I have to.

So a little backstory.  When I quilted “Hidden Star” I was having the toughest time with it.  My thread kept breaking and it just was not going well.  I thought it could be the fact that I used spray basting for the first time, and that maybe my machine needed to be serviced.  I knew it was not my needle, because I just changed it.  Well, I got through the quilt, but it was the absolute worst experience I have had quilting a quilt so far.  

So this last weekend, I was ready to quilt another quilt.  I was not looking forward to it at all.  I decided I should probably give my machine a thorough cleaning–since it had been a while sine I have cleaned it.  Well, I was mortified when I unscrewed the top off and found this:

I can’t believe how much crap has accumulated in my machine!! I knew I needed to clean it out regularly, but obviously I was not doing it as regularly as I should have.  I am pretty certain this is one of the reasons why I was having a hard time quilting my last quilt. 

I got my vacuum cleaner out and started vacuuming it out.  I then pulled up the bobbin case and found more crap.   It actually kind of reminded me of a cotton candy maker! lol

So, after a good half hour of cleaning it and vacuuming it out–it now is working wonderfully! My thread didn’t break once when I quilted over the weekend, and it seems to be running much better.  I should have taken an after picture! But it looks like a brand new machine! 🙂

So the lesson of the story is: clean your machine! Be sure to look at your user manual for your machine’s specific instructions.  

I will be cleaning my machine way more often now! 

Talk to you soon,