The Joy of Quilting with Your Long-Arm Machine
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KathyQuilts.com
• Make your quilting space comfortable. Set up your favorite pictures, decorations,
furniture, or plants that will make your area more pleasant.
• Use good lighting. This will help you better see what you are working on, and it will
keep your eyes from getting tired from straining to see.
• Have fun! Just like any hobby, you will enjoy it more when you have fun, and you will
learn better when you enjoy it.
Note from Kathy:
A new quilt machine can be intimidating, but if you remember it’s just a tool, and
YOU are the boss, you’ll be just fine. The great thing is, quilting with the Block RockiT
becomes easier and more enjoyable every time you use it. So just keep on quilting!
Now, how do you get in the groove? Sometimes we return from a long time on the
road, and I know I have quilts ready to go, but I sit and look at the frame and wonder
if I can start. A few things that seem to help me get ready to quilt are:
• Looking at pictures of award winning quilts
• Pressing a quilt and getting it ready to quilt. As you touch the fabric, let it give you
quilting ideas. Once it’s nice and flat, put it on the frame and start laying thread on it
to get the best colors.
• Oil up your machine, do a little test quilting on the side… bite the bullet and start.
I love to listen to an audio book on headphones while I quilt. Others like music in the
background. Maybe you want to listen to a baseball game on the TV. If they get a
good hit, they will play the rerun over and over, so you can watch. Get excited about
the finished product. My favorite is the actual quilting.
Learning from Your Mistakes
Mistakes and difficulties will happen in quilting. Realize that everyone, even very
experienced quilters, makes mistakes while quilting. With a positive learning attitude
these can be good learning experiences if you evaluate the mistake and try to
improve. If you, for example, are having loops or birds nests under your quilt, stop and
evaluate why this may be happening. As stated earlier in the book, the first thing to
check is the threading. You may think you have it right, but be sure to reference the
