A Whole New Appreciation

After what I have been doing the last couple of days I have a whole new appreciation for all those who are long arm machine quilters!

Bright and early yesterday morning a friend of mine and I drove to the valley to have a lesson on using a long arm quilting machine. It was fun! We had a blast! For the first couple of hours the shopowner took us through the steps of loading the backing, batting and quilt top. How to thread the machine. How to roll the quilt when you have reached the end of the row. Amazing! We were soon left to our own devices and readily agreed that it was going to take both of us together to get the job done! We were having a great time but there were so many things to learn and so many things to remember...#1 being BREATHE!!! LOL My favorite part was the meandering that I did with a heart, star, flower or word tossed in here and there..."a day at the beach", "lemonade", "smile"...etc. it was fun to adlib here and there while quilting. The quilts we did are by no means gonna win a ribbon at the fair, but they were fun to do and the children who recieve them will love them!

The shopowner was very gracious and forgiving...and has the patience of a saint, she had to have to teach the two of us anything!

Barbara, trying to remember to breathe!!

I had 8 tops with me, 3 of Jeanne's, 5 of Nancy's. After getting our sampler, a.k.a. practice quilt, done we were ready to roll...we loaded up one of Jeanne's worked until we got it done...then loaded up another one and began working on it but didn't get it done. So left for the night, returning bright and early this morning...finished up the second one and managed to get 3 more done today before calling it quits for the day.

Oh my, my legs, feet, shoulders, neck and back all ache. I have sung the ABC song and Happy Birthday (to keep my stitches even) more times in the last 2 days than in all the rest of my life put together. I can honestly say I appreciate the gal who has been doing my quilts all these years 100% more than ever before.

We had so much fun and got so much done that we have already reserved the machine for a wknd in February as well. This time we will be more prepared with battings and backings cut to size, which should save us some time (and money as we purchased batting from the shopowner at a price I was not too thrilled about).

I have heard horror stories from many people who have rented time on machines: cost is too high, shopowner too controlling, required purchase of batting, etc etc etc. But that is not what we found with this shop. The rental is $40 per day...if you arrive when the shop opens the machine is yours to use until the shop closes that day for only $40. The shopowner gave a lesson on how to use the machine and then left us to do as we wanted, she was there to offer advice and help out if we asked but other than that she did not stand over us and watch our every move. We didn't have batting with us (both of us have plenty of batting in our stashes but there was a mix up in communication about batting so neither of us had any with us) so we purchased a kingsize Hobbs (that we got 5 quilts out of!!), next time we will have our own batting cut and ready to load on to the machine.

A very fun weekend...a pleasant exprience...a great friend...far more laughter than any two people should be allowed...lots of good conversation...playing cards until we were too tired to think...talking until waaay late into the night...finding out I'm not too old to learn something new...and six quilts ready for binding, one step closer to wrapping children in love.

Pictures as soon as the bindings are done! Barbara took 4 home with her, I have 2 here....more handwork for me!!!