was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. I went to a LQS yesterday and spent 6 hours learning to use a long-arm. I had a d9p that has been waiting 3 years to be quilted. As it was a Christmas quilt, I really was not in a great hurry to get it finished. I have it now in the stack of quilts that only need the hand stitching on the binding. I am sure that with a lot of practice, my long-arm work will get to be about half as good as my friend who does my long-arm quilting. I don't really know if I want to drive a hour each way and then spend a day and still pay as much as my friend charges, just so I can say I did it all.

Oh my how you sound like I did when I went to my not so LQS over an hour away to take LAing lesson. You got farther than me though if you managed to get a quilt done. I went in the other direction though and lusted after my own LA until I got it. You would be surprised at how quickly you can improve when you have one. Would your friend let you practice on hers?

She is two hours one way away! I could practice, but the drive isn't the greatest!

well, it is nice to have the skill set should an opportunity to get you own comes along. You never know ;-)

Once you do more, it is addicting! :)

My mom has a long arm and when she's not using it for a customer, I get to use it. It is adicting because you can make so many more quilts that way.

When I got my longarm I was so excited! I loaded up some muslin and started quilting. I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED! The design on the piece was nothing like I had in my mind.

I had posted my frustrations on another board and got a wonderful suggestion. Draw a few horizontal lines on the practice piece. Now, write the alphabet with the longarm. That suggestion was a GOD SEND to me.

Give that a try.

That sounds like a great suggestion, I may have to give it a try myself. the biggest thing is, practice, practice, PRACTICE.