Lizzie

The frame for the Tin Lizzie did indeed arrive on Friday morning. It was shipped in two cartons totaling over 100 pounds; so I slid each box down into the basement over carpeted steps, then dragged the boxes into my sewing room.


The frame is made of 13-ply cabinet-grade baltic birch wood, which is a dense, heavy, high-strength wood. Every piece was sanded very smooth, and all the edges are rounded--really a very nice frame. There were so many pieces to put together that I thought I'd label them so I wouldn't get confused.


The directions in the manual are well written and the diagrams are great; but there were a few errors in the instructions. Nothing that I couldn't figure out easily enough though. In fact, I got all the way to Step 2 before I came to a standstill. I just didn't have quite enough strength to turn the wood screws in all the way for the metal braces on the legs. By the time my hsuband got home from work and we got supper out of the way, it was too late to continue; so we decided to get up early Saturday morning and make a fresh start.


I read on the Tin Lizzie list that someone had gotten her frame together in two and a half hours, but I have no idea how she managed it. It took more than double the time for two of us to finally get her together, but we persevered, and here she is.













Looks pretty good, but there's a problem with the leaders, which I'll have to address with the vendor before I can load a quilt onto the frame. A longarm quilter with a discerning eye may be able to identify the problem in this photo.

I am going to try to figure out a way to temporarily attach a small quilt sandwich to the leaders to at least try out the sewing machine and make sure it works. I also want to be fully armed when I make my way to the Tin Lizzie booth in Lancaster--with questions, comments--and one of those cloth leaders.