Longarm Quilting Volume 1

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By way of introduction to this page, Arlene has always been an avid quilter but in the past has had to have all her quilts 'long-armed' by someone else.  With sister Anne acquiring a longarm machine last year, and us visiting her and Alvin for a month this past July, you can see where this activity originated.  We ordered our machine in December for delivery when we returned from Arizona the end of April.  This indeed happened and you can follow our progress here as we attempt to learn how to run it.
The machine we chose is an Innova, manufactured in Texas by ABM International, a company that has made industrial sewing equipment since 1947.  Our model has a 12 foot long bed so it arrived in two crates weighing over 600 pounds
When the big box 'lid' was removed we found everything securely strapped onto the main pallet. 12 foot long rollers and tracks carried downstairs.
The main machine was secured in a solid crate.  A very large assortment of hardware to assemble.
Assembly coming along nicely. The main sewing head was unpacked.
Arlene changed her mind on the location so it got moved to be on a wall rather than out in the middle of the room.  Remember it's over 12 feet long. A solid crate that would make a narrow 2-man kayak or a long flower planter?  Couldn't give it away so sawed it up to go in a dumpster.
A free standing bobbin winder. Finally Arlene got to practice on the second day of assembly.
It takes practice and lots of it . . .
We are going to install PantoVision. There are a bunch of wires to remove, change, and add but it went well.
Next we made a light bar and installed some really super low-watt bulbs. Hmmmm.  It does seem different when the pattern is vertical.
Again, it just takes practice but the PantoVision makes it so versatile to make and fit patterns to the quilt.
A pantogram for this 6-sided star.  The next one will get 'Stitch in the Ditch' treatment but that's hard and we need a lot of practice for that first. May 30th.  First one for someone else - a gal from the local quilt guild.
It turned out perfect - the customer was thrilled. This our first 'Stitch-in-the-Ditch'  project.  NOT easy.  You have to sew in the join between two fabrics using a straight-edge guide that is held in place with one hand and guiding the sew head with the other.  Hmmmmm.  Won't be doing too many of these I hope.
This the back of the table-top showing the amount of work involved. We designed a PantoVision pattern for customer's baby quilt.
Arlene getting better at this. This another table top that is finished (and sold).
We found we were not comfortable going from Pantographs to PantoVision, the former seeming so much easier to do.  Does working PantoVision require sub-conscious conversion to go from a vertical up-down viewing screen to horizontal forward-backward arm movement.  We experimented with placing the tablet flat between the handles and found the results were an amazing improvement in ease of operation.  Here's what we did: 
A metal bracket was made to lower and center the tablet mount.  With the tablet removed, the bracket did not interfere with other operations Ease of position adjustment is maintained.
The pattern is now directly in front of you - tracking is so much smoother and more natural.  We love it!
A much sleeker look with no tablet perched up on top :o) Another one down the line . . .
We are not keeping up with pictures as we continue to average 3 or 4 quilts a week.  Not hurrying - just enjoying . . .  It IS fun!
This table centerpiece was originally for Sharol but it was 'too big'. Gord's first complete project including pantograph work.
Sharol's small centerpiece.  Pantogram & stitch-in-ditch.  Cute. Beautiful wall hanging we are working for a local quilter.
Working on 'Spring Puzzle'. Gord's first Art & Stitch project from scratch.  Worked out well.
Another completed September 14th.
We long-armed this 'charity quilt' for Arlene's handicraft guild. An old wall-hanging we wanted quilted.  Turned out great.
October 10th.  A pair of small quilts we long-armed for one of Arlene's friends.  Very nice.
April 21st 2013 and we are back from Arizona.  I set about to install Lightning Stitch which looked quite formidable - all circuit boards, wiring, motor, etc to be removed. New motor on and ready for the new electronics.
3 hours later, surprise, surprise - it fired up like it was suppose to! Piggy-backed boards and lots of 'status' LED's.
While we're at it - PantoVision re-installed too.  Some of the removed items no longer required and now discarded.  After a couple of quilts with Lightning Stitch we can't imagine being without it.
The glorious stitches produced with Lightning Stitch on an Innova!
Picture of 'Pattern Grid' taken for our buddy JoAnn in Yuma. Damn, we hate doing 'stitch in the ditch', but sometimes you just have to.
This Arlene's 'Civil War' quilt with 'rope' first-time borders.
Customer's quilt with Minky backing.  That's a plush, velvety-type of fabric that is virtually impossible to sew on an ordinary machine but not on an Innova long-arm.
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