Being without apparent weight... obviously this isn't about me.  Or this nice-looking young man.

Eye candy.  Search "weightless Nasa" and this is one of the pictures.

Search "The Weightless Quilter" and you get something else.  A seriously cool gadget-tool-intention - I'm not sure what to call it.  It's a frame.

This is it - it's a standing frame that is designed to support the weight of your quilt while you're machine-quilting.  If you have ever machine-quilted a quilt larger than a mug-rug, you know that maneuvering the quilt while stitching is the most challenging aspect of the task.  It's not the size of it, it's the weight of it.  Most machine-quilters who do a lot of quilting have large table set-ups that allows the quilt to be supported at all times.  It takes a fair amount of space - and the weight of the quilt still makes movement less than easily done.

What if you could "lift" the quilt so that it was essentially hanging free while you were quilting?

Enter "The Weightless Quilter".

I'll say it - it looks kind of odd.  It's a bit funny when it starts moving with the quilt - I kept picturing the Karate Kid movie and that Flying Crane move.

But it works - really, really well.  (Rumor has it that uber-quilter Becky Goldsmith is a long-time user, as is another very accomplished quilter, Joanie Zeier Poole.)

I tried to get a picture of it in action in the United Notions booth at Quilt Market but there were always too many people in the way.  (Seriously, folks don't care that I'm "working".  Someone actually teased that she'd move if I'd give her five minutes alone in the Sample Room.  Like Chelair wouldn't know.)

If you're wondering whether I'm going to actually machine-quilt something large enough to need this... the answer is "probably".  I'm finishing a quilt and I know exactly how I wanted it machine-quilted, and since straight-line quilting is not something easily done on a longarm machine, I am leaning toward quilting it myself.  I do know how - and I have done it before.  (A very long time ago in a galaxy far away...)

What appeals to me is that it will fit easily in the bedroom where I sew.  It assembles - and comes apart - in just a few minutes without any tools.  It's constructed of poles that come in different strengths for different weight-size quilts, and it weighs less than 10 pounds when it's put together.

That's if for today - Tuesday.

I'm off to finish a quilt... or something like that.