There's a Hole in the Bucket

Do you know the song, "There's a Hole in the Bucket"? It's one I learned as a child, and now that I've thought of it, I can't get the tune out of my head.

Basically, the lyrics tell the story of Henry and Liza conversing about a hole in the bucket, and how to go about fixing it.

Henry sings:

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Liza sings:

So fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,So fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

Henry responds with a question:

With what should I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza,With what should I fix it, dear Liza, with what?

Liza responds with a suggestion:

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with straw.

And the song goes on - how to cut the straw (with an axe), the axe is dull (it needs sharpening), how to sharpen the axe (with stone), the stone is dry (so wet it), what should it be wet with (water)... and concludes with how to get the water to the stone when there's that problematic hole in the bucket.

The song came to mind when I was in my sewing room on Monday. You see, along with my new Bernina 770QE sewing machine, I received several items that were included by the dealer, Sharky's Vac 'n Sew. Those were a Queen Supreme Slider (for free motion quilting), a rolling trolley, and a Sew Steady table. The Sew Steady table just arrived Monday, so I picked it up and returned home to set it around the machine arm.

Of course, the tray that comes with the Bernina is fine, but the Sew Steady table has a nice-sized, 18" X 24" bed upon which to work. The Sew Steady simply extends the flat surface I already have, with hollow core doors behind and beside the machine.

If only it was that simple.

When I first positioned the Sew Steady table around the sewing machine arm, the table was slightly taller than the hollow core door/tables behind and beside it. Unfortunately, the Sew Steady legs can't be lowered.

The hollow core door-tables needed to be lowered. However lowering them meant that when using door-table, rotary cutting would literally be a pain in my back.

The only solution was to raise everything.

The height of the adjustable tops of four Ikea Finnvard trestles that support the two hollow core door-tables needed to be raised.

The table that the Bernina rests upon also has adjustable height legs, so that table needed to be raised.

The door-tables, Sew Steady, and machine bed still weren't level with one another.

Let's removed the rug from under the legs of the sewing machine table.

Better. Until I sat down to the newly raised table-sewing machine set-up. The sewing chair was too low.

The sewing chair height cannot be adjusted, so I swapped that chair with the office chair, and adjusted the office chair's pneumatic height to it's highest position.

Good. High enough for the sewing machine. But my foot didn't reach the sewing machine's foot control pedal.

Sigh.

I have now returned my sewing chair to its place in front of the machine, and found a pillow on which to sit!

I should be low enough to reach the foot control, yet not put strain on my arms and shoulders when free motion quilting. It's time to try it to determine if it's comfortable.

If not I'll undo everything.

Doesn't that "hole in the bucket" song seem somewhat apropos? Linda