Miles & Miles of Cross Hatching!

It's taken me two weeks but I've completed another row of quilting. Most of this row was cross hatching and it got rather boring. Thankfully there are plenty of movies for me to watch on my Ipad. I subscribe to Acorn TV.

First to be quilted was the right side feathers design.

See, like I said, miles and miles of cross hatching!

Finally, I was able to quilt the left side feathers.

When I'm quilting cross hatching, I like to have a lot of needles going at a time. I stitch down diagonally then up diagonally. I put a pin on the top of where the row of needles ends so I know how much I've quilted at a time. This doesn't work for everyone but it works for me. I need to keep the thread toward the back so they don't get tangled.

The last time I posted about Welsh Beauty, someone asked me about my quilting frame so here are some photos.

My frame is a Grace hand quilting frame. I don't believe the hand quilting frame is available anymore. I purchased my frame from the resale table at the Jane Stickle quilt retreat many years ago. I am the 3rd owner of the frame but I am the first person to actually use it. The two former owners never took the parts and pieces out of the box.

I have 4 rollers on my frame, the very front which has all 3 quilted layers rolling onto it. The top roller holds the quilt top. You can see that in the picture.

Some frames don't have a roller for the batting. I wouldn't like that, I don't want the batting dragging on the floor. This way I'm able to vacuum under the frame.

The back roller holds the batting and covers the backing fabric roller. 

On the sides of the frame are gears which I turn to move the quilt forward. The gears have stops which I need to pull up to loosen the quilt. There are clamps which don't show, they're under the batting along the edge where I basted. The clamps are attached to elastic cords which pull the edges of the quilt tight.

After I've rolled, I baste the outside edge of the quilt top. I use a larger needle for this. When I've basted the inches I need to baste, I make a knot but don't cut the thread. This way it's ready to go the next time I need to baste.

After I've basted, I trim the batting to the edge of the quilt. When I put the quilt in the frame, I always leave plenty of batting to trim. That's just the way I do, you don't have to if you don't want to, I'm just cautious.

Did you notice the double blue line in the upper photo? The outside basted area will be cut off when I trim the quilt after it's quilted and out of the frame. I've started quilting the next row. I place my knot in between those lines. When I trim, I'll cut on the outside line. The section in between the lines will be covered by binding.

Like I said in the title, more miles and miles of cross hatching! What you can't see in the picture is in the very middle of the quilt top, on the left hand side, is the very start of the center quilting design. I have to quilt and roll two times before I reach there. Miles and miles of cross hatching indeed.

Here is my set up. This chair is my quilting chair, it's just the correct height. I have an Ott light that shines on the quilt while I'm quilting. I always cover my quilt with this cloth when I'm not quilting. This cloth protects it from sun light or any dust or anything else. The day I took this photo was a gloomy, gray, rainy day. But when the sun shines, this room is flooded with bright light from the south. There is also a large window behind my frame in the wall right behind my quilting frame. I normally keep the blind down on the west window but not all the way.

For something different I decided to show you my Christmas Cactus, or more correctly, Thanksgiving cactus. It will bloom a 2nd time later in the winter.

Here is the first post I wrote about Welsh Beauty. It covers information about batting, thread and other things of interest about whole cloth quilts.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away