When Stitches Glide Across

To say that I am impressed, and in love, with my new Gammill would be minimizing the longarm experience. In one very short (but exceptionally fun) week of quilting on this fantastic machine, I have come to realize that quilting on a longarm is an experience that I had deprived myself of.

The effortless ability to quilt on a large scale is unbelievably liberating. No more struggle with draped weight at the regular sewing machine. No more aching shoulders. No more small scale design work….

The day after the machine was set up, I was ready to learn. I decided to practice on a small, 44-inch throw-away quilt top.

Once I practiced some easy meandering, I made some feathered plumes. Then I began stitching some free-motion flowers.

Okay….practice session over! Time to try a REAL quilt. I wanted to attempt using a pantograph.

The first quilt I pinned into the frame was the top I made a year ago called Spring At Bloomery Mountain. The quilt was made exactly one year ago, to celebrate a day trip over to Bloomery, West Virginia where we trekked into the backwoods. The colors chosen included all of the greens and blue greens, so significant in that region where grassy hills and small mountains create the beautiful countryside. (More about that escapade and making the Bloomery quilt here.)

Quilting this was very easy — very fluid. The stitches glide across the patchwork.

Once I had completed the quilting, I re-rolled and echo-quilted along one edge of the design.

The backing was pieced from leftover sections and stash.

The binding was stitched down on the front yesterday.

Today, while it is raining and raining, I will hand-stitch the binding to the back.