Ok, so this is starting to be a pattern, not just a random problem.
So, around this time last year, I was finishing up quilting one of my quilts, and my machine started to slow down and eventually stopped entirely, in like, 10 seconds. It's pretty hard to describe, but the whole thing is stiff now. I could barely turn the wheel at the side of the machine to manually move the needle, and I was so frustrated because I seriously had like, 15 seconds of stitching left on my quilt before I finished quilting it. I tried rethreading it, checking the bobbin, changing it, blowing the dust out, EVERYTHING I could think of and nothing worked so I brought it to the sewing machine repair shop.
In the mean time, I had decided to buy a new machine, which I had to order anyway, but I did get the new one a little before getting the old one back from the repair shop. When the shop called me to go pick up the machine, I went and brought it home, tested it, and put it away, since I like the new machine better anyway. I took out my old machine once for my mother to use briefly this fall, and it was put back in it's place downstairs.
Then on Tuesday, my mother came over so I could help her make a quilt, and we had both machines out and were using them all afternoon. There was more cutting and measuring and fussing than sewing on my mother's part, so it's not like the machine was running for 3 hours either, but just when we were finishing up the quilting once again, my mahine froze up!
It started slowing down and then just stopped entirely, I don't know what's going on here and it's driving me crazy. I got it fixed a year ago for the same problem, and this week was the first time we really used it, and it's broken again? Doesn't make sense! And, it's not because my mother doesn't know how to use the machine, it was hers for 35 years before she gave it to me, and she only had to have it serviced once, after the basement flooded -and even then, no water touched the machine, but our insurance paid to have it serviced just in case.
Does anyone else know what I'm taking about or has had this problem before? Should I bring the machine to have it serviced elsewhere, or bring it back to the original place and tell them it obviously wasn't 'fixed' if it broke again the first time it was used?
BTW, my machine is a Kenmore model 1774.