Originally Posted by NatalieMacDonald

When you don't have the support around you who is further ahead than you...it is harder. But you must have a dream, passion for quilting...something must be there in you to have made this much of an investment. Because of the frustration level and lack of support nearby, take out a learning to quilt book and pick an easy pattern. Go back and revisit the basic skills.

For the longarm, make your investment count. There are teaching sessions. Stay in a hotel for the duration. You have the desire or you wouldn't have made the investment. Push yourself to get over this disappointment.

I have a sort of longarm and the 10' frame but with moves and not having someone in my house showing me how to load and what to do, I'm such a visual learner and no confidence in this new area...the whole thing is sitting in a box. There are some quilting stores that rent time of use on their longarm. Maybe you could find that kind of store and ask for a one-on-one teaching time.

Please don't give up. A lot of gals have given you some good advice here. Give it another try...keep posting here for support. Maybe one of the gals on this board lives near you and would come and help. Wouldn't that be fun?

Hope all of these replies come through to you as encouagement. I want you to know it brings me to tears that you feel so isolated and disappointed in yourself because I am there so often. I wish I had a quilting buddy that clicked. I have experienced mentoring relationships and they are wonderful.

Recently, it was reported that the Emperor of Japan was visiting an evacuation center and stopped to talk to a young man. The young man has Down's Syndrome and he couldn't get his words to talk so he wrote down what he was trying to say to the Emperor: "I'm going to keep on striving."

I don't know if this young man lost his parents, caregivers, but he did lose everything and has a life disability but he isn't going to give up. I was over-the-top inspired by his never give up attitude.

Your disappointment is a hump. You are almost there.

I might not get another chance to say this so just one more thing. I learned this about myself in a quilting book. ABCs of Longarm Quilting by Patricia C. Barry, publisher's website is www.krausebooks.com

She recognized that quilters are wired either as a technician (a learned skill) or as an artisian. Some of us have a bit of both. And she wrote the book with lots of pictures for both types of learners. Once I realized how I was wired I became more comfortable with my skill level.

Keep striving...