James’ Quilt
Dec 20, 2005 Quilting
While it may appear that I’ve disappeared from the blog world, in reality I’ve been very busy with Christmas presents. Yesterday, I completed my FIL’s quilt by shipping it to him. Here is the finished product:
I’m quite proud of this quilt. It is the largest quilt that I’ve machined quilt to date. Before I give myself too much kudos, I should explain the process. The finished quilt measures 90″x90″. I knew that I couldn’t quilt it on my home machine without losing my sanity. Instead of going to the insane asylum, I rent time on a long-arm machine. I loved it. It took about 9 quilting hours to complete, which seems like a lot. However it would have taken about 40 hours to complete on my home machine.
What did I learn?
- Prepare as much as possible before hand. I based the back and the quilt to the pole leaders before hand.
- Get good help. While I had some vague ideas about quilting designs, the store manager was great in helping me select quilt designs.
- Don’t do too much in one day. I tried to finish in one day. Then I realize it wasn’t going to happen. So I took my tired self home and came back the next day.
Would I do it again. Yes! While there was the expense of $10/hour, I concentrated on the quilting instead of how to manage the quilt bundle.
Regrets? I wish I had a better picture. My pictures were a last minute stab. I wanted a wall picture. The quilt was too heavy. It kept falling out of the ACCO clips. Our bed is the largest flat surface in the house. I wish it had pillow shams for picture. I’m going to miss this quilt. I need to go and visit it.
Next post: Knitting update.
