When I took my first tentative steps to LA I found a shop that was about an hour and a half away. In order to rent time you had to take their class. It was a 2 hour class to learn the machine basics, on, off, how to load a quilt, follow a panto or design with laser light and they also let you do a little free form doodling and "groovy boards". I was extremely lucky that when I scheduled my class there was only one other student so we moved along pretty quickly.
I learned two invaluable to me lessons in that class.
1. I absolutely LOVED longarming
2. I would never get the practice in that I needed to get as good as I WANTED to get by renting time on a machine over an hour away from me.
So I started saving like a demon for my LA. I then found the dealer for my Innova. They were about an hour and a half away in the opposite direction of my home. They also offered rental after a hands on learn the machine course but by this time I had already made up my mind to buy. About a year later I took delivery of their demo model. They came to my home, set it up and went over the basics with me.
I went to town drawing and doodling with the LA. I refused to do a meander because I didn't want to get stuck only doing meanders. I wanted to do feathers, and flowers and leaves and beautiful swirly free form fills, pebbling, crosshatching all the gorgeous things we see pictured here on the QB.
The class I took at the LQS just covered the basics of the machine. The rest was up to me to learn. 9 months after I took delivery, I enrolled in the class to learn McTavishing from Karen McTavish. Loved the class and learned the technique and use it a lot. So you can learn stuff in classes but really, it takes practice, time and dedication and then more practice. I started my LA journey because I was passionate about it. I don't know why. I just am. I do hope to make it my full time job after I retire but in the mean time I will squeeze in quilting whenever I can. For both myself and others. Would I have saved money renting time on the LA as opposed to sending out... I doubt it. But the joy I get from LAQ is priceless to me.
Last edited by feline fanatic; 08-05-2012 at 08:51 AM.