Originally Posted by tortoisethreads
I think you use what is comfortable and gives you the best stitches. I bought a very fancy frame and used it only once. I found my stitches look better when the quilt is in my lap.
Yes, I found that I was more comfortable with a bit of loose tension. I,too, bought a quilting frame but I had to be a contortionist in order to get a real feel for the tension and to reach sections. I can manipulate the quilt better when on my lap.
As an aside, I like the look of a hand stitched quilt. Quilts sewn with long arm/computerized or whatever they are machines are so over worked with patterns etc that IMHO it takes away from the fabric and the piecing. There's a place for these but that's a lot of what I see in the Picture thread on this site.