My First (Finished) Quilt
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” -Walt Disney
Meadowland Quilt pattern by Then Came June. Donut Connection pantograph from the Longarm League.
My first finished quilt was a long time coming. I spent the spring and summer of 2021 researching longarm machines and computerized quilting add-ons. In September I finally decided to pull the trigger and emailed Angela Huffman at Quilted Joy to purchase my APQS Lucey and Intelliquilter. I started putting everything into place to launch Em and Flo. Five days later my foster agency called with a placement for a newborn baby boy. And thus, my world turned upside down, in the best way possible.
My foster son is such a blessing. I am constantly thankful for him and his place in our family. That being said, caring for a baby is a lot of work! I was already staying home and homeschooling my three older kiddos. I just couldn’t contemplate getting the longarm up and running. The very thought filled me with anxiety and dread. The longarm sat in boxes for months. Once set up it sat unused, collecting dust for several months more. My incredibly patient and supportive husband finally convinced me to just start. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
And he was right. I had told myself over and over again that it wasn’t worth starting until I felt sure I wouldn’t make any mistakes. I realize now, of course, that I was being completely unreasonable. How many people do something perfectly for the first time? I learned a lot from the first quilt I put on the machine. Firstly, I learned how to put a quilt on the machine. Then I figured out speed, tension, detail, and all of the other intricacies that go along with digital edge-to-edge quilting. Part of the learning process will now involve picking out a few passes and trying again. So I took my first quilt off the frame and put this one on.
This quilt is the epitome of my quilty style. It’s bright, happy, scrappy, and sparkly. The Ruby Star Society fabric line is appropriately named after my home state of Florida. I decided to use the donut connection pantograph from the Longarm League because I thought it mirrored the oranges in the fabric nicely. It also reminded me of bubbles in the ocean. I loaded the quilt on the frame horizontally so that the chains would run up and down. I am in love with how it all turned out and excited to get more quilts on the frame.
