My Gift to Myself...

Guess what Mrs. Claus bought for herself this year???

A sit-down long-arm quilting machine!!!!  I am over the moon about it!!!  I've wanted a sit-down long-arm ever since I first saw Ricky Tims use one a quilting show on TV!!!  I don't have the room, the money, or the ability to stand for long periods of time at a traditional long-arm machine, so I've had my eye on a sit-down one for a few years now.  

I finally decided that my free-motion quilting was good enough to invest the money.  I had been seriously looking at them online for about the last 6 months and had mentioned to Andy that it was getting closer and closer to me having one.  

Then on Black Friday, the same company that I had purchased my Juki TL 2000Qi machine that I had been doing my FMQing on put the very machine that I had been eye-balling ON SALE... the TinLizzie18" forward facing sit-down machine. 

Well...what was I to do but order one!!!  It took 12 days to get here, but it finally arrived yesterday.  However, the table didn't come till today.  Tonight Andy and I put it together.  (Well, mostly Andy...but I supervised!)  It was kind of a pain-in-the-arse to put together....and there is still one cover that doesn't fit where it is supposed to, so I need to call tomorrow to get that straightened out...but it is together and running!!!

The table has two extensions that flip up with swing-out legs to make the table bigger for larger quilts.

I couldn't wait to try it out so I made a little quilt sandwiched and tried it!  It is so FAST and so SMOOTH!!!   I had read some reviews that said it was "loud", but I think it is fairly quiet.  In fact, I think it is quieter than the Juki was!  I can't wait to do a "real" quilt on it!!!

They also have a "front-facing" one that come in a table, too, but that table extends out the back and not out the sides like mine does.  That one would cause the table to stick out too far into my sewing room....and it's tight enough in there now with the new machine!  :)  


Loretta