I sewed another edge of feathers on the Fiery Starr quilt... I think I've determined that with this size quilt, on my domestic machine, with a lot of quilt wrestling; that the result is stiff shoulders and a neck ache. Although I didn't spend a huge hunk of time quilting this a couple of days ago, I've been achy ever since... Just like at the end of December when I put in a marathon quilting day. Maybe I should give up my dream of being a machine quilter?
Have to run!! The kindergarten kids are waiting!
17 comments:
You can share my dream of owning a long arm.......
A few years ago, at one of those big quilt shows, there was a booth trying to sell long arm machines and that lady lured me over to try it out. I couldn't believe how easy it seemed but something that big would take up my whole living room! Love your feathers.
You ARE a machine quilter and don't you forget it, ya hear??? :) Maybe quilt for smaller chunks of time, more often, to avoid the soreness of over-used muscles.
yes you ARE a machine quilter and one with lots of talent. Perhaps you need to raise/lower your chair/table, etc to help with your aches and pains. A break does help too.
Sooooo pretty! Tanya, I battle the stiff neck/shoulders too. But I truly can't do what you did with those feathers, that is spectacular. Don't give up your dream, hon, just do some shoulder rolls every 10 minutes or so, and put a heating pad on those muscles. You're doing splendidly.
BTW - on your post below - I think it's wood!
Tanya, raise your chair, or put an extra cushion on it, so you are higher than usual. This might help, but your feathers are super. As is all the other design. Lovely. Cheers from Jean.p.s. do you have the quilters' cotton gloves with sticky bobble dots on the fingers and palm? They help such a lot too.
It's no dream - you ARE a machine quilter and a very, very good one at that!!
You do beautiful machine quilting. You've been given some suggestions to help with the achy muscles and they all sound good. Please try them, they might help. Thanks for sharing.
cindy
Me thinks thou dost complain about thy self tooooo much...you do fantastic feathers, my friend!!!! Hugs, Pat in IN
Look into the Handi Quilter Sweet 16 sit down machine. Its foot print in my living room is 36"X30" and can extend to 72" when the table leaves are up. It has lots of room to wrestle the quilt in the harp of the machine. I bought it because of my sore joints and have not regretted a single penny. A dream! You are a great quilter, just one whose joints are not as young as they used to be.
Annick
Tanya your feathers are beautiful! I totally understand the sore arms, etc. I have found a place in my town where I can rent time on a long arm machine, Sparrow Studioz. It's a whole new learning process--the difference between writing on a desk and driving a car!! I'll still do smaller quilts on my home machine, but the larger quilts are definitely more fun on the frame! Hang in there!!
Lurking Linda
Well, your machine quilting looks wonderful, so don't give up. Perhaps you should rethink HOW you quilt, chair height, machine position, whether you have enough tables/ironing boards/chairs around you to take the weight of the quilt.
Tanya, try turning your sewing machine perpendicular to you -- that is, put the machine head facing you (with needle in front). This mimics the long-arm idea of putting the open area (harp) away from you. That way, the size of the quilt is not unmanageable and you use that harp space more efficiently. I believe it also helps with controlling the bulk.
How pretty!! It's turning out very striking. I hope you find a way to minimize the stiffness!
Don't you dare give up! The easiest change would be to do it more frequently, but for less time. You do amazing, beautiful domestic machine quilting! My goal is to some day be able to quilt as well as you.
It looks fabulous! You don't need to give up your dream, just do it in smaller spurts of time!
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