Meet Miss Vivian and Her First Creation!

I have been quilting now for over 15 years.  I have done some quilting for others and I have quilted all of my own quilts.  I began only doing hand quilting until my hands and wrists protested loudly.  Then I moved on to my treadle machine which I use for 95% of my sewing.  I never planned on getting a long arm quilting machine.  On my own I didn't have the room and they are quite expensive.  My quilting has always been just a hobby income, nothing substantial enough to justify that kind of investment.

Well, I have been blessed with a gift!

A friend of a friend did professional quilting back in like the 80s an 90s I think.  She moved to a retirement home and instead of selling her long arm frame and machine with all her other stuff on an auction she wanted to give it to someone who would appreciate it and use it...

...and I have been fortunate to be blessed with this gift. Wow! Just wow! So wonderful and we do actually have room for it! I am so thankful and so excited to see what Miss Vivian and I can accomplish.  For her old owner was named Vivian and in her honor I have named her Miss Vivian! :)

My husband had some guys help him move out some broken appliances from our addition (you know keep them just in case!) and got her in through the window and set up.  The frame is 12 ft long!  But she fits! Here she is!!!

The machine itself is a 96-87 Singer.  From what I can find online it is often used as a leather machine.  Nothing fancy here but that is okay...bells and whistles break!

I only found one frame like this in my internet searching which was kind of helpful.  I still don't think I loaded it in the proper order but after four attempts I was happy with how it laid for the machine.  And for my first attempt at using Miss Vivian I found a scrappy quilt top that came in a box of auction items.  Woohoo! Here is to new adventures in quilting!!

The one I found like this said it was mainly only good for wavy lines or general meandering patterns.  Maybe that was for that machine as it wasn't the same, but I wanted to test that theory out right away.  I did an almost swirl thing freehand and went with that!  You can see the clear thing on the frame, that is for putting in a paper with your pattern.  You line up the bar hanging down from the machine and follow your pattern with that!  It will be fun to try next maybe!

The first few rows were spent adjusting the tension and getting a general feel for things.  I didn't have my layers as I'd like so there was a little rippling or bubbling along the right side.  Also, it is a right to left traveling machine and I may need to baste or pin the right side.  When I started each row it wanted to bunch a little which isn't too surprising.

I did have some trouble in the middle as the old grease gummed up and it was a halt to movement.  My hubby came along and got her all straightened out, no problem!

I have a basket of leftover binding bits that I went ahead and used for this one, keeping on with the already scrappy theme!  The bright sunshine does make it a bit hard to see.   It is just a small throw size.

My random backing!  I also just used random thread in the bobbin and the big spool of mauve color that came with it on top for this one.  I like that one of the bottom threads was dark part of time, helps me see how the quilting was going this time.

It is kind of a fun, scrappy little quilt!  There were a few spots where the construction was a bit poor and I had to do some extra stitching to keep it together but that's okay.

I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but felt I should keep it as it is my first long arm project!  I folded it up in the sewing room for the time.  Little man came along and drug it into the living room.  He promptly decided to play sleep time with his elephant! How precious!

Next he took it out on the deck and laid down...so maybe it will just have to be the kiddos play quilt!

So there you have it, my big addition and a finish! Hurray!

Linking up with Alycia at Quiltygirl Quilts and TGIFF!

Alissa