Last week I took a long arm class at The Heart of Quilting in Des Moines. It was a four hour class and I learned how to thread, load, free motion quilt, use a panogram, start and stop, unload and clean the machine. It was soooo fun. I was awful at the panogram (where you trace a pattern with a laser light and it sews it on the quilt) but pretty good at the free motion quilting. The lady who was teaching me said that the more you have practiced FMQ on your home machine the easier it comes on a long arm.
Yesterday I took my friend Rachel's quilt into the shop to quilt. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes to set up! Augh. There weren't any real problems, it just took awhile. And then I got to quilting.
Here is the whole quilt. Isn't it pretty? She used the 10 minute block from this You Tube video.
Have you ever been so proud of something, yet so uggh! about the mistakes? It is a weird feeling. I am totally proud of quilting this King sized beauty, but disappointed in the number of mistakes I made. Crazy perfectionist. :) I have a whole list of large quilts that I want to long arm quilt next year. I can't wait!
I know exactly what you mean about how proud you are, yet how frustrating it is. I encounter that everyday. I attribute it to the fact that we follow the blogs of the best in our field-- the people who inspire us the most. I find that I have a longterm vision of where I want to be as a longarm quilter and am frustrated that I'm not there yet. It's hard for me to be content with my work (especially when I'm quilting on someone else's quilt) and realize that I'm still new, too. Kind of new, anyway!
ReplyDeleteFASCINATING! I know nothing about them' thar' fancy long arm quilting machines so it was neat to see a picture of someone using it. For some reason, I thought they were computerized and you just pick a stippling pattern then off it goes automatically quilting the whole thing for you in minutes. What do I know?!?! You actually have to maneuver that honkin' thing around yourself! Again, FASCINATING! Thanks for sharing your experience!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting!
ReplyDeleteI would love to learn this - I just need to find a shop in my area that rents theirs out like this.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Just wait - it is SO addicting! You'll never want to do a twin at home again. Great job! Each time you go, set up will get easier. We are so lucky to have this in our home towns.
ReplyDeleteThe quilt shop near here will license you to "drive" the long arms. They apparently use zippers load the machines so you don't have to finish all at once. I'd like to take the class, but for now I am focusing on improving my fmq on a domestic.
ReplyDeletewow - how inspirational! I need to find a 'rent' situation too - sounds terrific! Please keep us posted on your progress!!
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I have a friend who does this and I've never watched her in action. I think I need to go visit!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you've got the opportunity to learn! The loading gets easier!! Watching how Linda Taylor loads really helped me. I also recently got Red Snappers ...so no more pins!! YIPEEE. Also, I discovered when dealing with similar thread color as fabric turn the light off on the machine so that you get a better shadow from lights around the room. Sometimes it helps to just be quilting with the light coming from the window. It gives a good shadow of where you have been and you see the texture rather than the thread on the fabric. Enjoy!!
ReplyDeletei wish i had a long arm. i really would love it. how fun that you were able to try it out.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing. i love the quilt, you will get better as you do more
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome opportunity. I hope one day I can try long-arm quilting. It looks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteYou are very lucky to have a shop near you where you can take classes and rent time on a long-arm machine!
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to do this, there is a place here I think that does the class and then rents the machines. Your work is wonderful, I hope you focus on the good parts and see the rest as room to grow, not mistakes.
ReplyDeletethat's awesome! I keep meaning to take a long-arm quilting class. After taking the class, can you rent the machine to sew personal projects?
ReplyDeleteI took a class back in July and LOVED it. Now it's hard to quilt on my cheapy machine at home :) The first quilt I did, set up took 1.5 hours, but by the third, I was just under an hour. Unfortunately our rental fee includes setting up the quilt on the machine, so that keeps the price too high for me to do it for every quilt. I'm really bad at the pantogram too! I think yours looks great though!
ReplyDeleteHow cool! Learning how to do long arm is on my bucket list of to-dos. It looks great- good job!
ReplyDeleteI JUST bought a long arm at the Houston Quilt festival. It was set up Wednesday and I was excited to use it, but, boy....I have some serious practicing to do!! Don't be too hard on yourself!
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