Long Arm Quilting

I've played with long arm machines at shows, quilted a row or two on a friend’s machine, but I've never done an entire quilt from start to finish on a long arm. All of my quilts to date have been done on a domestic machine. This past week I rented long arm time at two different shops and finished two quilts for our church’s Hospice project. I did one on a Baby Lock long arm and another on a Gammill. I came home from the first experience knowing that I could learn it, and came home from the second experience planning my next trip. Here’s a sample of my effort. The stitching is not visible on the busy front, but you can get an idea of what I was trying to do by looking at the back. I don’t think I will ever be as controlled with the long arm as I am with my domestic machines, but it was fun, and taking home a finished project after a few hours was thrilling.

The quilt had been washed when I took the photos, and this photo is a close up of one section of the quilt. I didn't have a specific plan for quilting, I just wanted to practice on motifs I currently use.