My New Favorite Toy!

I decided to try my hand at using the rulers with my Handi-quilter. I was very nervous at first. The longarm is still new to me. I've mastered loops, but need to add to my arsenal of patterns.

So...I watched a YouTube video (my go to "how to" site) and decided I would stitch in the ditch using the straight side of the ruler. It is really hard to stitch a straight line on the longarm without help. How hard can it be with the help of a ruler???

It was the easiest thing to learn! I started slowly, but as I gained confidence, I got a little faster. Unfortunately, I got over confident and accidentally tried to sew straight through the ruler! Besides sewing through my fingernail, it was one of the scariest thing to happen to me! (Maybe I should have stopped and gone to bed sooner!) The machine set off a loud alarm, the needle snapped (thank goodness the thread was threaded or it would have flown off...possibly toward my face) and I had this horrible thought that I had just broken my new longarm!

After putting on a new needle, rethreading, checking the bobbin area...I gingerly started again. I learned a valuable lesson: sew slowly when using the ruler and stop sewing when you hit that "I'm tired" wall at midnight or 1 am.

But...I love using the ruler. They are my new favorite toy. There are so many options as far as patterns and designs. I'm so excited to come up with new design combinations. Check out how I did below! By the way, this beautiful quilt is another charity quilt that the Rocket City Modern Quilt Guild is giving away.

Happy quilting ya'll!

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