Thanks everyone! Yes, I like the barter system. If I could manage to come up with the last machine I'm looking for, I'd gladly barter another bunch of machines out of my sewing room. Maybe I'd eventually be able to fit this frame in there.
Well, we're bonding. After a couple of mis-starts, things are going well. I managed about an hour on it yesterday in a couple of small sessions. No pain so far, which is good.
My mis-starts:
- Top thread breaking - I've bonded with the threader now. I think my issue was the sandwich being either too high or too loose. I've tightened it, and it's -just- above the bed now and it doesn't break. It's also apparently 5 year old serger thread. I'll wind some bobbins with some newer higher quality thread and change to something else for the top thread before I start quilting today .
- needle fell out after I checked it - turns out this is one of the machines I -have- to tighten the needle with the screwdriver. It's also important to set it completely. It stopped, I tightened. Apparently it wasn't all the way up. I know now to stick my head down there, stick a fingernail under the needle and shove until I can see it's seated.
- presser foot down. Yes, for some reason, I almost never forget this, except on this machine, where I almost always forget it. I'm getting better, and I have a reminder on the handles for the time being.
- when the machine started breaking thread, I decided not to put off the service until the next day, and somehow put the machine into bobbin winding mode as I opened it, which locks the machine from revolving more than one revolution. That's not documented anywhere I looked. I figured it out though, and I won't make that error again.
Yesterday I managed to do some basic stippling, some McTavishing and some general playing around. It will take a little getting used to for the slow tight stuff (I find the Quilter's Cruise Control behaves a little strangely here - longer stitches, etc. I couldn't find a troubleshooting document though for the QCC, so I assume this is normal behavior?) but I think as I get used to it, I will get a better result.
All in all, still happy with it.
