Today was my first chance to really play with the Q 24. I used Red Snappers on my Bernina frame to load quilts. Basically they are a plastic rod that slides into the hem of the leader cloth and clips that hold the backing top onto the rollers. It makes loading a quilt very quick and easy. I was pleased to find the hem of the Q24 leader cloths allowed my to easily slide my rods in, and then I loaded a small piece of test fabric. I just used something random I didn't care about. I wasn't thinking about taking photographs, so the fabric wasn't ideal for showing you what I did, but such is life. (Red snappers are available in lots of places - Nancy Notions, for instance, has them here:)
http://www.nancysnotions.com/product/quilting+frame+loading+system.do
Once loaded, the first step was to adjust my handles (I wish I had done this when someone else was there to help), and then customize the buttons on my handles. This is very simple to do. I am left handed, so I decided I wanted my start stop button under my left thumb. I put the needle up and down on the other button on the left and then quickly realized that I held my threads with my left hand when pulling up the beginning and ending threads, so I wanted to control that button with my right hand. So I moved it over, and also put the presser foot up and down on the right side. I put the tie off button on the other left hand button, although I am not sure how much I will use it.
There are some things I am not happy with about the shipping and accessories of the machine. Basically, they shipped it before almost anything else was ready. For instance, my dealer does not yet have extra bobbins. I often match my bobbin thread to the top (especially for landscapes), so I like lots of bobbins. But, they are standard class M bobbins, so I can get them elsewhere, and even use pre wound bobbins (the Q24 has a separate motor and spool for winding bobbins, so this can be done without interrupting your machine set-up). It also only ships with a darning foot (it uses standard Bernina feet).
I really want a true hopping foot that is thick and I can use long arm rulers with. This is planned as an option, along with an extended base to give you a better surface for using rulers. To me this is so essential to using a long arm that it should be an included accessory. For now, this is strictly a freehand machine. That's my first love, so that is OK, but there are also times when I want to be able to stitch a good straight line or true circle, not easy to do freehand.
Along the same lines, eventually there will be a way to limit the machine to only vertical or horizontal motion, but that, too is not yet available. It would be nice for making grids and basting quilts truly straight. That seems like something that should have been included.
Someday there will be an option for computerized control, but that has not been released yet.
Also there will be an attachment to quilt from the back using pantographs and a laser light. Again, not yet available.
Yes, I was eager to get my Q24, but I think some of these things should have been out and ready to put in the hands of the customer as the machines were released (and some should not incur extra cost, but that's Bernina). Hopefully some of them will follow fairly quickly. Especially the bobbins.
But meanwhile, I can certainly work at improving my free-hand skills. So I loaded my fabric and started driving. My goal was to fill my fabric, just playing. I used loops, meanders, words, grids, etc. I'm sorry the stitching does not show up well. One line was a reminder to me: "Be kind to yourself". After all there IS a learning curve. I need to not get frustrated if things aren't the way I would like them to be.
I had fun creating a train. I made the wheels from left to right, then created the cars from right to left, designing new cars on the fly. There is even a circus car with a lion.
Since I didn't have a ruler to use, I tried a freehand grid - not bad for a first attempt. But it will be a while before I try it on a real quilt.
By the time I had filled my piece, I had stood long enough. I realized it is important to be really aware of posture and relaxation. Don't tense muscles, and make sure you are breathing. Don't lock your knees. I have a set of those rubber giant jigsaw pieces to put on the floor to make standing easier, but I didn't take time to put them down, yet. My feet were sore after the hour or so I played, so I decided that was enough for the first day. I think it is going to be a fun journey.
The next project to tackle on the Q24 was a baby quilt I had made for my great-nephew. It is a space quilt, and even glows in the dark! The quilt presented a couple of problems I wanted to solve. First was the squares. I wanted to quilt these with sort of overlocking footballs. I thought they looked like a space-agey radar signal. They took 4 passes in sort of half-circles. 
The problem was that I wanted a fairly consistent curve. If I could use a hopping foot and a thick ruler with a curve, this would have been fairly straight forward. But so far, the Q24 does not have that option, (I am told now it will be out in early March). So what to do instead. I knew from experience on my Bernina frame, trying to use a ruler with a normal foot is not a good option. The foot tends to jump the edge of the ruler, and this will break the needle, and you might kill the timing. Not what I was willing to chance on the Q24. So instead, I cut my desired curve out of card stock. I could lay this on, hold it with one hand and guide the machine along the edge with the other. If the needle accidentally hit the card stock - no big deal, it would pierce it. This worked - to a point. I discovered I drive much smoother with both hands. So I ended up using my template for the first couple of curves in each pass, and then free handing it. It certainly did not have the consistency and smoothness I would have wanted, but it will do. I also realized I needed to be very mindful of intersections. I would start thinking of the next corner before I had gotten to the one I was going towards. That's when I would miss hitting the corner. I had to keep my focus on where the machine was going right now. That seems obvious in type, but harder to do in reality. THink of the present, not the future!
I found that with each direction of the curve I wanted to switch which hand was holding the template, and which was guiding the machine. One of the great things about the Q24 is that there are four buttons on the handles that you can program to do what you need it to do. All you do is touch the control screen to set the buttons. So I put a start/stop button on each handle, and that made it easy to control from either hand. It helps that I am fairly ambidextrous!
I finished my first real project on the long arm. It will be donated to charity. For a first attempt, I am happy with it. I did learn I need to be more careful about how I put on back and batting. Somehow one was skewed and I almost rand out of fabric at the end. But I didn't and it looks OK. Won't win any machine quilting awards, though! But fun for what it's for. One fun thing is the binding I used is a calico that came from my mothers fabric drawer when I was growing up. It was the perfect color for this project.
