Machine Down & Six Degrees of Bacon

Ugh! The Big Bad Barudan is having a bit of a problem cutting thread. I replaced the cutter assembly with one that I found in the little blue toolbox of uselessness I have no way of telling if the part I replaced it with is new or used. It was just in the box. I took a chance. I kinda failed. Hopefully I will be able to find the part that I need tomorrow.

But while troubleshooting the cutter I noticed that one of the parts, known as the "thread away hook" was not moving down to hook the thread. I could hear the solenoid and it was moving, it just wasn't moving down to catch the thread. I began to look at the mechanism that moved that hook. I found a nut missing, but it has probably been missing the whole time, I'll replace that easily. But still the hook wasn't moving down to catch the thread. It was hitting on something that was preventing downward movement.

Big Al asked if “…that bar was supposed to be bent”. WHAT bar? I didn't see any bar (go away!). Well, the bar, also known as the “thread guard disk bracket”, probably so they can charge more, was indeed bent as if the sewing head had smashed into something and was preventing the “thread away hook” from coming down. This was very, very odd. I have been using all 15 needles (except #5 because I have to replace the take up spring on that one) for weeks and have not had the thread away hook not come down. In fact, I used those needles earlier today with no problem. Now I have a bad memory, especially short-term, but I know I'm not missing any time from today and I know I haven't slammed the sewing head into anything today…or ever.

So I took the guard bracket off, bent it back into shape, replaced it, adjusted it, and it's fine. The cutter still won't cut though. I can't work if I can't cut!
On another note, the projects…I got tired of waiting for sunshine and opportunity and just shot these with my phone. It's good enough for the blog anyway.

Introducing the “Six Degrees of Bacon”. There's that Hog again, but this time touting the virtues of bacon in all if it's many preparations. There is a lot of hand work in this one. The word “BACON” is applique, the Hog is applique, and everything else is stitched. Hundred of thousands of stitches! And you might already be aware of my laser cutter dilemma—I don't actually have a laser cutter so I had to cut all of the applique pieces by hand before they could be stitched down.

The front of the shirt has an embroidered hit over the left front pocket. The famous and ever-so-popular “Press Button, Receive Bacon”. You've seen it before, but never quite like this. This too is embroidery over applique.

You know what really makes me laugh? The fact that my photographs here totally suck! They get the point across don't they? Of course I would never put these photos in the store, but for here, they do the job. Besides, if I let my own perfectionism take over I'd mess with these photos forever and a blog entry might never be made in the first place.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, (or the bacon is out of the pan, so to speak), here is the same same design done on white, or as close to white as these photos are going to get at my current ambition level:

I still have a lot of threads to clip and backing to cut away from these so stray threads in weird places are not part of the completed design. I wasn't even ambitious enough to use Photoshop to edit them out. In fact, I have two more designs that I just am not going to get to right now. I think this is quite enough.