Enchanted bobbin, indeed

As a fairy tale scholar, I should know a lot about the vagaries of enchantment.  Once upon a time, I joked that my sewing machine was enchanted, that it seemed to spin out project after project, magically, with very little input from me (or so it seemed in those leisurely days of maternity leave and sabbatical). Ha ha.

Ha.

I chose to call this blog "the enchanted bobbin."  Clearly I forgot all my fairy-tale lessons about naming determining fate, and vice versa. 

So, yes, true to my blog name, my bobbin is now enchanted, and not in a happy way.

I was stitching away, glad to be home from our conference and happy to steal 10 minutes to sew something up (on a whim) for Lynne's "Dead Simple Quilt-along"... and then -- CLICK. 

TANGLE. 

THUMP.

Bobbin is bewitched. 

It will not play nicely in this sewing game, no matter what I do.  I have removed the bobbin case, cleaned it, added a single drop of oil to the wick (first time since I bought the machine 14 months ago), replaced the bobbin case (several times over), rethreaded the bobbin, but all to no avail.

My beloved machine needs a fix, and hopefully the Janome dealership can break the spell, quickly and relatively painlessly.  Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I am happy to have my handstitching project, which I worked on while my sweet husband did the driving to and from the conference, and while our 2-year-old amazed us with her new-found ability to amuse herself in the back seat.  We did have some help in the form of a portable DVD player, and our friends "Charlie and Lola" and "Peppa Pig" -- but I was very surprised at how low-key the drives actually were this time around.

I managed to make 10 hexagons worth of 60-degree diamonds, and have many more diamonds basted and awaiting assembly. 

I tossed caution and planning to the wind, and just added diamonds of any hue and value...as a result, my tumbling blocks look a little unbalanced, but I think I am going to plow forward and just trust that it will work out in the end!  (These hexagons are not yet joined, so I can still play with arrangement when I have a quilt-top's worth ready to go.)

I don't have much time right now to sew, anyway, but if I really start to suffer from machine-sewing withdrawal I can use my 1947 Featherweight...which is currently buried under a pile of books! 

In the interest of full disclosure, here is an unretouched photo of the "power chair" where I do almost all of my writing, grading, and editing (computer on my lap).  Off to the right are books and papers, predominantly but not exclusively work-related, and the black box skulking in the corner is my Featherweight.  A Groovy Girl mermaid doll and plastic shopping cart are never far away.

 So back to the chair and back to work I go. Hopefully I will soon be reacquainting myself with the good side of sewing magic....

Good wishes to you all...use them wisely...and no wishing for more wishes, cheeky monkeys....