I went to a meeting for a somewhat local to me machine quilter's club. They talked a lot about pricing last night and plan on talking about thread next month. All of this is way beyond my expertise at this point.

I bought a used Longarm a few months ago and have had problems figuring things out. Any ideas (other than the internet) where I can get help with the basics without flying across the country? I can't find a class to save my life. I'm beginning to think this purchase was a big mistake.

Place an ad locally to see if t here are other's in the area. Call them up and see if they won't show you how to use them. My friend learned to use her's for free that way. Who knows maybe you can learn for free too.

That's a great idea. Maybe craigslist... The wheels will turn if someone just gives them a push.

Thanks! :D

That's a good line. Someone needs to push me all the time. I am way to much of a procrastinator. Never do today what you can do tomorrow.

I have a class tonight at Joann's I need to find two patterns on baby quilts that I really like. I have the material and all kinds of magazine's and on-line sites but nothing that really strikes my fancy. I need one for a boy and one for a girl??? I'm hoping a girl anyway. Otherwise I need more fabric.

Good luck with a teacher. Sure would keep that long arm if you can. So very nice and you can make a lot of money with one. My friend is busy all the time.

Check out the manufacturer's website - some offer videos, and all of them should be able to answer your questions.

I tried the manufacturers website (and every other website that I can find). The machine isnt' the same as mine, so it doesn't load the same. I think I made a breakthrough last night though. I discovered that one of the rollers doesn't roll in the right direction, and the two on the other sided need to be swapped. I think that might take away most of my problems.

I got all of the rollers going the right direction and decided to load just plain fabric with batting. I thought that if anything went wrong, I didn't want to have it on my quilt. I am having problems with the thread bunching up on the back. I'm sure it's a tension problem. I have double checked and I have the machine threaded right. Something I thought of later is that maybe the bobbin is in backwards. My mom put it in, so I'm not sure which way she put it in there. But I will work with it some more and see what I come up with.

I used just some old plaid fabric that I had, but this time I think I will use a plain color with contrasting thread so I can see better what is happening. A couple of times the thread broke, but it was hard to tell.