pittsburgpam

I finished the first border strip last night and did the first roll forward, then unrolled it so I could take a picture of the progress. I need to print a picture of the log cabin placement if I'm going to outline the star in the center. I almost forgot about that and when I remembered I had a brief moment of panic thinking I had messed up on the first block. Luckily, the star doesn't start until the second row of blocks.

It's going fine and getting more comfortable to do.

Hmmm... the second picture of the border closeup really doesn't look like that. It decreased the picture clarity when uploaded and it made the stitching look uneven.

Shemjo

Hand quilting is very relaxing and helps to ground me! Your quilting looks great! :lol:

pittsburgpam

Yes, it is relaxing. I keep meaning to put a CD player and/or radio in the room or a TV but, so far I have been doing it quietly. I don't notice the silence when I am quilting. I'm thinking about anything, everything, or nothing.

motomom

This is going to be a STUNNING quilt!!! I love it!

I quilt listening to Audiobooks on my ipod, downloaded from Audible.com.

Finished listening to "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand and I have now moved on to "The Fountainhead" by the same. Oh, and "Anthem" by Ayn, also. She's my all-time favorite author.

Next on my listening agenda is "The Count of Monte Christo."

WooHoo!

You know, since I am a musician you would think that I would enjoy listening to music as I quilt, but I find that it is very distracting. The audiobooks aren't distracting at all, my mind just gets absorbed in the listening and the quilting. I only hate it when I am interrupted!

Brooks1217

I wondered if you were quilting on a frame or with a hoop-I can't seem to manage quilting on a frame which is another reason I don't hand quilt many anymore. Too much moving around of the hoop and too much on my lap.
One of the things you mentioned earlier-it is always suggested that when you start quilting after you have not quilted for a bit-have a practice piece ready to get your stitches going before you start on the real thing.
Great job.

pittsburgpam

This is my first time quilting with the new frame. The first quilt I did in it was tied.

I am really liking it. I used a floor stand oval hoop for 20 years and it is limiting on the area that you can quilt without having to take it out and reposition. I love this because I can do an entire row at a time. Seems a lot quicker and I don't think I would have done an entire row in two days with the hoop if for no other reason than I didn't feel like repositioning and might put it off until "later".

Brooks1217

what kind of frame is it and how big is it?

pittsburgpam

It's a Grace Z44 hand quilting frame. It goes from crip size to king size depending on what rails you have on. There are extensions for super king too.

I don't know the dimensions in inches/feet.

motomom

Pam, one of the things I did to make the quilting easier, and I think your frame will do this, is do really tilt it so you can sit up straighter. I'm prone to back problems, but this helped me immensely. I didn't have as nice of a frame as yours, mine is home-made, but DH helped me to hang the back of the frame from the ceiling, and then I propped the front of the frame (closest to me) on the stands. So, I had probably a 45 degree angle.

I had to do some creative lighting to make sure the lights shined in the right places, but it worked like a charm. I would show you a pic but I don't have a quilt in the frame right now.

pittsburgpam

Since starting the quilting last Saturday I have completed one side of the border and almost a full row of blocks (and the borders on the sides of it). I just rolled it up in the frame to comfortably reach the top two strips on the first row of blocks. The pictures are before rolling.

So... there's 6 rows of blocks so it should take me 6 weeks, right? Ha, Ha, Ha. If I don't get distracted with something else.