So glad to know that I'm not alone! Bought my LA last summer, but didn't set it up until 2 months ago. Had so much trouble figuring out how to thread it, adjust the tension, etc. Finally decided to change the needle to see if that would help. The needle wouldn't move and the motor would just hum. OMG! What did I do wrong. I was so upset, I didn't touch it again until last week. Was sure that my timing had somehow gotten messed up and told hubby that he might need to use his electrical skills to fix it for me. Over the past two months I searched tons of youtube videos and other resources. Found out that I wasn't threading my machine properly. Duh! Also discovered that I had put my new needle in backwards. Learned how to adjust my bobbin tension and upper tension. I had searched through the remnant bin at JoAnn's to find two cotton pieces that were about a yard in length to practice on. I think I finally have the tension about 95% set on my machine, and want to try and actually put a small baby quilt on it next week. Been too busy with the Olympics right now. I wish there were some good LA classes near the Dallas area where I could learn some more stuff. I'd better figure it out pretty soon because I put together a huge t-shirt quilt over the weekend and it's way too big to quilt on my regular machine!