Finishes

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Quilted on the Longarm...

A few weeks ago, two friends and I took the class to
begin learning to longarm quilt at a shop in our area.
You can take this introductory class and then rent their
longarms by the hour.

Last week I quilted my first quilt on the longarm.
The instructor said to not bring an heirloom or a treasure.
And she said "dogs need quilts, too."

I have been saving the perfect quilt for this adventure.
This one was made a couple of years ago
and is probably the ugliest quilt I've made.
It could not get any uglier,
so using it for my first longarm adventure was a no-brainer.

So the fun began....



They start us out on the hand-guided longarm,
so I was trying to make swirly flowers.
Some turned out really well and others... not so much.
I learned that I'm going to have to think about where I am
and where I need to travel next as I am quilting.
A few times I got stuck in a corner and had to travel over already quilted
areas to get out of it.
 




The good news was that the thread I chose blended in so well with the 
fabric, my mistakes don't show up very much.
The bad news was, I had a difficult time seeing where I had been.
It didn't matter too much, though, since you can't really see the quilting.
:)



The thread even blended well on the back. 




This quilt was a major blunder as far as fabric selections go.
I should not have used the gold as a background fabric,
but my friends dog will get a quilt from my mistake.


 

I had a BLAST using the longarm and have my second session
scheduled already.

Happy Quilting!

8 comments:

  1. I actually don't think it's so bad. Lucky dog!

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  2. having fun is what counted right and you learn as you go

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  3. We all start somewhere and the important thing is to learn from it and move forward and always have fun with what you are doing!

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  4. I think you are being too hard on yourself. I don't think it is ugly at all. It sounds like a fun day and glad you are signed up for the next session already.

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  5. Woo Hoo....I KNEW you'd love longarming....and I'll bet it won't be too long before you start thinking about where you could put one....lol! It's funny, after you said earlier you had posted about the "ugly" quilt in your blog, I went back through the archives searching for "ugly" and found the quilt. I don't think it's ugly at all. I actually like the gold with these fabrics. I might have chosen a different pattern to use but all in all it's a nice quilt. Don't misunderstand, I really like the pattern and actually drafted it (I really did). I can hardly wait to see quilt #2. You're such fun, Ramona.

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  6. I must admit, this quilt isn't one of my favorites of yours, but I do think I can beat you on ugly! :) I will have to drag it out of my "tops to be quilted" one of these days! I'm sure the dog will love it, but it's not as bad as you think! What fun on the longarming.

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  7. No way is this the ugliest quilt ever, and it's not even a runner up! Check out this online gallery of brave quilters showing their biggest "fails": https://www.thespruce.com/ugly-quilts-photo-gallery-4066027

    The bug-eyed Thomas the Tank Engine quilt is WAY uglier than yours. I'm glad you had fun with the longarm machine, and I think you did a great job! Really smooth curves from what I can see in your photos. What kind of longarm machine were you using?

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  8. Well done on the machine quilting!! and once through the washer and dryer and you will never find the kinks in the quilting. you have been getting so much done lately!!!! good for you
    Ann

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