I've been framed

Well, I've taken possession of the Hinterberg Stretch Frame, and I woke up ready to try to get it all together.

But, probably like most other home frame system users, I realized that there's a fair amount of preparation to do before I can get it all going. So, despite my excitement and eagerness to see the thing actually standing assembled, I decided to be patient and do it right.

The frame came with 10' poles all prepared with "leaders," or the fabric pieces to which you pin your quilt top and back so you can roll them around the poles as your quilting progresses. And that's great, in case I ever want to quilt a really huge quilt.

But it's amazing how big 10 foot poles look when they're lying on the floor in the dining room. They're -- well, you know, TEN FEET LONG. That's like two people tall, depending on the people! So, I decided that it'd make way more sense for me to buy a set of shorter poles (and I've settled on 7 feet) which will still be big enough to quilt most things, but three feet smaller will mean I can set it up in the bedroom without it taking up the whole width of the room. (Roger's incredibly tolerant, but I don't think he'll want to crawl under the frame to get to the bed every night.)

But you know, now when I hear that expression "I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole" I'll actually know what that is. And I'll have the poles not to touch things with.

I've found two incredibly instructive yahoo groups (one for Hinterberg products and one for home quilting machine systems in general) and I'm sorta overwhelmed by the vast information. Probably just as well it'll take a bit of time to get everything I need to get the frame up.

And gee, maybe I can finish a few of the kid quilt tops I have going for donation to my favorite shelter, and work on those when the frame is up...