about parts coming in (and paying for them). Whew! that was a close call! Have you had one recently?