I just got off the phone with the repair guy - a 35 minute conversation detailing all of Gertie's woes. The good news is that I'm not crazy (at least not when it comes to thinking things weren't right with Gertie :D ). She needs several new parts and lots of adjustments done correctly, and then she'll be in very good shape. The first words he said were 'You must have been aggravated to no end". All of the things that are wrong with her should have been caught, but some were actually caused by previous 'repairs' over the last year.
The bad news is that I can now not buy $300 - $350 worth of fabric. :cry: The repair guy promises I'll be able to love her when she comes home in a couple of weeks tho.
He did tell me something very interesting that I hadn't heard before, and that I want to pass on. Some of Gertie's stitch and tension issues is that there are grooves cut into 3 of the thread guides, one being a hook that is, in his words, 'about chewed through." He says that rough thread causes this, and he asked what brands of thread I used. His thought was that my machine saw a lot of C & C ( which I don't have - whew! so it had to be from the previous owner.) I was using Guetterman for piecing; guess I'll be using Mettler or DMC from now on! I didn't realize thread could be so rough it actually cuts grooves :cry: