Monday, May 09, 2005

If it's not one thing, it's another...

Did you ever have One Of Those Days? I'm sure you have. We all have. Anyone who read yesterday's blog entry knows I wasn't exactly in a fun and sparkly mood to start with yesterday. (Thank you to those who wrote nice notes in comments or privately...they were comforting and appreciated.) But anyway, I was keeping busy, getting things done. Then it happened. I was about 4 1/2 sun-rays away from my quilting goal for the day when my machine started sounding funny and the quilt got harder to move through it. Hhmmm, says I...this can't be good. I stopped. I looked at the back and there were loopy things like the tension was all wrong, although I hadn't changed a thing. Sigh. I checked my tension settings. I unthreaded and rethreaded. I checked to be sure the bobbin was seated correctly. I made sure my needle wasn't broken or burred. I tried again, with no better results. Suddenly I see something on the bed of the machine, something I think at first is part of a pin. Um, no. My STOOOOPID free-motion foot broke! Aaarrrggghhh!! You know the little metal arm thingy that rests on the sticky-outy part of the needle assembly, so that the foot bounces up and down a little? (I hope all this technical talk isn't going over everyone's head. Snerk!) Well, that's what was lying there gasping and bleeding on the bed of my machine. And ya know what? The thrice-damned foot won't work without it's arm. Lazy bastard. So I got out a Big Foot I bought years ago and then tossed in a drawer when I decided I didn't like it. Thought, ok, it's better than nothing. Well, actually no, it isn't much better than nothing. I remember now it wasn't just that I didn't like it. My machine didn't like it either. I did part of one sun ray, found all sorts of horrid skipped stitches and things I'm going to have to pick out today and then gave up. I went to the 'net and started a search for a place to buy a new free-motion foot for my machine. Oh yeah, did I mention that the place where I bought my machine no longer exists? Right. So...ok, Google it is, then. So today, instead of quilting suns, I'm waiting on a package to arrive from northern Georgia, carrying what I fervently hope will be the right free-motion foot for my sewing machine. Like my daddy always told me, "Little Rodeb Rodebba Debba, if it's not one thing it's another. If you're not in a funk about loss and the fragility of life, your damn sewing machine foot will break." So how was your day?