NICU easy street block #1

This was the first quilt I quilted yesturday.  I am still in the practice mode for my freehand quilting skills.  I never imagined there would be such a large learning curve, to go from quilting on a domestic machine to a longarm.  I've quilted on a domestic machine for 15 years.

It would have been easier and of better quality of quilting, if I did it on my domestic machine, however that would not have gotten me my practice in.  The only way to increase my skills on the longarm is by practicing.  I just wish it wasn't sooooooo long a period of time.  But I WILL get there!  Everyone says, practice, practice, practice and practice some more.

I know the general motions, now I have to translate that to my arms moving the machine around, instead of me moving the quilt around.  

This is your basic four petal flowers that I did in all the green blocks.

In the first border I did the basic curl curving up and alternating down.  Still needing quite a bit of practice to get those curls more round, once I master the curves, I can work on the consistency of the spacing.  In the purple border I just did the cursive "l" and "e".  Same thing here.  I need to work on the smoothness of the curves, and the consistency of the size.

By the time I got to the last border, I was easing up a bit, but with the last border, I kept worrying that I was not going to stop in time before going off the edge of the quilt.  I am sure after more practice this will go away too.

Practice, practice and practice.  Maybe after the longarm bootcamp I will have more confidence....... can't wait.  I am really looking forward to it.