Quilting "pebbles" & sore arms....

[Betty J.]

I'm quilting some tiny "pebbles" (touching, sometimes overlapping, circles) into a small wall hanging, and it's going really well except for one thing: I can only quilt for about 20 mins at a time (which is not making a lot of progress as the pebbles are so small) before my arm starts to hurt.

I quilt on a domestic machine, with a Sew Steady expansion table. My wrists are raised -- if I raise my seat so my arms are level/not raised, would that help? I think it's more from the repetitive movement of guiding the quilt in such tiny movements, and it's more my left arm than my right for some reason....any ideas?? Either for a way to avoid the arm pain, or treat the arm pain?

Of course I'm on a deadline for this quilt, so trying to pace myself and still finish on time means I may be inclined to push myself when I shouldn't. :sigh:

Off to take some ibuprofen for now, stop and rest, come back to this later.....this quilt just may have to be done in 20 min increments.....uch:

Appreciate any tips if anyone has some. Thanks, friends!

[Kathryn S.]

Heather, pebbling is hard on the hands for sure. Especially smallish circles; it's not like stippling because the amount of quilting you are doing is actually greater, due to closing the loop with each circle. Stretching and rest will help, not sure if any arm position etc will help. i did one quilt with all pebbling and it turned out pretty wavy, like a potato chip to be truthful. the pattern does look wonderful though! Kathy

[Renata L.]

Heather, having my seat raised and arms level, makes a huge difference for me. In order to raise my chair sufficiently to be comfortable with arms and hands resting on the extension table, I've had to put my presser foot on a low storage box so that my legs would remain at a comfortable height and not trying to stretch too much to reach the foot pedal...

[Renata L.]

Heather,

Make sure your arms and hands are at 90 degrees from elbow - sounds like your hands are not straight out. Using a glider sheet on the bed of your machine also helps the fabric slide more easily and not cause some drag which one tries to control with left arm and hand, sometimes causing a bit if stress. Good luck finishing this project.

Jeanine

[Renata L.]

Thank you everyone!

Kathy, it's a very small wall hanging (20" x 20") and I'll be doing the pebbles in segments staggered across the quilt, so I *think* that will keep it from getting all ripply. Good to know for the future though!

Renata & Jeanine, I will try raising my chair so I've got my arms positioned correctly. I'll keep in mind the tip to raise my foot pedal as needed, too; good point! And I will see if I can get a slider or make-shift slider sheet. Luckily it's small, so that helps reduce drag.

May just have to quilt...rest....quilt...rest.....until it's done, which will be okay. This isn't for the entire quilt, but the bulk of it, but again, luckily it's small. (it's for my Cherrywood Van Gogh Challenge piece......deadline Aug 1).

Thanks for the tips, ladies!

[Renata L.]

The raised chair is helping! DH reminded me we actually *have* taller chairs so I didn't even have to figure out a way to accomplish that, LOL!

Still got a little sore, but a quick break and I"m ready to go on to the next section. Yay!

[Marianne G.]

Heather, according to my physio you should never do an activity that is putting strain only on a select area for more than 20 min at a time. Then you need to get up and stretch, have a walk around before you get down to business again. I set my alarm to 20 min and following this rule as well as doing some stretch exercises every day I can now FMQ, cut with a rotary cutter (only small projects for 5 min at a time) and sew a whole day if I desire to do so. I was always a "keep going till I am finished" person but not anymore.
Do you use something that grips the fabric like gloves, a halo shelf liner, Marigold finger tips to relax your hands? It really should only be your finger tips that rotate the quilt for the pebbles. It is not like you have a huge quilt to struggle with. I am sure that after some practising you will be more relaxed. A deadline is of course never nice to have.
Hope you can get it done in small bites. Best luck
M

[Marianne G.]

Those are good tips, Marianne, thank you!

Yes, as I practice, I'm moving my arms less. I think it's partly the traveling aspect, moving the quilt forward/back/around, etc. But yes, I do 1 section which takes about 20 mins, then do something else for a bit, then come back to it, and it's going so much better that way (plus with the chair the right height).

Oh, and I use Machingers gloves, but I still have to make myself relax my hands/shoulders; I think this will improve with practice. I hope!