A Day of Play

If you haven't read my post from yesterday, then you missed the part where I got a new quilting machine. And if you're reading this via email, then the post you want to read will be down below this one. Just scroll down and read that one first to learn how this all came about. I'll just wait here while you catch up...or don't. It's up to you.

Anyway...today I spent some time playing with my new Baby Lock Tiara. As a few of you noted, she'll need a name. I actually gave this some thought yesterday. I was thinking of things to go along with Baby, but nothing came to mind. Then, for whatever reason, "My Fair Lady" popped into my head, and I had my name...just like that. Eliza. For Eliza Doolittle.

Anyone with a name like "Tiara" should be wearing a nice hat, don't you think? And in this image, she's actually wearing a tiara!

Please tell me you're old enough to remember Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle.

So anyway. That was the easiest part of what I've done with Miss Eliza today. She has three manuals for all of her parts.

For simplicity, I started with the guide for the machine and put the other two where I couldn't see them. I didn't need any distractions.

And where does anyone start with a new machine, but threading it for the first time.

This is where I ran into problems because the documentation is really terrible for this machine. And what I've learned in the process of looking at them as that all of the machines are made by the same manufacturer...just the names and how they are packaged for sale are different. So I got a little wigged when I read this part:

Here was my first attempt. Close...but not quite there yet. You can see that I've wrapped on one side for the top two holes and the other side for the bottom. They should have all three been wrapped on the left side.

So, I got that figured out, but then the rest of the threading instructions were pretty vague. Basically..."just wrap it around the thinga-ma-jig that we failed to illustrate in the picture of the machine...that's right...whoops...no, over there...oh you're really effing up now". Yeah. Quoted only slightly inaccurately. And because I knew this machine was identical to the HQ Sweet 16, I decided I'd check their manual online. Only, it too was exactly the same manual with only the cover changed to reflect the different name for the same machine. Oy.

But let me continue on because I really had to be able to stitch something before I could tell if I'd threaded it properly. It came with two pre-wound bobbins and several more empty ones. I figured I'd just start with one of the pre-wound ones, even though the thread weight was quite different from what I had on top. And to make it extra hard on myself, my top thread was purple, while the bobbin thread was white, and I was stitching on black fabric. Of course, it did make it easy to see the tension.

Anyway...the bobbin was simple. It was just like the one I had on my Bernina 440 back in the day.

It's a little inconveniently located, but I didn't have any problem with this.

So then I spent a little time poking buttons on the screen in front of my face. I can adjust the speed I want to stitch, and these are not preset. I can decide what I want the three speeds to be.

Then that "More" button was intriguing. Here's what happens if I press that. Ooooh, lookie there!

So it has a timer I can use to set an alarm to remind myself to stop sewing and go work out. (Ha! Oh, I crack myself up.) The bottom timer is sort of like the trip meter in your car. You can set it to see how much time you've spent on any given project.

With "Options" I can change the brightness of the screen or the volume of the sounds. Then there's the "System Information". This is sort of like when you get a new car and it only has 8 miles on the odometer. And when it turns over 100 miles, you feel as if the car is ready to be junked for a new one. And here I am with 663 stitches! Cool! 

Also, there's a calculator. I can see this coming in handy.

There's a low bobbin alarm, but it will have to be calibrated by setting it to zero when I put in a newly wound bobbin. I can have three presets at the bottom for different threads, but each will have to be calibrated.

So after I'd done all that, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and pressed "needle down". I first needed to bring the bobbin thread up to the top, and lookie there! It worked! (By the way, this is an old practice piece from the class I took up in Tacoma this past summer. It's still half unstitched, so I'm keeping it around for practice.)

Then I was ready to stitch. And away I went. Cool. Wow. I'm really doing it!

Only I flipped it to the back, and uh-oh. Something isn't right. 

I messed and fussed and cussed and fumed and turned dials, and pressed buttons, and read, and studied, and got online, and tried to find videos. Finally, Mike and I looked at it together, and Mike figured out that despite thinking I had it right, I didn't actually have the thread between the tension disks. Once we got that figured out, things started improving.

And after swirling and circling and stitching a lot of scribbles, I tried stitching a flower. The first quilt I'm going to do with this machine is the Gardener's Journal quilt, and so a flower seemed a good place to start. Here's the front...not too bad.

Here's the back...you can see I'm still having a few tension problems, but I'm feeling confident I can get this worked out.

If I use a consistent thread in both the needle and the bobbin, I have a feeling my tension problems will go away. Also, I still have an instructor coming out to the house to give me a lesson. I'm told she'll be able to help me get the tension adjusted properly...not to mention helping to assure I have it threaded right.

Despite the frustration of the day, I've had fun with it. I'm looking forward to my lesson and continuing to play until I'm comfortable tackling an honest-to-goodness quilt.

Oh yes, and I almost forgot. I'm down to just words on the "Never Underestimate" project. It seems appropriate just now. 

When it's finished, I'm going to hang it in the room where Eliza resides, and we'll just have a great time together.