my quilting machine dead bar

 a dead bar is a bar that doesn't do anything other than keep the quilt a set distance from the quilting machine. My new quilting machine didn't come with a dead bar, so when I was quilting, I would have to move the quilt up as I quilted.  What a pain.  Carla showed me her dead bar and my son thought he could build me one instead of paying $90 for a ready made one.  Carla's is made of a piece of conduit like electricians run wires through under ground or in your attic.  I went to the hardware store today and started looking around for all the parts needed.  I found this rectangular piece of metal I thought would work instead of the round bar.  I got a metal shelf bracket that fit inside the bar and some bolts and washers and my son hooked it up for me today.  We have attached it with some zip ties to the frame for now, but will attach it with a couple of bolts tomorrow because it needs to be a little bit lower and closer to the bed of the machine.  I didn't want to drill through the frame if I didn't have to, but it looks like we will need to drill one hole.

 This bolt fit through the hole in the frame that was already there.

 Here's the end of the dead bar.  The quilt goes under the silver bar and up to the roll above.

 a little overexposed picture, but it is the outside showing that the dead bar sits right above the two black nuts that hold the top bar in place.

And finally, a quilt this is it.  One tiny quilt today.  Done on the smaller quilt machine.  Had a major migraine again today.  It started yesterday after I went in to work for a little bit.  My son picked up his schedule and so I stopped by to say hi and see the new student teacher.  One of the teachers was griping about her class schedule and that started the stress.  Oh, this will be a great year!  I actually have a great schedule.  I have to remember to let things go and not listen to some people complain.  Their problems are not my problems.  I will not be having a student teacher this year and will have two great TA's (student helpers).  Only three more days of vacation.  I'm having a friend come over tomorrow to play with the quilting machine.  I hope we have fun.

I'm still having troubles with the tension every time I change the bobbin.  I can't figure out why. I'm trying both the prewound and the bobbins I wind myself.  There has to be a trick that I'm just not getting.  I will not give up.  I remember when I first got my other machine, getting so frustrated for about 2 weeks and wanting to just send it back because the thread kept breaking.  It's probably something so simple.  When it works, it is really nice and makes such great stitches, but at the beginning of each bobbin, the tension is just terrible.  I tried running the machine freehand off the edge of the quilt, but that didn't help.  Ugh.