Our long arm quilting class

So I haven’t gotten a chance to share yet about the long arm quilting class that I took over a week ago! So much going on (and more tomorrow! 😉 ) So I wanted to sneak in this post on the long arm quilting class that 4 members of our little New Orleans Modern Quilt Guild took.

We took the class at a local sewing machine store. It’s actually the place where I bought my current machine, so I’ve been there often enough…plus I have a good friend who is a chiropractor who works on the second floor of the building…and I went to him a LOT during my pregnancy. So I’ve been in the store a number of times. It is run by a ’70s loving slightly shady man who annoyingly always seems to be working with another customer. I mean I spent some good money on a machine there and I still feel like I’m not important as a client because I didn’t buy the MOST expensive one. But oh well…he wasn’t the one teaching the class. 😉

The lady who did teach our long arm class was very sweet. She showed us some of her own quilts that she has made. She either had them sent away to be quilted (with appropriate horror stories about cost and quilting) or had done them herself. Let’s just say that her style is not at all in keeping with the MODERN quilt guild. 😉 That’s fine…I’m all for appreciating good work. One interesting quilt she had was one that was made with original 30’s fabrics. It’s was so cool to see those fabrics and how close some of the reproductions are to them. I’m not sure that I’ve seen original fabric from the ’30s before…so that was fun.

The machine that they have is a tin Lizzy. Which if I understand correctly is somewhere middle of the line in terms of machines. They are upgrading to one with a larger throat soon and hopefully, we’ll be able to use that one right away! There were all kinds of instructions that she gave which of course I’ve already forgotten. But thankfully she will be there if we need to help us out. And they provide the loveliest threads!

We all (Kaelin, Karen, Adele, and I) took turns wrapping the backing, the batting, and then the “quilt top” to the machine. Then we each got a couple of turns using the machine and practicing our free motion quilting with the machine. Good times.

Kaelin was very serious about her job, so I had to remind her that she was having fun. 😉

She really was having fun.

Although here she looks like is ready to take that machine down! LOL. Or she is moonlighting as Adele’s bodyguard.

Karen has a quilting frame at home, so she is used to the general idea already of quilting with a frame. She learned …um…something…? …at the class. LOL. She was adventurous and did things that the teacher didn’t tell us! Gasp! Karen’s such a rebel!

I had to get myself ready for the reality of longarm quilting. So that meant rolling up my sleeves and assuming the stand. LOL.

I am very focused as well when I do things. You might catch a glimpse into my type AAA personality as you see the pictures of me tackling a new task. Sigh….and I need to work on my posture. But I’m sure that is always true when I quilt. Good thing I have that chiropractor friend upstairs. I’ll just go see him after I quilt a large quilt. 😉

My daughter makes this same face!

But I promise I did have some fun too. 😉

Let’s just say at the end I think that all of us felt like we had learned a little and wished that we had learned a lot more. The teacher only “taught” us free motion quilting with the machine even though the machine has pantograph capabilities. The instructor never does ANYTHING other than a basic stipple stitch. I think we were shocking her with our “different and fancy” stitches. LOL. You know, like waves or squares…

I’m going to research the machine because I think that there is a ton more that it is capable of. Hopefully, I can do that soon. In all of my free time. 😉