Bereft (don't worry, it's not too bad)

I walk into the room and nothing is there.  The table is empty.  There are no cords snaking behind the drapes, tripping up my attempts to close them every night.  There is no cover sitting askew where little kitty feet tried to move it. 

My Juki is in the shop.

ARRRRRRGH!

Yesterday, it starting skipping stitches and making funny noises when it sewed.  I tried changing the bobbin, cleaning it, oiling it, changing the needle, changing the thread spool, adjusting the tension.  Nothing worked.  Stitch-stitch-stitch-stitch-stitch-SKIP-clunk-stitch.

So, knowing that the Quiltville mystery is coming up on the 18th and I have to finish my QCA mystery quilts by then to get them into contention for Viewer's Choice, I packed up the sewing machine and lugged it down to the local repair shop,.  I've never used them before - never HAD to - so with some trepidation I handed my baby over to the lady and winced.  Then I took the lonely, empty carrier home.

I felt as if I had taken my cat to the vet!

Husband says not to worry, it's probably just out of adjustment.  It's ten years old, after all, and I sew every day.  He thinks there's no other Juki out there that age that has logged as many hours as mine.  (Oh, but honey, you don't know quilters.....)  He's probably right.  It's probably not anything major.  It was still sewing a beautiful stitch except for that occasional SKIP which broke my heart.  The clunk came after the stitch didn't connect, so probably the shuttle timing is off.  We'll see.

In the meantime, I'm using my fancy Juki dressmaking machine with all the stitches.  It's harder to get a good accurate 1/4" seam and the small throat is more crowded to deal with when wrestling long pieces.  I don't like the  shape of the 1/4" foot and the light on it is not very bright so it was more difficult to sew last night.  I started on a small quilt using the leftover QCA mystery blocks to get my footing, but it just didn't feel the same. 

I miss you, TL98E.  The room's so empty without you.