I got a lot more pieces cut out for the Hunters Star quilt yesterday before dinner and got several pieces sewed too.

I even made an adjustment to the backup machine when it was acting up, and now it’s running better than ever.  I might have found my new profession if this keeps up!

I tested half a dozen different fabics with this block earlier this week and now I have plenty of pieces cut for future blocks!  In the end, every fabric I found just didn’t fit so I went with my backup plan that I discovered early in the process and just just two fabrics in this block.  I’m not POTC expert since I’ve sewn just 4 complete ones now and have a fifth in progress, but what I’ve seen from other examples is most of these use 4 fabrics or at least 3.

One of the designers that will be featured on the Splendid Sampler is Geta Grama and I’m looking forward to her block.  Her blog yesterday included a pattern for free motion quilting on a whole cloth that I thought was beautiful!  Check it out here – http://www.cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/ .

And finally, the Sweet Sixteen.  I called Handi Quilter shortly after they opened yesterday and explained the issue.  Their technical team is great; any time I’ve had a question I’ve found them to be very knowledgeable – and really nice!  The short story is he suggested taking it to my local dealer based on what I told him.

I packaged everything up and since I already had the needle plate off, and the guard off I just threw those in a Ziplock bag and headed on over literally the moment they opened. Again, another place that just has great service.  The manager met me at the door when he saw me attempting to carry my machine in so he took it from me and instead of taking it back to the shop area immediately, he set it down on a table in their showroom and asked what happened.

After I showed him, he chuckled and asked how on earth did I even do that!  I have no idea!  I gazed longingly over all their shiny new machines while he worked on it and in a few minutes he managed to get the bobbin case (and the bobbin inside) out of there with the world’s tiniest screwdriver.  I was just about to walk out of there scot free when he noticed that the timing was off.

The tech support guy from Handi Quilter’s office had told me to expect that I’d probably knocked the timing out in my efforts and I figured he was right, because I could see how the bobbin case was floating freely in there – thus the reason it looked upside down in yesterday’s picture.   So….they’ll have my machine for a few days and hopefully by mid-May I’ll have 2 machines back home running better than ever.