The Joy of Longarming

I honestly don’t know how I knew I’d love longarming.  Back in 2009, when I initially joined my quilt guild, Stray Threads, I had been quilting for about a month.  I needed some help – especially with finishing the quilt!  I didn’t know how to quilt (piecing was easy enough) nor bind, for that matter.  So, when I joined my guild, one of the first things I asked about was how to sandwich all the three layers together.  I was given pointers, and then told about longarmers and longarming.  I was intrigued!

Roxie’s Wedding Ring Quilt

After talking with the head of our longarming satellite, Laurie, she turned me on to some initial inexpensive systems.  To see if I “liked” it.  I started to do a lot of research; joining distribution lists, attending shows and talking to longarm vendors, trying out as many different longarms as I could.  Within a year I had my first setup – a Homesteader frame with a little wee Juki on it (9″ throat!). I loved that little machine, but it didn’t last long – I wanted to the freedom of full arm movement!  Next, I bought a Homesteader mid-arm.  That was much better.  I was thrilled by the freedom of movement and began to wholeheartedly devote time to longarming; I loved it!  I wanted to the challenge of mastering feathers and, slowly, but surely, my skills improved.  A few years ago, I felt my skills were finally good enough to quilt a double wedding ring quilt for my cousin, Roxie.  It turned out just as beautiful as I’d hoped!

From there my confidence grew.  And this year I was granted the honor of quilting my guild’s beautiful 2015 appliqued quilt.  In between these two quilts, I got many requests to quilt other’s quilts professionally, but I always politely declined.  Not for lack of confidence in my own skillset, but rather for fear of not pleasing the owner of the quilt.  Everyone has their own vision, after all.

At the end of quilting the guild’s raffle quilt, however, I found myself in the hospital.  I was in the hospital for five long weeks.  It’s amazing, and not just a little cliche’ed, how getting a near death experience can change your perspective!  Living my life in fear of someone’s disapproval was no way to live at all.  After finally healing, spending some time with my family, I’m now ready to quilt professionally.  Why not spend some time on this earth doing something I love?