Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Rocking it, Long Arm Style!!!

Note - If you are looking for the 100 blocks post you can find it here :)

So I am posting about my TNT today.  Yes, Yes, I know it isn't Thursday yet.  But I have a tutorial to post tomorrow for the Sew Red for Women Blog Hop and there was just no way I could wait a whole week to tell you the new thing I tried on Saturday.  So . . . I am posting a day early.  (Oh, and no worries, there will still be the regular TNT linky tomorrow, I will just be linking to this post :)

So Saturday morning I headed down the I-15 to beautiful sunny St. George.  But this trip wasn't to hang out on the beautiful red cliffs.  Nope, I had business to attend to.    I had an early appointment with a Long Arm Quilting Machine!!!!!!  Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!!!!!  In a word . . . . Awesome!!!!!

I started the morning getting to meet my good virtual Bee friend, and now good "I have actually met you before" friend Lindsay!!!  She was the one that made this opportunity known to me and what better than to Try Something New with a New Friend!!!!  Lindsay is a Total Doll!!!!  It was so much fun to get to hang out with her all morning and run back and forth between each other's machines.  I am pretty sure we did quite a few happy dances over our work, and it is always best to do a happy dance with someone else vs alone.  (Especially when you are in a public place, tee hee hee :)  Thanks Lindsay, you rock!!!!


So after the initial hugs and getting to know each other it was time to get to work.  First was "loading" the quilt on the machine.  And I got to say, this took longer than I thought it would.  I was just so excited (and a bit nervous) to get going, I didn't think about actually having to do the not so fun loading part.  It wasn't hard, just time consuming.  I compared it to pin basting a quilt :)  And it took about that long :)  But . . . Once you get through the sour it is on to the sweet.


So . . . Do all the long arm quilters stick their butt out when they quilt????  I think that is probably just me ;)    I decided that rather than using a pattern I would take a deep breath and jump into the deep end.  Yup, I went all out and did free motion, and I tried a new design!!!  And I have to say, quilting on these machines  . . .  So Fabulous!!!!!  You have so much freedom. You can do such a larger scale design then on a home machine.  And the fluid motion is so nice.  I was flying down the quilt in no time.  Ya basically,  I totally loved it!!!!

This is what I look like when I am concentrating.   Well that, or my tongue sticking out.  (Glad there wasn't a picture of that :)   So that is what I tried new!!!!  And it was so incredible!!!!  Looking forward to the next time :)

And now your saying, hey, wait, you didn't show us any pictures of your quilting.   And you would be right.  I didn't.  That's because I am saving the full reveal for the Blogger's Quilt Festival in a few weeks :)  But I will say I am so very happy with the results.  (As is my daughter who has been sleeping under it for the last few nights :)

Oh, and since it is Wednesday, and I just knocked a major huge WIP off my list, I figured I would include the rundown.  Things have been going gangbusters around here but as most of the completed projects have the word Secret before them I haven't been able to show much.   But look how much smaller those lists are getting!!!!!   Don't worry, I added 2 more quilts to the list, wouldn't want me getting to a stopping point :)



Designing Stage
  • King Size Serenity Quilt
  • Circle Meets Square Quilt
  • Christmas Strips Quilt
Piecing Stage
  • Jessi and Me Quilt 
  • Moda Bake Shop Take it All
  • DDD Baby Quilt
Quilting Stage
  • Solids Quilt for Free Motion
Completed Stage
  • Secret Project QQ
  • Stars Quilt-A-Long 
  • Secret Project 1B
  • Sew Red for Women Blocks - See Tomorrow for Tutorial!!!
  • Twister Toddler Twin Quilt - Salutations

  
Pin It!

23 comments:

  1. Those projects could all be gone in an instant on that machine. What brand machine did you use? I hope it is a place where you can go back to over and over again.

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  2. How exciting! I've never used a long arm before. Would you say the learning curve was easier or harder than learning how to FMQ on a home machine?

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  3. That is so awesome! But I have to say I'm just a tiny bit jealous. :O Can't wait to see the reveal!

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  4. I've never seen so many long arm machines in one room! awesome. I love mine :-)

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  5. Sounds like fun! Cant wait to see the quilt!

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  6. I want to do this too! I bet you did an amazing job... Can't wait to see it! :)

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  7. Oh, I totally stick my butt out when I quilt! :-) Looks like you had a great time, Let's Quilt is a great place to rock it on some longarm machine. I love those guys!

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  8. I rented a long-arm a few times, isn't it so much fun? You're reminding me that I need to do it again one of these days! Love your concentration pictures! Thanks for linking up to WIP Wednesday. : )

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  9. I was SO happy to meet you too! What a fun experience!! Your quilt turned out incredible!! Can't wait to see the total finished reveal! :)

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  10. I took a longarm class so I could rent time on a Gammill from a lady in my town. I love the free-motion so much more than the Pantos. I got a crick in my neck trying to follow the lines with the laser and still see where I was going on the quilt. My Quilt Buddy has a computerized machine that I have used and that is lots of fun to place the designs on a quilt. I only free-motion great things in my dreams...

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  11. I haven't experienced the long arm quilting machine...yet. I would like to get one some day. It looks like fun!

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  12. I visited that shop when we were on vacation in St. George the first part of March! How fun to recognize the photos. Looks like you were having a great time. Aren't the long arms a blast?

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  13. Oooh, so much fun! We have a place you can go and long arm quilt about 40 miles from here, and our guild has talked about going up, but we haven't got round to it yet. It does look like loads of fun, I must get my act together!

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  14. Yes, all LA Quilters stick out their tongue and push out their bottoms when they quilt. Is that an Innova? I have one and love it. Your quilt looks beautiful and can hardly wait to see it finished.

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  15. Gosh that looks like a lot of fun! The fact that you can do it yourself makes it even better =D

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  16. Envious here! Looks like fun.

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  17. How fun! I look forward to seeing the finish! Another thing on my to-do list is longarming. I found a shop close by where I will be signing up for the class this fall. Will you be doing the link up this week?

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  18. Oh my, I'm more than a little jealous! :-). That looks so much fun!

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  19. Glad you had a good time. :) My LQS rents out a longarm. The most recent quilt I did on it was my Aunt's queen quilt. Between putting the backing on leaders the night before at home & quilting it took 2 1/2 hours to quilt. I don't even want to think about how long it would have taken to pin baste, quilt it & how much I would've hurt afterwards. ;) Now I'm wishing I didn't have 3 more years til my car is paid off so I could buy one. :(

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  20. That's the coolest thing ever! Now I need to find out if there's anyone in my area that rents out time on a longarm and gives lessons. I can't wait to see your finished product!

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  21. I've never used a long arm either...and doubt I ever get the chance.
    I do know by the cost of them why it cost so much to have someone quilt for you on one.

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  22. What fun!! I have never used one and think I need a little more practice with FMQ on my home machine first. Very impressive that you jumped straight into FMQ rather than using a pattern. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product when the Bloggers Quilt Festival comes around :)

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  23. That looks so exciting! I don't know of anywhere here you can rent time on a long arm. Sometimes I just want to emigrate to the US :)

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa