I suppose now that I’ve quilted a few quilts on this machine, it is time to tell you a bit more about this part of my journey.

First things first.

I’ve gotten used to standing up while quilting. It isn’t a big deal anymore. Hey - I was pretty wimpy to be saying my back hurt after 1 quilt. What about those poor cashiers in the US who have to stand up all day long?

I also noticed right away that I had only one bobbin case. I am standing and working on a tile floor and if I had fumble fingers, I figured that might not bode well for it. I ordered two from Amazon right away that are compatible and had them sent to my mom in FL. I thought at the time that we’d figure out how to get them to me eventually.

Then…I got up the nerve to get down there and try to quilt. I already showed you my first attempts. Thank you everyone, for your comments. They helped incredibly as I didn’t know what I was doing. I did watch videos, but so much just goes over your head when you have no core knowledge for it to stick to.

Anyway.

These are the issues I’ve faced.

First - Bobbin case - warped!

I dropped my bobbin case - not on the floor, but in the well of the machine where the bobbin and bobbin case are.

It was because I didn’t have it properly ‘clicked’ into place. So, as I sewed, or rather, tried to sew, it fell out onto the metal bottom. Technically, I guess, I didn’t drop it - but it fell.

And it got ‘out of round’. Yikes. What to do? My bobbin thread would no longer pull out of the case. I have 5 bobbins and none of them would fit into it anymore. And if I could squeeze them in, the bobbin wouldn’t go around freely. I showed it to my husband. He said, “Yep, it’s warped!”

I came to the computer to do some research. I also called the person where we bought the machine but he doesn’t have any bobbin cases for sale. ????

Uh oh.

I got to reading in the Facebook Group Juki Long Arm Machines and noticed that one lady mentioned that she had a bobbin case on her dewarper. Hmm.

What’s that? I found out where it was for sale and I ordered one.

But I’m in Poland - and nothing is quick to come here!

I was aware that I’d be pretty much on my own here if something happened and I do need to learn how to fix issues as they come up (by myself or with my husband who has ‘golden hands’ as they say here in Poland).

I couldn’t use my machine.

Grrr.

Overnight I thought about that dewarper…and I showed my husband what it looked like from the Quilter’s Apothecary Website (I had already ordered it). I told Mike that I thought he could probably make me one. He saw a video of it and said, “Yes, I can do that.”

So, while I began to work on finding backing fabrics to match up with tops or some other type of work like that (I don’t remember exactly) - because my long arm was not usable, he went to work in his shop.

Mike came back in about 20 minutes and said, “I did it - here it is”. And he took my warped bobbin case and put it on it and he started working it round and round just as in the video that Jamie Wallen put on his site.

To make a long story short, he got my bobbin case round again (!)) I’ve been extra careful since the second time (!) it happened to not ‘not click’ the bobbin case in place properly. I treat it now like a delicate, gold necklace. I also use a flashlight to check to make sure there are no stray threads in there just in case.

I went ahead and ordered 2 more bobbin cases via a Juki dealer in FL to come right here and 2 MORE from a person on Amazon to come directly here to me in Poland. Of course, none of them have arrived here yet. So I continue with 1 bobbin case and I’m being very, very careful. I know the floor under the machine is tile, which is why I ordered 2 extra bobbin cases “just in case” even before anything happened. Those are the ones that are in FL - or rather, were. Rachael sent them to someone who is in WI and coming in about 10 days to visit us again and go to Ukraine with Mike. So, when it is all done, I should have 7.

That’s crazy.

Second issue - the leaders.

(Note: Leaders did not come with my machine so I had to make them and I didn’t really know what I was doing.)

• The bottom backing leader fell off the machine again (someone called it the belly bar).

I had not put a seam in the leader that holds the backing on the railing that is nearest my body - and it all fell off as it slipped out from under the PVC stripping - just too slippery - even with a zigzag stitch trying to masquerade as a serged edge. I took that leader piece to my sewing machine, folded over the edge and made a regular hem type seam on it and put it back in the bar - in the place where the leader gets connected. This time, the seam that I put in is keeping it from pulling out of the placement area. Problem solved.

• Blood on the leader

I have stuck myself repeatedly with my big pins and made myself bleed. Needless to say, choosing a cream color might not have been the best choice for me for a leader fabric. I did put a box of tissue down in the room to help me not have to run upstairs to the living room to get a tissue. :) Of course I originally put them down there for my nose!

Third issue - various missing components in the room

• Bobbins - having only 5 was crimping my style.

Of course no one (that I’ve found) here has size “M” bobbins. But 5 just isn’t enough for me. I’ve just been using white thread all the time for charity quilts for now and really prefer to wind a bunch at once. A “bunch” for me is more than 4 or 5.

I ordered 100 from Amazon that were M bobbins. They arrived about 3 days ago which was a pleasant surprise as I thought they’d be here in another week or so as they were coming from China.

I got up the nerve to actually try one a couple of days ago now and they seem to work pretty much the same as the Juki ones.

I did put a “J” on the Juki ones, so that I can know at a glance which are official ones, however. These from Amazon are ever so slightly a different size. I am having to do some McGyvering to get them to wind thread as the holes are a tad bit big, but it’s working.

• No trash can -

I ordered two - one light pink and one dark pink one. They arrived with all the boxes this week for Ukraine. At first they were put with that stuff to get packed until I realized what that box was. It went back into my car to go home with me. I like them.

• No clock -

I ordered this one - it’s really cool. Woodwork. Laser cut. It’s not on the wall yet. I have to decide where.

Fourth Issue - The machine is very noisy

It is even more noisy because I don’t have any fabric or much of anything “soft” to catch the sound. With a tile floor it is incredible how much noise there is. However…I’m getting used to it, but it does make it hard to listen to anything on the tv in there when I’m running it. I will also be doing more decorating in the room as it is pretty basic at the moment. I don’t have any quilts on the walls or cupboards or places to store things. They are just sort of piled in a corner.

There isn’t really anything I can do about the noise except possibly figure out if I can use Bluetooth headphones and then listen to my programs which I was trying to watch and listen (joke - it is hard to actually watch a program while quilting). But listening works.

Fifth issue - Robotics not installed yet

As of writing this blog post, I’ve not put it on yet. I’m trying to make sure I can solve the actual running of the machine including dealing with thread breaks, rolling the backing the right tautness, etc. As a result, I’ve not gotten the software registered yet. I’m going to try to work on that very soon now. It didn’t do it automatically like I thought it should, so I think it is going to be a struggle as it is 1. old software and 2. second-hand. So we’ll see. I’ve got to make some phone calls.

Sixth issue - Thread breaks

From seeing the plethora of videos on You Tube about thread breaks on a long arm, I’m going to assume it is or can be an issue. I’ve had some (not many though - not really). I’ll keep working on trying to figure out what the causes are. So far they’ve ranged from 1. not having the presser foot down, 2. the thread was caught on the spool 3. the tension guides were too tight 4. the thread was NOT in the tension guides, 5. and ? weak thread maybe? (that’s a copout - gotta get past thread that might break.) Not sure why. The last one is the one I’ll just keep trying to figure out.

I came across some fabric my needle just didn’t want to sew on so it skipped and/or broke thread. I put in a new needle. It kept skipping. Not sure the solution. It was ultra dense fabric - probably along the lines of ticking. Second hand fabrics on a charity top. I just started going around it (that’s cheating - I know).

Seventh issue - Designs I’ve tried

So far I’ve done a little bit of adventurous things - like trying circular loops - and not just oblong loops. However, they were much slower than a simple oblong loop, so for at least some of these quilts I went back to the quickest. These charity quilts are all getting a much better quilting job than when I just did straight lines as they are getting more coverage.

I am not doing very many time consuming things right now as I’m so far behind this year’s quota and I guess I’m just trying to finish - or at least get down to about 5 left for the year. I have hundreds I can do that on - when I have a bit more free time to do it in.

I can also play on my own quilts - or at least once I can see the end in sight. I know that the more quilting you put on a quilt, the longer they take. At this point I’m going for getting closer to getting done. And this machine is helping.

I love not having to sandwich the quilt on the table with spray glue!

For example, I tried one with a sort of wavy line just going up and down the quilt - no fancy loops or meandering or circles. The thread kept breaking and broke more when I went from right to left than when I went from left to right. Why would that be? Maybe I was going too fast. Maybe I need to take it off of regulated quilting. Weird. It was to me. I thought that would be a quick and easy quilting pattern for some of the charity quilts, but it was quite frustrating, actually. I went back to loops.

I want to try some things on my own bigger quilts. Those I’m going to try curls and swirls like I did on my domestic. I’ve done a little bit of it on charity quilts, but decided to just get some more done - before I spend extra time doing that. It is especially hard to get fancy if the charity top isn’t very flat. Loops absorb a lot of that extra fabric and I can get by without a lot of extra work with loops. Curls and swirls are also good at that, though. I know.

I’ve started keeping a tally mark chart just to keep track of how many quilts I quilt with it. I will probably prepare a better chart but decided I should go ahead and start with SOMETHING or I would get lost.

As of THIS writing of the blog post I’ve done 38 quilts on it. Here’s a pile of 27 quilts that our cat is enjoying. These are waiting to be trimmed and bound. All charity.

Overall - ALL of my issues have been MY fault. I can’t think of anything that hasn’t been caused by 1. ignorance or 2. carelessness.

Well, except for why the thread kept breaking when I went in a wavy line from right to left and not left to right but I figure there is something I don’t know yet about that or possibly because the frame isn’t level - maybe the frame has something to do with that - gotta fix it so it’s more level. I’m also going to try to learn more about the other two modes of quilting as I’ve been using only regulated (Precise).

SO….here goes for some more. I’ve got hundreds more tops to finish but this year - just about 22 more to get caught up on the quilting for 2022. Anything more I (or if Sewerin helps me, we) get done is gravy and a help to getting caught up on the myriads of charity quilt tops I have to do. This year Ukraine/Ukrainians has gotten the lion’s share of my attention.

I want to get to quilt some of my own this year but am putting those off til I get the minimum number of charity quilts done for this year. I did order some Hobbs cotton/poly (80/20) batting to come directly to me - I have no idea where it is being shipped from - I also am curious if that is going to work as it wasn’t crazy expensive for me. Mostly batting here in Poland unless it is 100% poly is very VERY expensive. I’ve not been bringing it back with me from the states from our store because I’d always rather bring fabric than batting in my limited space.

And now you know.

My struggles.

They are real. :)

In the light of major life/death issues surrounding me - they are miniscule.

It’s an adventure and I’m very happy with my machine so far. I could wish for a personal teacher for it, but like so many other things in my life, I’m on my own for this one—except for You Tube and many of you who are willing to help guide me in this adventure.

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this journey!

Have a great day wherever you are reading this! I know it was long and if you got this far - well, you’re a trooper! Thanks for reading!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

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