Long arm
 

Am I the only one in the world that doesn't have a long arm. ha ha ha! I've got to have a lottery ticket!

Since I was here last I got a wonderful frame from the Amish. Best frame I've ever had. Soooo easy to use and holds the fabric tight. I am halfway finished with the quilt that I am doing now. Yes! So many patterns such little time!

I have a long arm table and a sewing machine that I use to piece my quilts with but it goes with the table. It's not a LA sewing machine, just a deep throat. I have had the table for two years and it's still in its boxes. I send my quilts out to a gal who LA quilts them for me. I have no idea how to LAQ at all. It seems a lot of gals on this board have LAs. They can be very expensive...like the price of a car...but you can also buy used ones. I don't have the room to set my table up in my house and even if I did, I would use it as a coat rack. I wish I had a good friend who LA quilted who could teach me and then, just maybe, I'd set my table up and put my sewing machine on it and try it out. But I know nothing about it. I know you have to attach your quilt to the table in a specific way and I've seen a couple of youtube demonstrations on it and I realize why I pay so much to my LAQ. She deserves it.

And a big lottery to first buy the house which could HOLD an LA setup, then to buy the machine.

No, you are not the only one! I've been back and forth as to whether I even really want one. It was very encouraging when I recently saw the film "Stitched" and noticed that the Houston competitors they featured were NOT using long arms either.

I don't have a long arm either, but I DO NOT want one. Do you realize how many quilts you can pay to get quilted for you for the cost of a long arm. And you don't have to do the work. I have no room for one anyway and don't really want to learn how to do it.

"And you don't have to do the work. I have no room for one anyway and don't really want to learn how to do it."


Some of us don't think of it as work. Just another aspect of what we love to do.

thousands and thousands of quilters do not have a long-arm---
and thousands of quilters who make fabulous large quilts- sell patterns, books, travel the world teaching- do not own a long arm- they quilt on their domestic machines, hand quilt & send out their quilts to their favorite quilters-
not everyone even has any interest in the quilting part of creating quilts- they like to piece, create tops- owning a long arm is a minority market.

I would love to have a LA, but right now the budget doesn't allow for one. I am making do with a Janome 6600 and fmq, but I struggle as my mind can't make the switch from "moving the pencil" to draw, to moving the fabric under the needle. I can do basic stippling or simple feathers and while they aren't anything near as pretty as what I have in some of the quilts on this board, they are acceptable. I would love to watch someone else who does fmq on their DSM, because I know there are tips that they could share with me. So now, while I dream of owning a LA, I keep practicing.

I thought I wanted one at one time. Now I don't think so. I don't think I want to invest the time necessary to learn to do it.