w7sue

I hear you ... my husband purchased me a Gammill last summer - great deal! I had fallen at the end of February an broke my arm and was still in the pre-surgery recovery stage. I finally had surgery in December and am really on the mend - long story. I had to wonder about the timing of this purchase and laid awake many nights thinking of the $8000 we had spent on it and how my car would have been almost paid off - lol

I have used my machine for a total of 10-15 hours since he purchased it for me. I have done a few quilts of my own and several charity quilts. Every time I get a quilt loaded onto it, I get excited. It is the getting the quilt onto the machine that scares the dickens out of me. Every time is easier and every time the results are better.

I had never really done any of the quilting on my own quilts so this was a scarry prospect for me. I know that I dream of the day when pinning a quilt on doesn't take me so long and when I can do it without even thinking about how to do it and getting the directions out.

I look at quilts that have been done by other longarm quilters and shudder - I am just positive that I will NEVER be that good. I have to remember that they were all beginners too. And ... I tell myself that they could also be using a computerized machine, whereas mine isn't. I know the lady who used to do all mine had one.

I just finished a quilt that I wanted to do a pantograph on, but I couldn't figure out how - I have only taken one class - and I ended up doing a meander on it with varigated thread and it turned out great (even if I do say so myself). I want to take more classes because, honestly, the longarm quilters that I have met in this area don't seem to be too anxious to help me learn - it's like they think I will be competition - right ?!?!?!? lol I am sure some of the problem is that I just don't know what questions to ask.

My best advice would be to ask about the return time frame and use the dickens out of it before it ends - you might find that you become more comfortable with it and want to keep it. I know that I feel less guilty about all that money each time I finish a quilt.

I am determined to master this beast - if it takes me until my dying day - lol If I can do it, you can too. I will have faith for both of us. I wish you lived close by so we could learn from each other.

I did learn something the other day when I was doing a small (26 x 26) wall hanging --- I pinned only the back on, laid the batting down, used the machine to stitch placement lines for the top and left side of the quilt. I pinned the top onto it and then let it rest while I stared at it. I finally decided to meander on the outside of the quilt and fussy stitch around the applique in the 10" center block. My goal on the center was to stay close to the applique without actually stitching on the design. I was more succesful than I thought I would be. I meandered on the hourglass blocks that surrounded the center square. I learned that the corner where four blocks came together were difficult to stitch over and if I stitched around them, they looked like small volcanoes. LOL I will do a better job of pressing next time. I showed my quilt to several people this weekend and most of them didn't notice the issues I saw and I even got a few compliments on how well I did - you should see me strut - lol

You just have to jump in with both feet and know that some quilts will look better than others but you can always spend some time practicing on muslin - I have and I am going to load more on so I can do some more practicing because I want to do that pantograph on a quilt, but I want to mess up on muslin.

I know this has been long and probably disjointed, but I hope you keep trying and end up falling in love with your machine.