New Long Arm - 2007 Millennium

So this is the debut of my 'new to me' long arm. It is on a 12' table and takes up a huge portion of my sewing room. I have had to rearrange a lot of stuff and move things around and out of my sewing room to make space. I had it for just about 2 weeks before I got up my courage to actually use it. I am thrilled with my purchase and I think even though it was an investment of cash that it is an investment in me! I plan on using it for many, many years to come and to quilt many, many quilts for family, friends, charity and just plain old quilts for me too.

A couple weeks ago, my sister Cheryl spent two nights at my place and we loaded up some old sheets with batting in between to do a practice run and I found it quite challenging to quilt with it at first. Once I did the practice run we loaded one of her quilts on the machine and I did my very first pantograph on it. It was really difficult to follow the lines but I did eventually get better with it as I worked on it.

Picture a rag caught up and dangling from the hook - ouch!

I did have a major problem though and I am quite embarrassed to admit it, but I got a cleaning rag caught in the hook. I was mortified, horrified, terrified and lots of other 'fieds when it happened. I couldn't get the pieces of the rag out!!!! I really just wanted to cry because I thought I had really broken it and that it was done....over....kaput. After reading about how to proceed and also calling APQS my husband removed the hook and soaked it in WD40 to remove the small  pieces of the rag that were caught in it. Once he got it all cleaned out he oiled it and then reinstalled it, timed it and told me not to do that again!  We also needed to change a small fuse that blew. The support team at APQS were so helpful and were quick to respond and they even tried to make me feel better and told me that it happens more often than you would think. They also assured me that there really isn't too much that I could do to to this machine that would destroy it. I think just about all of the parts are replaceable which is a good thing but hopefully I won't ever need to replace anything.

After all of that adventure, this is how my sister's quilt turned out - not too bad - I think I did a pretty good job with it!