A few weeks ago I took a longarm quilting class at the local quilt shoppe - tomorrow is my first go round at using the machines. I have a practice piece and a couple of table runners that I'd like to give as gifts, so hopefully things go smoothly. Ordinarily I would be nervous about using a nearly $20,000 sewing machine on my own for the first time, but if working with FPLC taught me anything it was how to work expensive equipment without freaking out. Plus I'm not using precious samples that took weeks to prepare, nor is the equipment subject to harassment by various solutions (also made by me) whose pH fluctuations may muck the whole thing up. Fabric, needle, thread....not nearly so scary.