WONKY WINDER and a FINISHED QUILT

The Nolting came with a stand alone bobbin winder.  It is a simple aparatus: a thread stand, tension discs, a shaft for the bobbin and a motor.  To engage the winder, the motor tips down, toward the direction of the arrow.  There is an on/off switch but the motor stops when the bobbin is fully wound.  If you lift the motor up without turning off the switch, the motor will run again.  AMHIK.

 The winder did a terrible job of winding evenly.  I had to make some adjustments after trying the manual approach without success (i.e. using my finger to guide the thread).

 If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the indentation  in the white part of the stand within the circle.  It is hard to see, but there is also an indentation on the black, metal part of the tension discs.  The arrow points toward it.  There is a nipple just under that indentation and it is, likely, design to sit into that indentation on the white base.  When it sits in there, the bobbin winds off balance to the left.  I loosened the Phillips head screw and stuck a washer between the white base and the black metal part of the tension discs.  This allowed me to shift the tension discs so that the bobbin would wind more evenly.

It isn't perfect, but it is better.   Oh, yeah, I also tightened the thumb screw so that there was appropriate tension on the discs.  This provided me with a much tighter, consistently wound bobbin.

I am getting decent results with these bobbins.  I sure would love to have them more evenly wound.  Relatively speaking, though, this is pretty good.

Here are some photos of the finished quilt.  I don't really have a decent place to show off large quilts.  Our bed is a hybrid queen size bed.  The dogs have an extension at the foot and there is a little pace for Frannie on one side.

I rather like how the back looks.  Actually, I am rather pleased with the overall results, front and back.  Even the mistakes are kind of interesting.

I took it over to the  Quilt Zoo today for show and tell.  I made it just before they were to start the Block of the Month class.  Nina and I found some bad stitches on the back.  When I got home I ripped them out and fixed them using the 31-15.

I like that machine.  It has a large throat and a big table.  The action is not so great.  I think the belt is too tight.  The balance wheel wants to go backwards when I stop treadling.  Gotta fix that.  I think this may be the machine for attaching bindings.  It has so much room.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I did ride my bike again today.  Personal best: 22 miles.  We went as a foursome.  I struggled up one hill while they zipped past me.  Otherwise, I managed to keep up; else, they were being kind.