Experimenting with Longarm Quilting

Over the years, I have dabbled in piecing and quilting. I completed several small projects (wall hangings, table runners, etc. on my domestic machine) before deciding to invest in a small longarm. I purchased a BlockRockit 15″ machine several years ago. I used it on a Bernina 5′ frame and it worked nicely to again complete small projects (wall hangings, table runners, etc.). I also used it to quilt fabric and foam for bags and totes. You can see a video of that process here:

That set up was great for small projects, but I was limited in the size of quilt I could manage on that frame. So a few months ago I invested in this 10′ Continuum frame from Grace Company:

I purchased the frame through Leah Day’s Website. I live about 40 miles from the Grace Company, but it was less expensive for me to purchase it through Leah Day and have it shipped to my home, that it would have been to purchase it locally and pick it up at the warehouse. I ordered the frame on a Friday and it was delivered the following Tuesday!

I love not being so limited in the size of quilt I can sew. But first, to familiarize myself with the new set up and to practice using my new frame, I quilted this small wall hanging. It is a printed quilt panel, so no piecing (other than the borders) was involved.

I still consider myself a beginning quilter, so please don’t judge me too harshly. 😊 I stitched an all over swirl on the background, I outlined the truck then added vertical straight line quilting to the body of the truck, and I added jagged line quilting to the tree to mimic pine needles. It was a great learning process.

I used white batting because that is what I had on hand and it worked out okay, except there was a bit of batting show through on the back where the needle pierced the fabric:

I’m okay with the batting show through, since this will be hanging on a wall, and it was, after all, a practice project. But in the future, I will be certain to use dark batting with dark fabrics.