Table Frame Quilting

The utility company service tech who came to my home next only came to replace the weather stripping on my outer doors and then realigned them, as well as replacing a shower head with a new Delta Hand Shower Unit with a bunch of bells and whistles. And no, he was not authorized to replace the furnace control WHICH IS WHAT NEEDS REPAIRING!!! He said it would be at least 2 weeks because they all just got back from vacation and were backed up with service orders.

Realize that the outside door must be open for him to work on it. Both doors.

Quilting. Cold fingers, disoriented thinking caused by cold everything.

I started back working on Jer's quilt over the table frame and love it. Yes I can only work one way on it but wowzer! It is magnificent for hand quilting because it holds the weight of the quilt and keeps a light tension on a larger space.

My intention for the quilt is to do the borders by machine, and to keep quilting on it in order to get it done. Right now, I am backed up to the first five spins and am quilting on both sides of all the joined seams in order to help alleviate the pucker that started to form when I did it on the hand-held frame. I am now quilting  the setting triangles. It just got out of hand once I started, and once you start, its like setting a precedence. What you do in one place, you do in every place.

Thing is about hand quilting, that almost wrinkled look is a part of what you get when you use this technique. I didn't really know that when I first started quilting & wondered why everyone allowed their quilts to look so wrinkled. And even machine quilted versions will wrinkle after they are washed. Some people like that textured, soft feel. Most quilters do not prewash their fabrics and few, if any, pre-wash batting. Bags say it will shrink 3% with the first washing. With a quilt that measures over 100", that is a 3" shrink one way over the entire piece. Quilting stabilizes the shrink and contains it within spaces of the stitched lines.

Unwashed quilts tend to lay flat, but unless they are wall hangings that never get washed, they will eventually ease into the textured-wrinkled look. Every gentle washing softens them and makes them more cozy. 

I have hope today about the quilt. Hope that it will be finished on time to ship. Hope that it will look lovely laying across his bed or sofa. Hope that it brings him comfort, joy and a smile.