how to quilt a 112x112 king size quilt?
 

hi there i made this lovely red and cream Hunters star quilt for my king size bed. it is 112x112 i have a long arm machine and this quilt goes all the way to the edge on my frame. but my machine does not.. so my question is to all you long arm quilters how do you quilt the outer edges of a large quilt. i have a design that i will be using for the center area and i will free motion the star points.
my only thought is to quilt the center and then take off the frame and float the top to do the edges?
any suggestions i would be very happy to hear, PLEASE

I have never done it but I have heard that some longarmers have a way of loading so they can do part of the quilt then reload and do the other part. I was never clear if they were folding part of it over and dealing with the uneveness on the take up rollers or what. I could never wrap my head around it so never tried. So I can't quilt anything larger than 100" wide and that is with a 10 ft frame. Even then I am not comfortable because I can't use my side clamps very well. When I get to them I hit them with the machine head so have to move them or take them off when I get close to the edge. Good luck with this!

"my only thought is to quilt the center and then take off the frame and float the top to do the edges?"
This is also the only way I can think of. I would cut the batting narrower so that when you fold the edges up there won't be as much bulk you have to deal with. QUilt to within a couple inches of the batting so you have room to attach the new pieces before you turn & float.
I also have a 10' frame and my sister wants a large quilt for her king. What we had talked about was leaving the side borders off, quilt the center, then quilt the border sections separately and join using a QAYG technique.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

I think your Idea is the best solution, with the suggestion from Paper Princess.

My quilter did as Paper Princess suggested for all 3 of the King Sized quilts....while she quilted the center of the quilt on her LA, I hand quilted the borders, and then added the borders after the center was quilted. It was all done with the suggestion from my quilter. I quilt by cash, so whatever she could offer to me, I greatfully accepted.

while I have a 14' frame and can quilt a huge quilt (but would rather not!) I was always hitting my side clamps and messing up. So I changed them up like a friend showed--I made a fabric extension with a sleeve on one side that I put an 18" ruler into--that is what I clamp to. then I pin the other end of the fabric (which means I can adjust how wide the extension is from the ruler to the place on backing I'm pinning)to the backing. I used ticking canvas for this so it holds up to frequent pinning. This allows me to quilt to edge of top without worry about my ruler table hitting the clamps and bobbling the design. I also allows me to have a stablized area on side that is about 15" wide and not 2 clamps pulling on it in just two spots--much less tension needed yet still very stable.

quiltingshorttimer - this sounds really interesting! Can you post a picture of your set-up?

Couldn't you quilt the middle, take the quilt off and free motion the edges on your domestic sewing machine.

My friend quilted an oversized (for her frame) quilt. She loaded the quilt "normally". With the side that was too long and did not fit the leads, she folded it over - on to the part of the quilt top that was already pinned to the frame. (Don't think you would get an even fold if using red snappers.). (Yes there was an extra lump with the batting etc). While quilting, she did not quilt right up to the edge that was folded. She left some extra space. When the whole quilt was quilted, she took it off the frame and reloaded it, moving the entire quilt over, repinning. The finished quilted edge was folded this time and she quilted the unquilted edge. This worked very well and she did not have folds and tucks. She was also using both a computerized pattern and some free motion in the borders. Good luck. Hope this makes sense to you.
Ellen

humm now that's a idea. my original thought was to do the middle and then come back and move to do each side... but if i off center it and only make one side not done it might be quicker or less movement of taking on and off the frame?