Quilting Mojo

Where did it go?  It was here not too long ago.  What could have happened?  What am I doing wrong?

These were my thoughts last week when I started quilting on a quilt one of the ladies in my quilt group put together.  She did the in the ditch quilting around the blocks to stabilize them and wanted me to do some swirls in the sashing.  Here is a picture of the quilt I am calling Limeade at Evening.

And here is a picture of my first round of quilting on J.Jr.:

As you can see, the bobbin thread is pulling too tight around the curves.  I had been having this problem with Bernie as well, so I presumed it was a matter of technique.  Since I have a very important baby quilt to finish, this issue had to be dealt with.  I made four practice pieces so I could practice without having to worry about ripping out mistakes.  I set up Bernie, and gave it a go.  No good.  Definitely something wrong on the machine end as the thread kept wrapping around the bottom of the needle.  Fine--no time to take it in for repair right now since I am in the middle of piecing Dot to Dot.  

So I got out J.Jr. and decided to do a rework of my quilting foot based on some advice from a quilt blogger I keep up with.

The bar you see at the top of the foot came out straight and rested on the needle bar.  As the needle went up and down it would hit the bar, raising and lowering the foot.  Not only was this very noisy, but it was also difficult to maintain a consistent speed.  I bent the bar back, and then adjusted the height of the foot by using a ponytail holder above the spring.  Big difference.

Now that is more like it, and at least I know the problem wasn't just my technique.  Now with Bernie, here is the plan.  Get Dot to Dot pieced.  Buy a new bobbin case next time there is a sale.  Get some Teflon bobbin washers to help the bobbin spin more quickly, and a Supreme Slider to move the quilt more easily.  If it still won't work, then I will take it in for repair.  If I absolutely have to, I can quilt Dot to Dot on J.Jr. or the big Juki at my quilt group.  Bernie and I will get our quilting mojo back yet.