Alright, here it is. Please be kind as this was my first real quilt on the gammill, but do leave me your comments or suggestions. It is a split nine patch arranged in a lightning bolt pattern, made for my youngest daughter. I quilted each bolt with a different pattern - horses, fancy flowers, hot air balloons and such - and freehand swirls around the border. I was braver than smart using bright green thread on the back. Each and every single misplaced stitch jumps up and yells, "SEE ME?" but my daughter is a kind and forgiving person so I don't think she'll mind.
It was really fun to use the laser (which arrived in the mail yesterday!) instead of marking directly on the quilt. I still shake my head in wonder at how much faster this process is than the more traditional method of machine quilting. Each motif would generally take me between fifteen minutes and half an hour to complete that way and it would have to stretch over about a week for a small quilt or more like a month for one this size. This quilt took two days to finish and I only worked on it in half hour increments scattered throughout those two days. Maybe six hours total.
To those of you who are already long arm quilters, did you get frazzled pretty fast while you were learning? I feel like my brain is full or something after about half an hour. Sometimes I find myself gripping the handles as though they're the only thing keeping me from falling off a cliff. Is this just newbie-itis?
It was really fun to use the laser (which arrived in the mail yesterday!) instead of marking directly on the quilt. I still shake my head in wonder at how much faster this process is than the more traditional method of machine quilting. Each motif would generally take me between fifteen minutes and half an hour to complete that way and it would have to stretch over about a week for a small quilt or more like a month for one this size. This quilt took two days to finish and I only worked on it in half hour increments scattered throughout those two days. Maybe six hours total.
To those of you who are already long arm quilters, did you get frazzled pretty fast while you were learning? I feel like my brain is full or something after about half an hour. Sometimes I find myself gripping the handles as though they're the only thing keeping me from falling off a cliff. Is this just newbie-itis?
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Congratulations! Yes, at first all of the information is overwhelming but suddenly one day you will asnwer a question for another new longarmer and realize that you got it! I remember the very day that I went down to quilt and didn't have to "warm up". I had developed muscle memory. It was a big day for me.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting ... congrats.
ReplyDeleteVery nice! OK I am scheduling appointments for lessons...lol
ReplyDeleteCheck this out.... http://shadywood.blogspot.com/2008/01/quilt-panto-library-for-sale.html
ReplyDeleteOK so you should be about halfway through those UFOs by now with only binding left to do....
ReplyDelete