Spa Treatment for Bella

A few weeks ago, it was time to do some maintenance on Bella (my 12' frame and 26' sew head with Autopilot).  I call this giving her the "Spa Treatment".  I love the Innova because it is so easy to do this "spa treatment" and it makes her so happy! 

First you get some rubbing alcohol and some cotton swabs...

Then you dip the cotton swab into the alcohol and wipe all the white wheels on the carriage...

Then, put some alcohol on a paper towel and wipe off the tracks on the carriage and the frame...

 

Then, wet a cotton swap with alcohol and wipe off the encoders...

 

 

You might notice that there is thread in your wheels (I had some after almost 3 years of use)...

 

You can easily take the wheels off by putting some books under your carriage, loosen the bolt (paying attention to the order that the bolt, washer etc. go together when you take it out) take out the bold and take off the wheel, to get the thread out.  Then, put the bolt assembly back together and tighten it back up.

 

 

If you have an autopilot, you might want to check where the belts go around the pulleys at the end and under the sew head...(be very careful not to pinch your fingers).  If you grab the thread and move the sew head it will come right out.

Bella is so very happy now!  However, the coolest thing is - even with all this thread in the wheel, and lint on the wheels, she still stitched beautiful!!! 

Tidy Studio - Paralyzed Quilter, but Happy Customers

Recent events have energized me to maximize the space I have in my current studio (I am looking at commercial space for the near future)...love it when the studio is nice & tidy!!!  However, it makes it hard for me to work, because I am NOT a tidy person and I don't want to mess it up - ugh! So, I am usually paralyzed for a while until I just dive in and get busy.

I realized during the last few days that I have quite a bit of space and I need to utilize it better...so I took my weekend and de-cluttered/cleaned/organized my studio...LOVE the results.  However, I had a customer come over today and it was still a little awkward my sitting arrangement...gotta work on that, but I think she enjoyed seeing my studio and I am SUPER excited to work on her quilt for her    : D.

Hopefully this will also encourage others to come and try out the machines.  I have opened up a big space to "hang out", some places to sit and have a door that they come in (so they don't have to walk through the house).