My 91 yr old mom was a quilter, but an old fashioned type who hand pieced and quilted generally utilitarian type quilts that we used to keep warm. She made a few quilt tops in the late 60's and 70's and gave a couple to each of us. She was frugal and the material isn't the best. I had one quilted by a long arm quilter this past year. It still needs a binding because I need to experiment with tea dying to get the right match for color. I didn't feel bad about having it machine done because I like it a lot, but it's not my favorite one.

The other is a top I really like. It's just small 3" yellow and white squares, but looks like spring. The material is not top quality and one of fabrics tends to ravel. My mom made these to be pretty, but she wasn't really accomplished and some of the seams won't lie flat. I still love it because my mom made it but I haven't figured out how to finish it. I feel a little bad about taking a hand pieced quilt top to have it machine quilted.

What do you think? Here are my choices.

1. Have it finished by the local long arm quilter. My mom has been amazed by her quilting on tops I've made for her.

2. Try to find a hand quilter to finish it. I thought I'd found one last year, but I became concerned about her memory after a couple conversations with her. I'm also not sure the quilt is worth that very expensive investment. My mom thought the price way too high, though understood it from a time used point of view.

3. Learn to hand quilt and finish it myself. I've thought about it, but it'll take forever and I don't know if I'd ever finish it.

What do you think?