Recently, I upgraded my carriage that my machine rides along my frame on.  This updated carriage has "edgerider" wheels which are supposed to give a smoother ride with better bearings in them, and whilst there was nothing "wrong"  with my previous carriage for allover designs, I always felt that there was something missing when controlling the finer detail of freehand quilting.

 

Well after reading how other fellow longarm quilters in the states have raved about the wheels and carriage, I decided that if I wanted to progress more with my freehand quilting I definitely needed some finer control of my machine and being the gadget kind of girl that I am, I ordered one. 

 

Well to cut a long story short and after some initial teething problems and adjustments, I feel that I now have more refined control of the movement of my machine.

 

On a longarm machine, the slightest change in the level of the table can dramatically affect the control of the machine, so I have to check that my table is level on a regular basis, changes in temperature can affect the movement of the table, as it is made of steel and of course metal contracts and expands. 

 

Anway this story is getting rather long, but thought I would share some of my practice background fills which were freehand kind of quilt whatever comes kind of practice.  It was a cot panel so I didn't piece it and just wanted something quick and easy to practice on. No rulers were used, so all of the straight lines are actually freehand.  I would normally use a ruler for accuracey on a customer quilt.  The outlining of the animals and letters was also achieved without rulers.  Not perfect, but I was not looking for perfection that day - just practice and tweaking my carriage for a better feel.