Shredded

I was so close to finishing the quilting on my wall hanging, when my sewing machine suddenly locked up.  I manually eased it forward, pulled out the quilt, removed the walking foot and needle, and gently pushed the pedal.  Lots of rattling; occasional sticking.  Everything looked fine from the top, but when I removed the bottom panel, a small pile of black shards fell to the floor.  Closer inspection revealed a stripped gear - the black shards had once been the gear's teeth.  I was surprised the feed dogs had been moving at all.

Just look at that toothless wonder

Well, at least it's no secret what's wrong (to my chagrin and gnashing of my teeth).  The repair guy isn't going to have to search for the problem.  Google tells me the part is inexpensive - so the big unknown is how hard it will be to install.  Fingers crossed!  In the meantime, four quilts are on hold.  I'm dying to show off my latest work and had planned to submit it to the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I was sprinting to the finish and now have no choice but to sit back and be patient.  Humph.