Light it up!

A few weeks ago after struggling for the umpteenth time to inspect the back of my quilt on the longarm I had a real light bulb moment.  I was tired of the time and effort it took to crawl under the table with a flashlight every time I wanted to check stitching, backing etc.
How wonderful it would be if I could light the entire area on the table so the mirror I use on the table would reflect the condition of the backing stitching perfectly.
Hmmm, now how could that be accomplished? Then I remembered the LED lighting I bought by the roll on the internet when we renovated the kitchen, that was an aha moment! For any other Longarmer who may be interested in this process I will show the necessary parts, the very simple installation-and the wonderful results!

 It is less than 1/2" wide and has a sticky back

 Here it is installed on the table under the clear vinyl sheet.

 Of course I first went to my "fix-it" guy, AKA, DH to find out what it would take to make it happen!

 We needed a connector and fortunately had one left from the kitchen lighting………...

and a power adapter, we also had one of those extra. All of this can be purchased very inexpensively on the internet, I used eBay.

With DH's help I decided on the optimal position for the light strip and measured the distance across the table, then he peeled off the backing and stuck it down, attached the connector and transformer and plugged it in- let there be light!  It is positioned so that on the rare occasion I use a pantograph it will clear the lighting strip.

 Here is how it looks from the front of the machine with a quilt loaded………..

and now from the back with the mirror that I use, a cheap discount store door mirror. 

 This is the illuminated backing, I love it!

Thanks to my handy DH for another successful project, this one makes my quilting life easier. Leave a comment or email me if you have any questions about the process, it took literally only minutes.