Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

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  • SuzanneOrleansOntario
    Senior Member
    Missouri Star
    • Aug 2015
    • 9014

    #16
    Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

    I have sent some King size to LAQ, not just because of size but lack of time to do it myself. I also have a Sweet 16 and use this for the majority of my quilts. I have also rented a HQ Amara to quilt about 6-7 queen-King size quilts in the past few years.
    Enjoy life and do what makes you happy. Everything else will follow.

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    • MSN
      Senior Member
      Missouri Star
      • Jan 2017
      • 1837

      #17
      Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

      I enjoy piecing more than quilting, but probably in part because I am more comfortable with it. I am also a perfectionist, and am not happy with my FMQing. I realize that to improve those skills, I will have to practice a LOT. I figure when I retire, I can set a goal of trying to FMQ regularly. I have a nice machine with a large throat, and recently got a smaller machine. I can now leave the larger one set up for FMQing or embroidery, and use the smaller one for piecing. Right now, that means in two different rooms on different floors. Perhaps someday I will have a studio large enough to accommodate everything in one place. Until then, I am happy to support my local LA quilters. Realistically, I will probably continue to use them for large quilts, especially if I have invested a lot of time constructing the top. I want the quilting to be worthy of the effort put into the quilt top.

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      • Old Newbie
        Senior Member
        The Guild President
        • Jan 2015
        • 751

        #18
        Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

        I quilt all my baby quilts, and enjoy the creation. I send to M * anything over 55 inches. It is a wonderful day when my quilts come back, because they are quilted so beautifully. So I am happy in both ways.

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        • Monique
          Senior Member
          Missouri Star
          • Jan 2011
          • 19412

          #19
          Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

          I don't have the $$ to send it out to someone, so I hand quilt all my quilts but will machine quilt small projects like table runners and such.
          Blessed are the children of the piecemakers for they shall inherit the quilts!

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          • AMG
            Senior Member
            The Guild President
            • Apr 2015
            • 610

            #20
            Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

            I love all the parts of making a quilt except sandwiching. I'd love to try doing more creative pieced backing but keeping that thing straight is so hard (I just made a baby quilt with a vertical strip of piecing and it took forver!)

            My FMQ skills have gotten better, especially once I was able to let go of perfection lol. On the same baby quilt, I made "swirl flowers" and I was tickled at how well I did (comparatively speaking, lol). If I had the budget, I'd buy a long armmachine but I have a kid in college so my discretionary income has mostly disappeared!

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            • jjkaiser
              Senior Member
              Missouri Star
              • Oct 2013
              • 9619

              #21
              Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

              I hand quilt all mine and have never sent one out. I dislike piecing and sometimes I wish I could send that part out!!
              Jocelyn
              South Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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              • Preeti
                Senior Member
                Missouri Star
                • Jan 2014
                • 2572

                #22
                Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

                I do it myself on my Elna. It has 11" to the right of the needle and I can quilt queen size quilts easily.
                I do not FMQ, just walking foot.
                Preeti
                http://sewpreetiquilts.blogspot.com/

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                • JCY
                  Senior Member
                  Missouri Star
                  • Jul 2013
                  • 13962

                  #23
                  Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

                  Early in my quilting journey, I realized how expensive it was going to be to send out my quilts to a LAer. So I read several books, took FMQ classes (in person & on line), watched YT videos, & learned to quilt it myself. A few yrs. ago I purchased a Baby Lock Tiara II table LA, which I've put to good use. I still send out large quilts, which are very few. Most of the quilts I make are crib size or a large lap size. These are manageable. I've had problems this year with carpal tunnel, so my quilting was on hold for a while. Once the cold weather comes, I hope to have more time for piecing & quilting. My least favorite part of the process is hand sewing on the label.

                  I follow several blogs in order to see how others quilt their quilts. I've gotten a lot of ideas from Kathy Schwartz (Tamarack Shack) and Tracey Russell's videos on YT.
                  Last edited by JCY; October 21, 2019, 04:19 PM.

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                  • grammaterry
                    Senior Member
                    Missouri Star
                    • Dec 2015
                    • 12071

                    #24
                    Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

                    My first quilts (blankets would be a better term) were pieced from scraps of garment fabrics and filled with holey blankets and tied. Then, I made a pattern quilt from left overs and hand quilted it. Then I hand pieced a grandmothers flower garden and hand quilted it. Then, I got a big hand quilting frame and made several quilts with simple patterns and hand quilted them. The last quilt I hand quilted was a hunters star and I gave it as a wedding gift. About that time, I discovered Jenny and became fascinated with precuts. Dreamed of sending a quilt to be quilted. Checked out the cost...not in my budget.
                    Then, I discovered the need for the Shriner children and I started sewing like a mad woman and I knew I couldn't hand quilt them so I watched videos on FMQ. That was 4 years ago. Those of you who have watched my pride going crazy see that I really had low expectations but high motivation. I practiced on those donation quilts. I have made or finished over 500 quilts in these past 4 years. I have worn out 3 brand new Husqvarna machines. I have a one year old topaz 50 that I just got back from the shop from a cleaning and will try my best to make it last. I have tried embroidering the quilting, fmq, hand quilting and tying.
                    I no longer have dreams of sending out my quilts to a LA because I am so proud that I am able to make something start to finish and I am proud that the quality of my work seems to get somewhat better each time.
                    Sure, I'd be thrilled to produce a perfect quilt...but it isn't important to me to have someone believe that I did it when I didn't.
                    I look at commercially for sale quilts (usually imported) and think they are pretty. Do I want to own one ? No.
                    I just got back from renting a beach house. The beds all had quilts on them and there was a wall hanging quilted piece on the wall and some matching pillows. They were pretty. They looked nice. But....I would have thought they were grand had the owner made them and shared them with the house. They were obviously designer imports from fabrics that didn't have the wonderful feel of moda or Michael miller or Robert Kaufman fabrics. How lucky we as quilters are, to have these wonderful products to work with.
                    BTW, on the way to the beach, the cotton was being picked and some was blown onto the side of the road. I made DH stop and get me some. I petted it. I prayed that the farmer was making a good living.
                    success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiam
                    Terry of NC

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                    • sewingsince9
                      Junior Member
                      Shiny Thimble
                      • Oct 2019
                      • 3

                      #25
                      Re: Sending Out a Quilt Top to be Finished or DIY?

                      I guess I am the opposite of most, a hate the piecing process, but love bringing the layers to life by hand. I suppose some might call this a glutton for punishment. All those hours make me appreciate the process more.

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