I am waiting for my new longarm to come next week. I did this quilt on a trial run on the Innova. It was so much fun to play and experiment with this new way of quilting. Sooooooooo much easier than my FMQ on my home machine. I have three quilts waiting for me to learn on once my machine comes to the house. If any of you longarm quilters have some great tips for a newby please pass them on. Getting into a space and then getting out appears to be a big challenge. Thanks for looking.

Fabulous quilt, quilter and fabric! Thanks for sharing and the inspiration!

Congrats on the new machine! What a fun quilt! Very nice.

Congrats. Very pretty quilt...love that fabric. Great job!

I'm jealous---- :cry:

I want one too.

Congratulations! I am assuming you are getting an Innova. I have a 26" on a 10' frame and LOVE IT!!!

I am a total newb and have only quilted 4 quilts so far on it. I do not have a stash of tops ready to go.

In preparation for my machine I doodled a lot. Some people recommend an erasable white board, I just use a big pad of paper and pencil. I decide on motifs I want to be able to free hand like feathers or pebbles or flowers, whatever and then draw them on paper until I can draw them without even thinking about it. Translates well to the LA for me.

Also I did not want to get caught in the trap of being able to do nothing but meander so I have purposely avoided it. I have yet to do a meander on a quilt. I did do an overall abstract design that was kind of a cross between flames and tribal tattoos, that is the closest I have come.

Do NOT be afraid of your machine. You just spent a big wad of money on it. Get on it and have fun. I did one practice sandwich then loaded my first quilt. I doodled, tried feathers, drawing animals, a panto, pebbles and stencils on that practice piece and quilted every available inch of it.
Here is a link to my practice piece photos:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-54832-1.htm
I had that practice piece on the machine for about 3 weeks.
Here is a link to my very first quilt off the Innova:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-77776-1.htm
This was the only top I had laying around.

Now I have quilted for two other people one other top I have made for my DMIL, have another quilt from one of my friends on the rack now and am trying to get another top pieced for it. I like complex patterns for piecing so I can't whip out tops as quickly as many here.

You did a wonderful job on this quilt! Love the quilting :D:D:D

My advice is to just go for it! Begin by practising on items that are low value and not for show. You will develop the skills that you want and need. There's a lot of help available on www.youtube.com.