Well, I just couldn't help myself. Along with painting the outside of the north wall of the house I just had to do a little quilting to keep busy during my downtime moments, while quiting for the paint to dry. The link shows the finished products. The Quilt is the Fan Quilt on Trellis, that I had originally thought of before being side tracked into doing the "Sun Never Sets on the Amish Empire" quilt. I view it as a companion piece to that and you can see the similarities when viewed together on the web-shots. Dimensions are 68" x 68" and the fans are about 8" and the sashing is 2" with 1" trellis separating the sashing from the fan squares. The three pictures called frame 1, 2, and 3 show the quilt being basted on the table with the stretcher frame in use. It started out as
4 ea. 1" x1-1/2" long Oak boards which had an apron attached to 2 of them with tacks. The other 2 were left bare. the whole thing is placed on top of the plywood "Table" and then the top and bottom of the quilt back is pinned to the aprons attached to the boards. The side pieces are then placed vertically, and the side of the fabric is wrapped around the side boards and the whole shebang is stabilized and held in place by 4 C-clamps which screw down and provide a firm holding position after you stretch out any unevenness in the fabric backing. You don't have to stretch it out to Banjo Head tightness but it has solved an ongoing problem that I have found when just laying the fabric on a flat surface and not being able to hold it in position. The other thing that it has done, is allow me to not have to use the spray adhesive for placement of the various parts of the quilt sandwich, while basting, as the whole thing is held in position if you start at the edges of the basting process with pinning, and then work across and inward, adjusting for any discrepancies where needed. The other thing is that the frame slides back and forth on the plywood to allow you to get at the middle area of the pinning, without having to climb up on the plywood and kneel on the quilt, to finish doing the interior of the pinning. I may have reinvented the wheel here, but if you want to try it out you could buy the wood locally at your friendly lumber yard and tack the fabric skirting on and then all you would need is to get 4 C-clamps. The other thing to consider is whether you would want to use the plywood. I know that it could be adapted for use on the floor if that is your preferred area for basting. I hope you like the views. I have already begun planning the next quilt as a result of visiting the Yearly local quilt show that is put on by the Guild. i talked to a couple of the members and they were most enthused about my joining the group and they said that a couple of the women members had husbands who were members, but that they didn't participate on a regular basis but just entered quilts in the shows. I have decided to thy my hand a applique quilting. It will be a "guy theme" quilt that, will hopefully result. No further information on this idea will be available until I see the first results myself and find out if it will work or that I have created some rather elegant shop rags.
Enjoy,
John