Saturday, 6-21-08

I don’t have much to post today, but I wanted to share a new favorite thing I found yesterday.  I went to the local Hallmark to pick up a wedding gift, and saw this by the register.

It’s Bee Bar Lotion.  At first glance, I thought it was soap.  But it’s a little lotion bar.  Just perfect to run the ends of your fingers over when they feel dry from hand stitching.  Or any other time.  Smells good, too. 

I was going to give Corky (my longarm) her spa treatment today, but I decided to give my sewing hook a close look, since I’d experienced that thread breakage on the last quilt.  I thought I might have it timed a bit too closely to the hook.  While cleaning it thoroughly, I noticed that the tip of the hook felt quite rough.  Hmmm…could this be a thread shredding burr?  I gently polished it smooth, and then I went to tweak my timing.  Not an activity I usually have trouble with, but today, I was all thumbs.  I lost a set screw, finally found that.  I had a terrible time trying to get the timing set today.  And things got a lot worse before they got better.  First, I had lots of skipping, so I knew the hook was too far from the needle.  So I scootched it in some.  Then, I kept getting worse breaks, even having sanded out the burr.  I think, I hope, I finally got it back to good.  I have good tension, anyway! Longarming…it can be such a love/hate relationship.  Mostly love!  But it does have it’s moments of misery.  How does the hook get a burr? Anyone know?  I fiddled with it til I got it stitching good again, and the thread (Rainbows) didn’t break after quite a lot of stitching, even at a fast speed.  I won’t get to even touch my longarm again, til next weekend at the earliest.  So I’ll have my fingers crossed til I can give her a good test.  I sure thought I had her screwed up good, there for awhile.  I didn’t even get around to giving her the spa treatment. Have a great week everyone!  I prolly won’t be around much for a few days!