Okay so I am a doofus. I said I cut my Arkansas when, in fact, I am still on Arizona. I rushed down to my trusty machine the moment the children were in bed to begin piecing (very excited to see this color combo come together) and then what do you think? Yup, the machine is not working properly. My one and only sewing machine has feed dogs that apparently are not hungry and won't feed (I posted a thread in the main section about it).
Grrrr... is this the universe's way of telling me I need to spend more time on my housework???
I'll keep you posted - push comes to shove, I will call my local quilty friend and borrow one of her eight machines from her. I think I finally understand why quilters have more than one sewing machine!!