You get a date with Jack (of the seam ripper variety). Our date lasted about 6 hours as I unpicked all the FMQ done yesterday. Not fun. Fortunately, it amounted to only about 1/4 of the quilt.
What caused my machine to pitch a hissy fit? The thread. I normally use Glide or AeroQuilt thread for machine quilting. My niece wanted gold thread. I was able to find the desired color locally in a Mettler Silk Finish 50wt cotton. Never had any issues with this particular brand for piecing, so I certainly didn’t expect issues with FMQ. I installed an 80/12 topstitch needle, used the same thread top and bottom and attempted to FMQ. The machine wasn’t having it. I could do about 5 loops on the meander before the thread would break. Tried new needles, adding lubricant to the thread, rethreading multiple times, cleaned out the bobbin area. I finally gave up.
What made it especially exasperating? I’d quilted a bunny tablerunner as a warm-up for this project. I used Glide thread on it. No problems. Turned out really nice.
I loaded Glide thread back on the machine just to test after the Mettler cotton thread fiasco. Worked like a charm. Lesson learned.
Tomorrow, I’ll visit sewingmachine.com in Alpharetta to buy a cone of Glide thread in Military Braid or Caramel. I’ll take the quilt with me to get the best match. Also have a list from a friend of other colors to add to my Glide machine quilting thread collection while I’m there.
No more extended dates with Jack, please.
Come Stitch With Me 