Long arm

Every once in a while Jo-Ann's has clearance fabric go 50% off.  I go a little nuts, because you can get some really good fabric for really cheap.  Well about three weeks before I was going to go use the long arm machine, Jo-Ann's had their clearance fabric on sale.  So I bought some fabric that I could sandwich (without having to piece) and practice using the long arm.  So this is a cheap blanket but I learned a lot :)

I also should stick to buying batting in 2 yard increments, because buying 6 yards I had a lot of left overs that couldn't be used in another quilt.

I decided I was just going to play.  I used some of the designs from my iPad and then kind of experimented.  So you can see the lines across, just like when I draw on a whiteboard I cannot make a straight line, I couldn't on the long arm, so I used some chalk and drew lightly on the quilt.

 This is where I started.  The hearts were difficult for me to do!  I will definitely need to practice on the motion of the machine.  The second row did NOT turn out how I thought it would! again I am going to have to practice on the motion of the machine.  The third row was supposed to be spirals and swirls.  Not bad for a first try ;)

Then I tested some straight lines back and forth.  Then big loops and little loops.

I added a pen to this picture to show the size of the quilting.  This was

Then I played with meandering and more swirls and loops.