Part of becoming a new longarm quilter is figuring out how to learn all you need to know. I've joined Facebook groups, Yahoo groups, read hundreds of online article & blogs, and even taken classes. Probably the advice that keeps popping up more than anything is the age old adage, practice makes perfect. But I'm not a fast piecer & I must get sidetracked fairly often since I make my unfinished project list and I quickly filled a notecard with all the projects I have in the house that are in various states of unfinished-ness.
A lady I follow on Facebook has a unique way of practicing her longarming skills. She buys unfinished quilt tops off of eBay and then finishes them by quilting them. I've shown a previous Christmas quilt top that I acquired through eBay and finished. A couple of weeks ago I became the proud bidder and winner of three very similar quilt tops by the same woman. They measure approximately 60"x 70" and all were under $12 a piece. Her only request in her listing was that the person who bought them would report back to her about them. I wasn't sure what type of information she was wanting reported back but for that price I could write an email letting her know I'd quilted them and send a quick picture.
 |
| The three quilt tops I purchased from the same lady off of eBay. |
When the quilts arrived I had just started back to work after Christmas break. I kept practicing on my sheets of fabric I had stretched on the frame. I'm finally feeling confident in my leaf pattern and loopy flower pattern these days. I have two Quilts of Valor that I'm needing to quilt in the near future and decided I wanted to practice my quilting skills from start to finish one more time. So I loaded the yellow flower quilt Wednesday night. I took a class after I got my machine and learned several good tricks for loading a quilt effectively so I put to use my new skills.
 |
| The quilt I loaded to practice on the frame. After it was already loaded and I took the picture I thought maybe I should have ironed it. But then I reconsidered and decided it was fine. |
Thursday after I came home from a meeting I went to the quilting studio (as I like to refer to it) and got started immediately. I chose to use my loopy flower pantogram.
 |
| My first row of flowers started. You can see my basting stitches holding the quilt down so it wont shift as I quilt. |
I quilted across one row and ended up with my back so tight I thought I would break out into spasms. I decided I might do better if I had an adult beverage to loosen my muscles. (A tip I picked up from a new longarming friend on Facebook.)
 |
| A small adult beverage to loosen up. |
 |
| I also changed into my flip flops as I think they make me a better quilter. Or I am desperate for warmer weather. |
I went back to work and I quilted and quilted. I quilted for 1 1/2 hours until dinner was ready. I had a quick dinner break and then back to the grind. I found I quilt like I drive, with the radio up loud and me performing my own concert. I really don't know how I don't have a recording contract because I really am quite good.
 |
| I'm leaning in this one. I'm still learning how to run the machine and keep my body moving at the same time. I find I lean instead of walking to the side as I go. |
After another 1 1/2 hours of quilting I finally finished my quilt top. I quickly pulled it off the frame, trimmed up the edges, and took some pictures. I went and emailed them to the lady I had purchased them from eBay. I let her know it quilted up nicely and looked really nice finished.
 |
| I make wonderful faces as I quilt. I often have my tongue sticking out. |
I was very pleased that I finally feel as if I'm progressing in my skills. I was able to consistently keep my patterns consistent in each flower. I practiced lining up my patterns after each time I rolled the quilt up without any mistakes. I was finally able to keep my batting from shifting by tacking down the quilt top each time I rolled the quilt to the new fabric that was ready to be quilted. I've also been able to notice when I put in a new full bobbin how the machine feels "heavier" than when I get towards the end of the bobbin and the machine is much "lighter" to move. I also can feel it when I run out of bobbin thread these days instead of keeping quilting another +10". I'm getting the feel for my machine that my research on longarming said would come if I put in the practice. I'm not sure what people did before the internet when they wanted to learn something new. I appreciate the help I've gotten when I've posted questions on the message boarrds. I pick up new techniques or ideas as I'm reading others' blogs. When I need to see how to do something I can pull up a YouTube video and get a demonstration. In the case of learning my longarm quilting social media has been extra valuable.
 |
| A close up of the loopy flower pattern. |
 |
| The finished quilt off the frame. I think the lady I purchased it from should feel quite proud as it turned out well. |
