It came!

Hi Everyone!

As some of you are aware, I had been saving for a Grace Z44 hand-quilting frame.  I wanted the Z44 because it went up to king-sized quilts.  After measuring my largest top (width is the only dimension that matters), I realized that I didn't need such a large frame, a queen-sized one would be enough.

Once I discovered this, I checked my savings and found I had more than enough set aside for the smaller EZ3 frame.  Of course, referring to it as smaller is ironic, it's actually massive!

Well, I ordered it through Amazon.  When I received my shipping notification, it had arrived at a warehouse in OH.  Then it arrived at a warehouse in IL.  Then it said it had never arrived at the OH warehouse!  The shipping company lost my order!  argh!

I had to wait a couple of days for it to be "officially" lost.  Once it was, Amazon was great about refunding my money (was refunded to my credit card the same day!).  They also offered me a free shipping upgrade if I needed it (I didn't - shipping was already free on the order).  Amazon suggested that I just reorder it if I still wanted it (duh! of course I wanted it).  When I went to reorder it, the price had dropped $5.

The "new" order arrived 2 days before I was expecting it!  Yeah!

I had to rearrange a bit in my sewing room so that I'd have enough room for the finished frame.  Once that was done, I set about assembling it.  It took me about 2 hours total.  It would have been less time, but I didn't gather the tools they said I'd need before I started working on it.  I had to rummage around hubby's shop looking for them and that took about 15-20 minutes.

After it was assembled, I had to make fabric leaders for each roller (3).  I just used some muslin that I already had - the instructions for the frame included how to make the leaders (saved money by making them myself).  In order to put my quilt on it, I had to remove the little bit of quilting I'd already done plus remove all the pins I'd used as basting.  The layers have to be separate in order to be put on the frame.

Here it is all assembled with my Bullseye quilt on it:

It's currently set up at full width of 90" (that's usable quilting width, it's probably 96"-100" wide total).  The entire top is 10 squares wide and the photo only shows a full 8 of them.

I have to tell you all, I am IN LOVE with this frame!  I did roll the quilt up so that I could start working on the bottom border.  I've already done about 1/2 way across the border.

If you want to get your own, here's a link:  (please note, it doesn't cost you more to use the link but I do earn a small commission if you buy via the link)


Happy Stitching!

Stacy