I want to be upfront and state that I do not know anything about quilting. I have been looking at Quilt Frame for my wife (as a surprise) for a bit. She has a viking Platinum 755 and makes mostly baby quilts. I have been looking at the Little Gracie 2, but based on my complete lack of knowledge on this subject is this a good choice? Should I be looking at something else?


Thank you for your help!!

Thank you for the reply!!
N
nothing really set. I found the little gracie for $600.00 I dont want to go crazy but I want something that will last..

Well, you know enough about quilting that you understand your wife's attachment to it and that is the BEST knowledge in my book. You are a sweet man!

Now to your question: I think that kind of a purchase is best made by the user and by saying that, I may be putting a damper on your surprise idea. Does she have one in mind? Would she be happy if she got something "parked" in front of her without any input? I ask, because I would not. I would be a very ungrateful recipient and give my DH a less than enthusiastic "gee thanks for asking" reply :twisted:

Personally, I have a Handiquilter and I JUST ordered the Quilter's Cruise Control to go with my setup. I am not sure if I would get the Handiquilter again, but at the time, it was the one I could afford.

Have fun with your project. There are so many options to research. Your wife is a lucky woman!

There are a *ton* of considerations when making a purchase like this. Are you absolutely sure that she would want a frame for a domestic short-arm machine (which is what the Viking is)? Not everyone would. Personally, I would not want a frame unless I could also have a mid-arm or long-arm machine.

There are many experienced frame quilters on the homequiltingsystems group at http://groups.yahoo.com . You might want to ask there if this is a good idea or not.

How about the suprise being a homemade gift card saying... you have so much to spend on a quilt frame of your choice. That way you are both happy. You can even make a night of it by taking her to the store she wishes to buy it at then dinner. :D

I'd go with a card as well, half the fun in owning something like that is in the research and the actual buying.

And nice one dude, what an awesome thing to do. Make sure she knows how much effort you have put into this, asking questions and getting advice, it's part of the gift. :-)

You could always be surfing the internet and ask your wife "What is a quilt frame? Can you show me one?"

Then as she is showing you, you could always ask if she had the opportunity to get one what would it be and why?

You know, show an interest in learning kinda thing.

What a gem you are! I think a gift certificate would be great too. Your lovely wife may have an idea of what she wants. You could get her a collection of fabrics that you like and write a card saying "make me something." The real gift being the quilting thing she gets to pick out. She is going to be thrilled anyway you go!

I think a card is a great idea. She may know exactly where she wants to buy the frame from and just what she wants. You can be there when she picks out the perfect frame. And she will be ecstatic

Sorry but that big a gift let her pick what she wants.....you can't go wrong.....trust me.....the surprize will be you letting her get it.....xoxoxxoo.....:-)

OK here's what my DH says he'd do - research first by the methods given above - casual questions and looking online as suggested by crashnquilt - then he'd get me one but ONLY from a shop where he was absolutely sure it could be returned and/or exchanged if necessary. :D

K x

PS Well done you for braving the board to help chose your wife's gift! :D

As an owner of a Pinnacle Grace quilting frame and a Bably Lock Pro Quilter machine, I want to say: Don't do it!

The writer that told you that a frame with a home sewing machine is a waste of resources, is exactly correct.

If you are duty bound to spend $$ ... to help your wife quilt her quilts, along with having her help you, the other suggestion I would make is a workcenter that has a big enough space to quilt a quilt on her table machine without having to fight keeping her quilt under her needle. A cabinet that allows her to have her sewing machine level with the work area would be a big help, whether she is just quilting straight lines or doing free motion quilting.
If I had it to do over, I would buy a big cabinet for working with .. or get the mid-arm quilting machine and frame ...

At the risk of repeating, I second two things:
1 - How wonderful of you to research a gift for your wife like this! It's an awfully thoughtful thing to do. Do let her know, all the trouble you went to, she'll never forget it...and I am assuming she doesn't use our board, or you wouldn't be posting where she could see...tell her about us, we'd love to have her.
2 - Think about the gift certificate with a lovely dinner and a trip to her favorite place to shop for the frame. It's a lovely gift, for sure, but it would be like buying her a pair of shoes, without her knowing. I know it doesn't seem the same to you...get something small that she can open, like a box of fat quarters...go to a nice fabric store and tell the ladies, your wife quilts and you would like to purchase some fat quarters...and they will be very happy to help you. Women are mush for a man like you! You'll have your evening, a gift, in fact two, bc you can wrap the gift card and put in the center of the fat quarters, and she will be thrilled!!! Then she will have the 'outing' to go together to look at the quilting frames, and you can decide on prices, etc. together. She will love you forever.... :wink: (as if she wouldn't anyway, your a great guy!) :D

Please, Please, do yourself a favor and let her pick out what she wants. She probably already has something in mind. She'll love it more if it's the one she wants. Your so sweet!!! :D

exactly!
When you go shopping for the fat quarters, have in mind a theme or color combination your wife enjoys working with. My favorite holidays (Fourth of July and Christmas) are always good for a theme ... or, I shop by my favorite color ... so many shades and ways to highlight blue, don't you know ...
you can see ... with a minimum of knowledge (what is her favorite color) about your wife (what is her favorite time of year?) your local quilt shop will be able to fix you up with a good variety of fat quarters to hide your gift card in.
Congratulations on being a thoughtful, observant husband, who cares enough to give her the best. You are a special person who can see your wife's abilities and enhance them. You are doing your job very well.

Scott,

My husband got me a gracie frame for christmas a few years back but only after I had made sure our daughter knew exactly which one to tell him to get me.
A lovely homemade card given at a special dinner with a IOU a trip to pick out the frame of your choice is what I would have liked if he didnt ask my daughter which one I wanted. My mother-in-law got me a hintenberg frame last year and it is still in the box. I may never use it because it was not something I wanted. She just knew I wanted a frame. Every quilter is different.

Hi Scott, I have a Hinterberg floor frame. My Hubby got it for me 10 years ago for my b-day and it is my pride and joy! It goes from baby quilt size all the way up to King size. www.hinterberg.com or call 1800-443-5800 and they will sent you a catalog in the mail.I have used it all these years and still love it. I can put a quilt in in about 20 min. and turn it all by myself. Also room for 2 or 3 friends to quilt with me! Good luck! Ninnie in NC

Depending on what you want to spend, I've used a Gammell long-arm and a Tin Lizzie 18 and I'd prefer the Gammell, lots of bucks. The Tin Lizzie 18 can be used on a smaller frame for small quilts around 50" wide. Would be great for baby quilts and they run about $6,000 in our area. You can look at them at www.tinlizzie18.com.

I do think that your dear lucky wife needs to pick out the quilting machine that she wants and you can have the satisfaction of going with her and seeing her make all those important decisions as to accessories that she has to chose from. She is one luck gal. You can always ask dealers for brochures of their wares and put them in a card, that way she knows that you've done research and thought into the gift.

Scott,

What a nice hubby to want to surprise your little woman with something so nice! What a Guy! I say if you do a little research you can find just the right one at the price you can afford. Just make sure it is compatable with her machine. Six hundred dollars is a good price for a little gracie II and if it is the place I am thinking (sew and Vac), they throw in a quilt cad software which is a great deal. I would say one thing though, get the fourth rail when you buy the table, it is less money if you do. Oh and don't forget the cloth leaders! Just ask they will explain it to you when you call.

Check on (watch) the classifieds here on the board too. Sometimes there are some great deals just waiting for you to pick up.

I do hope if you visit us again, that you will let us know how things went, no matter what you decide. We'd like to hear how the story ends :D

:lol: You are adorable....
My suggestion to you is to get her the best you can effort...Or even better: Give her the money and let her decide....
She will be grateful to you forever.....
Good luck

Interesting that I found this post (no, it wasn't my husband) but I'm curious how this all turned out. My DH was looking at new machines and I kinda shot him down (not intending that to be the result), but I told him that his buying me a machine would be like me buying cruising foot rests for his dear Harley Davidson - lol. Anyways, I'm just wondering how it all turned out?

I wonder too?

My husband is VERY nosey so any time I want something. instead of just telling him I want ________! I find it online, and save it to my favorites, then I rename it like, I WANT, or GOING TO BUY, SAVE FOR THIS! Which it is still a suprise when he does get me something because even though I know its there I don't know when or if he has looked at it or actually make the purchase. This is also great for gift giving ocasions. He asks me what I want I just tell him to check the usual place! lol

I like the giftcard and dinner idea.

You are so sweet and nice to want to do this for your wife -

But I am with almost everyone else - let your wife pick out what SHE wants - again - the surprise being that you are WILLING!!!!

If possible - and you can manage it - go a step or two above what she is currently doing -

PS - you are NOT dumb - any man smart enough to take advice from women is VERY SMART!!!

I think a general gift certificate would be better. Make it so it's enough to get a frame, but in case she wants $600 of material (I drooled a little bit just now :)), that should be an option too. I've told my boyfriend before, don't ever buy me anything at a quilt store except for a gift certificate. I look and "love" every fabric I see, but I wouldn't want to actually own a lot of it (or I would like to own it but it would go into my closet for 5 years). And maybe she would rather get a different big expensive quilt toy, so this way she has the option. And definitely let her pick it out, even if you go with the frame. The fun is picking it out yourself :)

I too own the Viking Platinum 755Q machine and looked at putting it on a Grace frame. While the 755 is an excellent sewing/piecing machine, the throat size would be too small 8" to place on a frame. Your wife will love it at first, then realize the setup is not going to suit her long term. When quilting a queen or king size quilt on the frame, she'll only have 3" or 4" of space for quilting at the end of the quilt. And unless she has another machine for sewing, she'll really hate moving the machine on and off the frame.

Instead, I purchased a used 9" throat machine (Pfaff GrandQuilter) and frame with stitch regulator for use as a quilting machine only. After using this setup for a few months, I'm already planning to upgrade to an 18" machine.

I will AMEN the previous writer! LOL ... have started where you are getting ready to move from.
And, having said all of that, do y'all realize that this thread was started in April? <g> The BIG question is: What was the outcome?
Catch y'all later <wave>

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quote from mytwopals:

Instead, I purchased a used 9" throat machine (Pfaff GrandQuilter) and frame with stitch regulator for use as a quilting machine only. After using this setup for a few months, I'm already planning to upgrade to an 18" machine.

I would really like to go to a different frame/machine. I have a husqvarna/viking on a inspira frame but the stitching area is very limited. I would shop around before I bought again. If she likes her machine maybe just a set up so she can do free motion quilting easier would be ideal. So I think the card with money toward what she wants would be the best route for both of you.

So it was started last April - -

yup, I remember when this was first posted.
The hubby probably never came back, but IS HIS WIFE ON THIS BOARD? ...YOO HOO! We want to know what your hubby ended up buying you????
We are still hanging....
....hanging on.... :shock:

Well, first, I think you should adopt me!hehehe Does she have any quilt friends that she confides in? Ask them. Or you could come right out and ask her what she wants. Believe me, she would still be very surprised that you would buy it for her.

You are a very special husband to want to do that for your wife. :D :D :D