Nearing the Finish

I know I have mentioned that DH has been making a quilt frame that I can use my machine on.  He has been working on it for months, he designed it after attending quilt shows, looking at the different frames online.

She's a big girl almost 12 foot long!

All of the parts were repurposed from items he located in the dumpster at work.  As I was making leaders, and he helped me put the first one on I was saying how I thought it may be difficult to pin the leader on the take up.  Also that the handles were a little short and kind of hard to reach.

Yesterday DH showed up with a new design feature.  He created a new rack which will put the rod that holds the quilt top down about 8 inches and in about 5 inches.

See that arm jutting down that will be the rod for the quilt top.

I created my leaders out of "Utility" fabric which reminds me of unbleached muslin but with a duck cloth weight.

Here you can see part of my leaders laying over the poles.  DH will help me load them on either tonight or tomorrow.

I also was looking for some clamps which would be attached to bungee cords to keep the quilt taut from side to side. DH produced these for me  yesterday.

Yeah those clamps take me 2 hands to open and close and beware getting your finger caught in there!

Finally DH was not happy with the fact that the batting would be laying on the floor so he created a cradle to hold it.

Not many quilts can say they have a diamond plate cradle to hold their batting off the floor!

And to top it all off my backing fabrics arrived today!

I am sew excited.  I have a few days off from work and I can't wait to load something on this baby and take her for a spin!