rryder

Here are some things that might help.

1. make sure your quilting area is at the right height for you. Even an inch or two too high will cause neck and shoulder pain.

2. make sure that you have plenty of support for your quilt--either use tables on the left of your machine and also behind it, or get a suspension system. I have a homemade suspension system that I use when doing a really big quilt, but most of the time I'm happy just using my tables to support it. Eliminating all drag will make a big difference. When I'm working on a big quilt I spend a fair amount of time rearranging it to make sure there is no drag on the part that I'm quilting.

3. take plenty of breaks. if you feel yourself starting to tense up-- get up and walk away, do something else for a while.

4. I tend to rest my forearms on the bed of the machine and just use my fingertips and sides of my thumbs on the quilt when I'm doing certain kinds of smaller designs, like pebbles. For larger designs I will often raise my forearms off the bed of the machine, but I still use just my fingertips and sides of my thumbs to move the quilt sandwich.

5. I do not use my hands flat on the quilt as though they were a hoop designed to keep the quilt sandwich from puckering -- I find that if I've basted my quilt very well and then stitched in the ditch, it is not necessary to use my hands that way. I often spray baste the backing or use a fusible batting that I fuse to the backing and then pin baste the top on to the sandwich. That eliminates any worry about the back puckering or pleating. My hands are only there to move the quilt.

6. I don't worry about making mistakes, I figure either no one will notice, or it's a chance to move in a different direction, or if worst comes to worst I can always take out the part I don't like and redo it.

Rob
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