Just thinking, a propos another thread on the forum on FMQ on a domestic machine, where I said that practicing with a pencil on paper is really difficult because the motion is quite different - with a domestic sewing machine you are moving the ‘paper’ under the ‘pencil’; but of course with a long arm it’s much more like actual ‘drawing’, isn’t it. I don’t own one, but have done a course and had a go. And it’s certainly true that the ‘pencil/paper’ practice is pretty good for getting ‘fluent’ with the long arm ‘language’. I didn’t in the end pursue long arm quilting because the kind of stuff I do isn’t really large-enough scale for it to be good for my purpose, but it certainly is very different from the domestic machine version of FMQ. Forgive me if I’m stating the totally obvious!! It was really just in relation to how best to practice.

Watson, you truly amaze & inspire me. I know you will have the machine mastered in no time. I think your first attempt is beautiful & you are well on your way to masterpieces. Like anything new, it will take some time to get use to things like loading your quilts, etc. I only have a domestic machine & have never even seen a long arm in operation (only on the internet). Can't wait to follow your progress.