And, with this post, I will begin to bring you up to date with what’s been going on. I will share my yesterday to start.
I’ve been stitching on a very nice client/friend’s quilt (on Ms. Sweetie/Sweet 16) and it has gone beautifully. I’m doing a stitching motif inspired by Angela Walters (video on her blog “Quilting is My Therapy”)…….
The stitching patterns reminds me of a chrysanthemum…..kinda….definitely a flower.
A little break for a quick short rural story………….
Today there are snow showers….ugh. The soybeans in our field were harvested just in time (last eve)……….
Believe me when I say that that combine is definitely “overkill” for that little 2+ acre field (we rent it out!).
Back to quilting…………..
To finish the above quilt, I switched from Ms. Sweetie to Ms. Juki (who had been quietly waiting since her 2-day demo marathon at the beginning of this month) to stitch some binding strips. Whoa…………….I couldn’t get the feed dogs to come up!!!!!! This had been somewhat of a recurring problem for the last year and I’ve been able to manually click them up but no such luck this time……so I did what I knew I must and (after unplugging all power sources!!!) took the machine (sorta) apart!!!! 
Okay, I was not sure how things were supposed to work but I knew how I thought it should…ha! Well, to shorten this saga, I called my trusty, wonderful Juki dealer—Ed Raichert Inc. Industrial Sewing Equipment—and was put through to Thomas, a very patient and clearly adept technician, who talked me through the fix-it process. As we spoke on the phone, he was sending me photos of how the feed dog part was supposed to work and how I could go about freeing it. A couple of his photos…….
and…done!!! Ms. Juki never worked better!!! 
And the binding task was continued…..
Thank you so much, Thomas, our talk time was a treasure and I learned so much with your generous help!
More very soon. Now, back to happily stitching…………………..
Treadlemusic 
So glad you got Ms. Juki fixed. I do miss my Sweet 16…
I imagine you really do! I use the Juki so much and can’t even wrap my mind around being without it. Straight stitching and fmq is so easy and gorgeous. Sending major hugs………..
Life does go on, we just have to find ways to adapt. Hugs back. ..
I love those people who have the gift of telling you over the phone how to fix your technical difficulties. God bless Thomas!
Amen to that and add to his awesome help today’s technology!!!!
Farm girls always assume they can fix it, and they usually do!! The combine is like the jolly green, or rather yellow orange giant in that tiny little field! Glad you are back, the chrysanthemum pattern looks great with that quilt. The red in black looks pretty awesome,
Thanks so much! It is good to be home for a couple months (before we leave for TX on 12/27). I know my friend will like her quilt. It’s going to her granddaughter for Christmas…she will do the final hand stitching on the binding. Stay warm!!!! The cold is definitely here….brrrrrrrrrrrr……
You have had a mechanical adventure, well solved. Chrysanthemum is what I spy innuour cute quilting
Thank you so much for popping by, Debbie! Yes, definitely a adventure and one that will probably find me exploring the Juki’s innards in the future to check on lubrication/lint build-up beyond the normal/reachable locations!!!!
I have used Angela’s chrysanthemum motif and love it! It looks wonderful on your client’s flower quilt. Love that you got Ms. Juki all fixed up. Wonder if you could fix my Viking – the bobbin winder just stopped working. Think my solution will be to buy a winder since the service people are too far away.
My Juki tech is somewhere else (around Rochester,MN, I think) and getting the machine to the shop where he picks up the machine is 60+ miles…then, I’m w/o it for a time—–not an acceptable choice in my world! I don’t know about your machine, but I knew that the Juki is totally mechanical and the problem was in a basic lever…..I just figured—how hard could it be to fix it!!! The Raichert tech was awesome (that Phoenix dealer is the place I purchased the machine 6+ years ago).