How I Quilt

So many people have asked me whether I use a longarm to quilt my large quilts that I thought I'd show how I actually do quilt them. This is how my quilt lives while on my table being quilted. One of the "quilting theories" is that the sides should be rolled up neatly so the quilt can go into the machine more easily--or something like that. It never has worked for me--just didn't feel comfortable--so I use the "big pile' method. The whole thing just seems to move better and I don't the feel of a carpet hanging off the end of the table.

Here you can see me actually quilting. I have a large flat space for my quilt to rest on--two Horn sewing tables with back extensions; however, depending on what part of the quilt I'm quilting, I don't want the it to spread out too much because it will pull on the area where I'm working and could cause problems.

And then I've included a couple of closeups to show what I do with my hands while being surrounded by all that bunched-up fabric. The idea is to keep the area you're working on taut so you won't have any puckers on the front or the back. In the second picture, it's kind of difficult to see so you might want to click on it to enlarge it, but I have the quilt actually crimped together in my right hand so I can pull it where I want it to go a little more easily.

Well, this is what works for me. You can see that I have a light directly over my work. I have very good lighting in my studio--true color flourescents--but you just can't have to much light when you're quilting.