Last week I took delivery of a long arm quilting machine, and ex-demo HandiQuilter Avante HQ18 to be precise. Oh my goodness - it is, in the words of daughter, EPIC!!!! I fell in love with it last year at The Festival of Quilts at the NEC and ummmm and ahhhed for the longest time. It's not cheap and it is big so there were lots of considerations. After almost a year I took the plunge and it is everything I hoped it would be and I am sure more .... once I have had the time to practise, doodle, stitch, practice, doodle, stitch, repeat!
The space before - I even washed the floor
The machine fits its space soooo well
First fabric loaded and practiced on
I then loaded up the frame for the first time .........
and took a more structured approach to my practising
and then I was able to take it off the frame and see it in all its glory - front and back!!
I then thought I was ready to actually quilt a quilt!! This fabric came as samples in a bag of material that I received from Freecyle. They are not really my taste and my girls have grown past the cute teddy fabric stage. However, all cut to size and pieced together they made a fine quilt top. This will be donated to Project Linus and I am sure some younger child will love it.
And then I quilted, using a stipple pattern in an all over design. Woohooo!!!! I loved it. I am totally taken with this long arm quilting malarkey. Honestly it just fits.
Still have to hand stitch the binding down and then my first long armed quilt is finished. That is such an exciting sentence for me to be able to write!
It's been in my studio for 7 days now and whilst I can't be down there every minute of the day, blame home educating our two girls for that, it is going to be a fantastic addition to the family and one I can't wait to get to know better.
Linking up to WIP Wednesday over at freshly pieced x
Oh what fun - a new long arm machine. Definitely EPICI! Your practice runs are beautiful! It looks as though you can get a nice breeze while long arming! Thank you for stopping by my blog. I have Electric Quilt version 5. Maybe someday I will take the plunge and get 7. I love designing quilts to give me an idea how they will turn out. Well - have fun with that new machine of yours!
ReplyDeleteThanks for popping by. I picked up 6 quilts tops, along with batting and backing, from a Project Linus co-ordinator today so I certainly have enough to practice my long arm quilting on now!
DeleteThat just looks like so much fun!! I was admiring your shelving for your fabric too :)
ReplyDeleteI am rather partial to my shelves myself! I got them through Freecycle which was amazing and they just fit that space so well - luckily you can't see the mess they are in but it'll get sorted one day! Thanks for popping by.
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