OK - I QUIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not OT - stupid Baby LockQuest Minus

I'm trying to be reasonable with this Quest thing - but I'm not seeing where
a heavier quilt would cause the specific problems that Cindy is enduring.
A heavy quilt certainly could cause bogged down short stitches, it could
cause long jerky-looking ones. Heaving around a big quilt on the SM could
cause bent needles and aching shoulders. Yes. Those problems.
Breaking and shredding thread? and skipping stitches? No. I just
don't think so.
It would make me very happy if Cindy could ship that Quest to Alice to
see if Alice has a happy quilting time with it. Oh my, yes, it would.
Polly


"Musicmaker" wrote in message
...
On Nov 25, 7:54 am, Maureen Wozniak wrote:
On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:34:50 -0600, Musicmaker wrote
(in article
):



Alice - I'm wondering if you've ever free motion quilted a bed sized
quilt on your quest? At least a double? That's the only time I have
troubles with the new Quest Plus I have. I can free motion a smaller
quilt no problems, but have to rely on the Bernina with the much
smaller harp to do the larger quilts - which is retarded. I've sent
off a letter to the President. In the meantime, before I give up on
the quest plus, the next bed sized quilt I have I'll put on the Flynn
frame and see if the regulated tension makes a dif.

Musicmaker

The more and more I think about this, the more it seems to me you may be
tugging on the larger quilt in a way you don't with a smaller one. A
double
quilt is heavy when you're trying to wrestle it through a machine. Maybe
it's getting hung up on the edge the table or something. Is setting the
machine on a larger table something you could try?

Maureen

I thought of that too, Maureen - I had the bed quilt all on top of the
koala cabinet, where nothing was hanging over the edge and I did
everything I knew to keep it from being too bunched or too tight -
nothing helped. The fact that another quilter has contacted me about
the same problems, and she's also fairly experienced, tells me that
the machine is the problem.
Musicmaker

I have quilted a queen sized quilt on it....no problems. I did have trouble
with one brand of heavier thread once, and in desparation stuck in a size 16
Singer needle....that solved the shredding, breaking problem in that
instance.

I really don't think I want to see this machine.......as I mentioned before,
if I could use it....what would that prove? Musicmaker still wouldn't be
happy with it. I think she needs to find a machine that suits her, and
works well for her.

Wishing I had time to use my machine....but way too busy cleaning house,
decorating, and cooking for Thanksgiving.

--
Alice in PA
http://community.webshots.com/user/twosonsatpsu
"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to be reasonable with this Quest thing - but I'm not seeing
where a heavier quilt would cause the specific problems that Cindy is
enduring.
A heavy quilt certainly could cause bogged down short stitches, it
could cause long jerky-looking ones. Heaving around a big quilt on the SM
could cause bent needles and aching shoulders. Yes. Those problems.
Breaking and shredding thread? and skipping stitches? No. I just
don't think so.
It would make me very happy if Cindy could ship that Quest to Alice to
see if Alice has a happy quilting time with it. Oh my, yes, it would.
Polly


"Musicmaker" wrote in message
...
On Nov 25, 7:54 am, Maureen Wozniak wrote:
On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:34:50 -0600, Musicmaker wrote
(in article
):



Alice - I'm wondering if you've ever free motion quilted a bed sized
quilt on your quest? At least a double? That's the only time I have
troubles with the new Quest Plus I have. I can free motion a smaller
quilt no problems, but have to rely on the Bernina with the much
smaller harp to do the larger quilts - which is retarded. I've sent
off a letter to the President. In the meantime, before I give up on
the quest plus, the next bed sized quilt I have I'll put on the Flynn
frame and see if the regulated tension makes a dif.

Musicmaker

The more and more I think about this, the more it seems to me you may be
tugging on the larger quilt in a way you don't with a smaller one. A
double
quilt is heavy when you're trying to wrestle it through a machine. Maybe
it's getting hung up on the edge the table or something. Is setting the
machine on a larger table something you could try?

Maureen

I thought of that too, Maureen - I had the bed quilt all on top of the
koala cabinet, where nothing was hanging over the edge and I did
everything I knew to keep it from being too bunched or too tight -
nothing helped. The fact that another quilter has contacted me about
the same problems, and she's also fairly experienced, tells me that
the machine is the problem.
Musicmaker

Well, that same thing (shredding thread, unexpected "nests," skipped
tension, and skipping stitches) started happening just as I was
finishing the free-motion quilting on the BOM on my Elna Quilter's
Dream and I was going NUTS! It turned out to be my darning foot. It
had developed a crack and was slightly bent and was doing BAD, BAD
things, but I didn't know it until it actually snapped in half. I had
a spare, thank goodness, and when I put it on, all the shredding
thread and skipped stitches stopped! What a relief.

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:54:14 -0600, "Polly Esther"
wrote:


A heavy quilt certainly could cause bogged down short stitches, it could
cause long jerky-looking ones. Heaving around a big quilt on the SM could
cause bent needles and aching shoulders. Yes. Those problems.
Breaking and shredding thread? and skipping stitches? No. I just
don't think so.

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:54:29 -0600, Musicmaker wrote
(in article
):



I thought of that too, Maureen - I had the bed quilt all on top of the
koala cabinet, where nothing was hanging over the edge and I did
everything I knew to keep it from being too bunched or too tight -
nothing helped. The fact that another quilter has contacted me about
the same problems, and she's also fairly experienced, tells me that
the machine is the problem.
Musicmaker

That does seem to settle it doesn't it?

Maureen

Carole, thanks for the idea - unfortunately, I've had the same
problems with 2 brand new machines that came with brand new
attachments. The 'darning' foot ain't broke. sigh. Musicmaker

As promised, I called my dealer today. He's been a Babylock dealer for
years. He has no idea why you're having so much trouble, but did offer 2
suggestions to try. If you're using the knee lift, try taking it off when
quilting. He's known of people who bump it without even knowing it, which
will cause the problem you're having. As for setting the length the longest
it will go, this has absolutely nothing to do with the tension, if you have
the feed dogs down. However, he knows of several people that free motion by
setting the long stitch length and leaving the feed dogs up. If these
suggestion don't work, he's out of ideas.
Gen


"Musicmaker" wrote in message
...
Carole, thanks for the idea - unfortunately, I've had the same
problems with 2 brand new machines that came with brand new
attachments. The 'darning' foot ain't broke. sigh. Musicmaker

Have you heard back from the BLQP President re your letter?

Still praying that you get 'another machine that works' or your money
refunded in full - keep at them, there are a lot of quilters around here who
have read this thread.

Di


"Musicmaker" wrote in message
...
I swear that the Baby Lock Quest Plus that they sent me "in exchange"
for that lemon Quest I had IS THE SAME
MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As long as I was piecing, or free
motioning on a thin wall quilt, which were the first 2 projects I
tackled, it seemed to work fine, though I did notice that the needle
threader caught and shredded the thread in THE SAME WAY THE OLD ONE
DID. Today I tried to free motion a larger, hug sized quilt and GUESS
WHAT?!?!?!? The stupid thing started skipping and the top thread
started breaking - Never more than a few minutes of quilting before
bamm - broken thread. changed threads. changed needles, changed
speeds. changed top tension. changed bottom tension. sometimes it
quilted for 5 minutes before the thread broke or skipped. I'm done.
with baby lock. I'm returning the machine. I'm demanding a refund.
Don't want to ever have anything to do with baby lock again. I refuse
to believe that I, of all the people in the world, CANNOT MACHINE
QUILT - having had lessons, classes, talked to the BL educator etc etc
etc. I'm not even disappointed - I'm just angry. Good thing I save
the letter for the President.

Musicmaker. period. end of discussion.

more folks have followed this story with interest than they realize i
suspect.
they really need to get this right, a full refund or a machine that works as
it is supposed to.
j.

"DiMa" wrote...
Have you heard back from the BLQP President re your letter?

Still praying that you get 'another machine that works' or your money
refunded in full - keep at them, there are a lot of quilters around here who
have read this thread.
Di


"Musicmaker" wrote...
I swear that the Baby Lock Quest Plus that they sent me "in exchange"
for that lemon Quest I had IS THE SAME
MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As long as I was piecing, or free
motioning on a thin wall quilt, which were the first 2 projects I
tackled, it seemed to work fine, though I did notice that the needle
threader caught and shredded the thread in THE SAME WAY THE OLD ONE
DID. Today I tried to free motion a larger, hug sized quilt and GUESS
WHAT?!?!?!? The stupid thing started skipping and the top thread
started breaking - Never more than a few minutes of quilting before
bamm - broken thread. changed threads. changed needles, changed
speeds. changed top tension. changed bottom tension. sometimes it
quilted for 5 minutes before the thread broke or skipped. I'm done.
with baby lock. I'm returning the machine. I'm demanding a refund.
Don't want to ever have anything to do with baby lock again. I refuse
to believe that I, of all the people in the world, CANNOT MACHINE
QUILT - having had lessons, classes, talked to the BL educator etc etc
etc. I'm not even disappointed - I'm just angry. Good thing I save
the letter for the President.

Musicmaker. period. end of discussion.

Re : setting stitch length for free motion quilting.

As an owner of a computerized babylock machine I will say that, with
me anyway, that the stitch length DOES matter.
When I first learned to free motion all the instructions I read said
to set the length to zero drop the dogs and quilt.
That only served to make a mess of the test piece that I was using.
Now I do not own a quest and I have occasionally had problems with
needles breaking while free motion quilting but they were likely my
fault.
I have found that if my stitch length is not set to 3.0 or 3.5 ( I
can't remember which now, it has been SO long since I had a chance to
finish a quilt the required free motion quilting) the tension is all
off and it makes a mess.
Now, set it to the right setting and it free motion quilts like a
dream, in fact it is the only machine I will free motion quilt on
because it is so effortless.
I wish it had a larger throat though I have a tendency to do only
BIG quilts.
Mine is a babylock esante (the older one, not the new one).

I have several kind of blah quilt tops I got on ebay - I'll try each
of the stitch lengths (default doesn't work, nor does length 5, which
the babylock educator said to try) with the quest (yes - I sent a
letter to the president - no I didn't get a response) as well as
setting one up on the Flyn frame to see if the tension of the layers
has anything to do with it.

Musicmaker