It's so easy to find something you're good at and stick with it. Whether it's a certain piecing technique, quilting with a design board, or using your computerized quilting system. It's called our comfort zone for a reason! I wanted to remind you how important it is to break away from the normal routine and try something new. Challenge yourself and really dig into your creativity - you might surprise yourself like some of our renters did! Vivian decided to try a new piecing challenge - the French braid design. This quilt was her first try, and it looks pretty good! She prefers to quilt edge-to-edge patterns from the front of the machine which is the most efficient way to cover a lot of space quickly. This time, she made her meander into a tighter stipple, which took some concentration but really suited the scale of this quilt well. She knocked out this twin-sized quilt in just a couple of hours - ready to give to her son! Take a look at this fun camper quilt by Jean! Isn’t that cute?! It’s so fun how each camper looks like it’s in a different location. She said this quilt is for her daughter and can you guess where it’s going? Yep, her camper! When there’s this much applique on a quilt I often recommend free motion quilting from the front. This way you can watch where the needle is going and avoid any areas that might be tricky. Jean usually uses our design boards, so this was a big jump for her to move to the front of the machine. First we let her practice the lines on a dry erase board so she could get a feel for the movement. When she was ready she quilted loopy “L’s” and squiggle lines. She did such a good job, her daughter is going to love this! Erin has quilted quite a few quilts as a renter using her favorite freehand designs and wanted to try rulers for the first time. Her quilt blocks were constructed using impromptu piecing techniques and she wanted her quilting to emphasize their structure. To use rulers with a longarm quilting machine, you must add a ruler base that creates a platform under the quilt sandwich so that rulers remain steady. Once she was set up properly for this technique, she quickly became comfortable using rulers. Love the results, Erin! And now, I'd like to issue a challenge to all the quilters out there: try something new each time you come in. It doesn't have to be a major change; use a different brand or weight of thread, try quilting using a pantograph instead of a design board, or try a new freehand design. If your coming to the showroom to rent our machines we're always here to help you, so consider making your rental time a time to grow in skills and creativity without taking much risk. As always, we love to see what you've been working on and how you are going to finish it!