quiltingjoyful51

Hi everyone.  I love how fast, ideas discussed by quilters become a commercial product!  I just received my Nancy Notions catalog and low and behold, what did I see in it as a product?  Something called an "ironing cradle" which could also be used under your frame to keep your fabric, quilt, etc., off the floor.  It's only a max of 65in for now but give them time.  It looks like a long foldable laundry frame, with "heavyweight plastic" for the cradle.  It's on sale for $79, gotta love it!  PS: I'm not saying I invented this gizmo but saw and heard others talking about a cradle to keep your quilts off the floor on here many times. 

I have the same set up as Lisa C  as I rent my machine and many customers have zippers. 

I have the same set up as Lisa C  as I rent my machine and many customers have zippers. 

I use both Red Snappers and Zippers. I use RS for quick quilts; and zippers for long term quilts I may want to remove in order to quilt a different quilt. The zippers are sewn onto the leaders which are already attached to the frame. I created another "leader that is the length of my current leaders (12' frame)  but is about 8" to 10" wide. I have zippers on one side and then sewed the casing on the other which the Red Snapper fits into. This allows me to not have the pressure to finish quilts I want to spend a lot of time on just to quickly quilt another that may have come up on the spur of the moment. (Sometimes the custom quilt quits speaking to me and I have to put it away until I come up with a plan, LOL)
 
Oma is correct that the Red Snapper on the roller where you pin the top of the backing to does take up a little bit of space and can cause the back your machine to catch - My Mille's extra box for the bobbin winder hits it. I don't quilt for others and create my backs just a little bit longer in order to roll that RS behind the bar where it is out of the way.
 
I use safety pins on my zippers; those work the best for me especially if I am taking them on and off the frame.
 
Think about what kind of quilting you are going to do and if you think you might do some custom quilting you may want to invest in both systems at some time. I am very glad I did.
 
2014-05-13 19.08.47 by Lisa C., on Flickr

I charge $25 per shirt.
Diane

I charge 300.00 for a 12 shirt quilt with sashing and batting and flannel backing 

Hi Everyone.
 
It's been awhile since I've popped in here to share anything, but I've been working on my studio to update it with better lighting and a ceiling and cleaner look. There were many times I searched the forum on ideas for lighting. My situation is that I'm in a basement with no windows and low ceilings. Thank you for all your help.
 
Loaded with ideas about fluorescent tube lighting, Deloa's lighting system, track lighting, pot lights, etc., I finally decided on pot lights that could be set in between the rafters, thus allowing the drop ceiling to remain as high as possible. We put lots of pot lights in - 29 to be exact. There are 4 BR30's in the main part of the room and 4 above the table providing good all over light. Then there is a row of 4 GU10's on either side of the table pointing towards the table. The row of pot lights above the table and the 2 rows of GU10's on either side are on their own sets of dimmer switches (3 dimmer switches - one for each row) allowing me to control where the light is coming from depending on which side of the table I'm working at and what type of quilting I'm doing.
 
I'm working on my first quilt with the new set up today!
 
You can see the pictures of the progress of my studio from 2005 to current here.