Busy Weekend

We had another great meeting of South Carolina Girls with Longarms. We have outgrown our homes so Pat scheduled us to meet at her church. We had lots of room to spread out. Everyone could see and hear better. Plenty of space for lunch and show and ponder.

 One thing that we talked about was loading a top. I mentioned that I used this method of measurement since I discovered that the longarm tape measure stretched and got in my way. I measure from the end of the belly bar to the edge of the top, however, one thing that was suggested is that I measure to the inside border not the edge of the top. Makes more sense as this would be a more stable line.

 You can see the magnets that I use to stabilize the quilt top that I have floated. These won't work if your frame is aluminum or anyother non ferrous metal. This will work with the heavy gammill frames and I love, love, love them. You can purchase these at Harbor Freight. They are called Magnetic Holders and are 18" long.

 Vicki also talked about her new clamps and how much she liked them. These are my answer to wider clamps. You can get these paint sticks from Lowes or Home Depot for free.Use a little glue, like E 6000 or something that will bond to both surfaces.

Glue one stick to each side of the clamp and what do you know you have a wide clamp that will support the side of your quilt top nicely.






Karen gave a wonderful power point presentation of loading our quilts. We also discussed stabilization and I think we will talk more about that in the future as it seems to be a murky subject.

We had 4 new longarmers to join us yesterday. So, we are growing and that is a good thing. More ideas and a lot more experience to share. That's the name of the game-----sharing. As long as we can maintain the great 'sisterhood' that we have started then, this is a good thing.

I am already working on topics for our meeting in July. Pat is going to check with the Church and see if we can meet there again. Everyone really likes the space. Hopefully we will have even more longarmers from South Carolina visit on that day.

Also, had a great lunch with my Dental Hygiene group. We ate at Hampton Street Vinyard, which is a long time resident of Hampton Street, but, many people have forgotten it's there. The food is amazing, the parking is the pits.

New top on the frame tomorrow. Pictures later. That reminds me. Blogger had decided that I needed to buy some photo space for my blog from Picasa. Well, in order to keep from doing that, I have deleted some of the old customer quilts. If yours was one of them, I am sorry, but, I do have copies of those pictures and can send them to you at anytime.

Remember, it's time to register for Sewin' in the Summer Quilt Camp. Do it now, while it is fresh in your mind.

Have a good week,