Following yesterday’s coverage of the introductory session, today I’m moving on to my quilt. I’m sorry, I only remembered to take one pic!
Here’s Madrona Corners all ready to go:
I started with the geometric pattern so that I could start in the centre and work outwards. We debated thread colours for a while, and went for a mustard yellow varigated King Tut thread, Sheaves, for this part, and the lower half, which has the pink/orange colourway, we went for another King Tut varigated thread called Chariots Of Fire, which is a pinky red/orange/yellow colour. For the cobblestones it’ll be white on white.
After about 2 1/2 hours of actual quilting on my quilt, I was rather knackered (a large part due to a distinct lack of sleep this last week I think!), so I elected to stop at that point before I wrecked it. By this stage I had all the geometric work done in the centre, and I had a couple of sections of cobbles round the blue panel you can just see on the far left. I’ll be going back in a couple of weeks to finish it off, hence no pics at the moment, as the geometric is subtle on the front, and I don’t have a big enough space to lay it out for a pic right not.
So what can I say about long-arming at this point? Well, I enjoyed the experience – it’s a lot lighter trying to move a long arm machine around than trying to haul a quilt through your domestic machine for starters! Also, you get a much better idea of scale and effect as you’re going along. I don’t think I’ll abandon doing simple quilting at home on mid sized quilts, or more complex stuff on minis, but I think this is the way to go with the big guys!
As for the experience, Carole and Brian are great people, and will help and guide you every step of the way, even if they are challenging you to go one step further than you intended ;o) If you’re in the area, it’s well worth contacting them to have a go, and bear in mind that simpler quilting will take much less time than the stupidly complex stuff I went for! If you’re from a bit further away, you can always put up in the B&B for the night too, to allow you to get everything done. Oh, and get a good night’s sleep beforehand ;o)
Cost wise, the introductory session, which you’ll only need to do once, is £25, there is a thread charge of £10, and then you hire the machine by the hour thereafter for £15. The woman that told us about this place told us she’d managed to do 3 lap sized quilts with simple quilting in 2 hours, so think about what your time is worth when comparing to doing the work on your domestic machine. Also, be aware that they don’t take cards, so cash or cheque only, and there’s a cash machine up the road apparently (I’ll be taking that option when I come to settle up, as I don’t know how long it’ll take to finish off). If you want another practice before your next session, it will cost you £7 for the calico. They do sell batting, but I brought my own as I have loads of the stuff.
Thanks for all the details about your experience. Think I will give them a try on my next quilt.
Thanks!
Apparently if you have your quilt machine quilted by a professional service and enter it into a Guild competition, it has to be entered into the "done by two people" category. So you doing the quilting yourself is even more useful in that you can enter in all of the other categories instead.
Sounds like it was a good experience despite your lack of sleep. The cost of sending a quilt out has always seemed prohibitive so maybe this is the way to go, as wrestling the monster that is Almost Irish Chain through a domestic machine just doesn't bear thinking about!
Thanks for all the info on prices it is great to have something to base comparisons on.
This looks like a really good setup! I would love to find a similar outfit down here as Stirling is a bit of a trek. Great to see your progress on this x
I would love to try this so I need to calculate the cost of plane fare and a few extra nights at the B&B!
Fascinating, thanks for all the info. Something to think about for the future. juliex
So fab. Thanks so much for your insight into long arming. This was very cool to read.
great thanks for the info will be worth a trip from outer mongola at some point :))))
Thanks Katy. It's good to hear someone's point of view who is new to it.
Wish I lived nearer! Looking or ward to seeingthefinished quilt x
I really do wish I could find someone here who hired out their long arm with a lesson or two. I think it would be a lot of fun and then I;d know whether I REALLY wanted to save up for one of my own !
So massively jealous Katy! Sounds like it was great – and now I'm really busting to see your quilt after the sneak peek!
This is making me wish I knew of a fun, friendly place like this to learn at!
Can't wait to see it. Great insight xxx
It sounds like a perfect setup there. Now I just need to find somewhere like this down south!!
Can't wait to see the quilt in all its long armed glory!
Loving the sneaky peek!
I hope you had a good experience with this. It sounds like a bargain compared to buying a $30,000 machine or paying someone to longarm for you.
Well done for trying it out, can't wait to see the finished quilt.
Yup, I totally want one. So I am guessing that it is not a problem to take your quilt off partly done and then put it back on to work on some more? And do you find the height of the machine works for your back and shoulders or does that take some time to adjust. I have more questions but will stop now. I am eager to see your quilting, when you are ready to show it.
I can't wait to see it!
Loved reading all your posts about your Long Arm experience and felt like I was almost there with you as I passed through there on a train last week on my travels around a little bit of Scotland! 🙂