Monday, April 2, 2018

A blessed Easter!

 I am sewing rows together, for this quilt, the Batik rail fence.  This was made entirely of scraps, except the white pieces.  It is so pretty and bright...I love that, and hope it will cheer up a patient someday.
 A few more stars...these are for the Sweet Land of Liberty quilt; for the border.
 A few more bow tie blocks sewn...I am trying for 5 a night.  Which takes about 10 minutes!  So, no excuses for me!
 Some gorgeous stars from my friend Randy!!  See her blog here:
www.barristersblock.blogspot.com
 My new ironing board cover!  I was going to make one, but I found this one at Walmart for less than $10.00...so I went with it.  Want to see the old one?  Brace yourself!!

















Gross, huh?  I made this one out of an old sheet.  It was so yucky that I mostly kept it covered by a towel and ironed on that...time for a new one!!!!



Question for you:

Are you a hand quilter, or a machine quilter?  Quilt by check book or do it all yourself?  Thank you for your answers in advance!!








Have a great day, each of you!!!


Julie

28 comments:

Lori said...

Fun blocks!
I quilt by hand and machine, I do my own and send out. If the quilt is too big I prefer to send it out cause I won't do a good job.
I've always sent quilts out to be basted!

Dolly said...

Mostly hand-quilted until about 10 years ago. Now at 60, and for the last 10 years, I mostly machine-quilt, saving hand-quilting for very special occasions. I machine-quilt on my old cabinet-model Singer black-head machine mostly.........usually a medium size meandering. When I want a wiggly serpentine design, I break out the Baby Lock Melody machine. I rarely quilt anything bigger than a generous couch/twin-size on the machines.

Kleine Vingers said...

I only hand quilt, I want to try machine quilt but haven't. I only have a sewing machine with little room to fit a quilt so do not know if it can work.

Quilting Babcia said...

I have an ironing board cover looking even worse than your old one, sigh! Need to get to Walmart and find another one. I hand quilt the 'special' quilts and machine quilt the others on my Janome. Have never sent one out to be quilted, and hope that I'll never have to, could hardly afford to do so on retirement income. I especially love the relaxation of hand quilting and the softness it gives to the quilt.

ThreadCatcher said...

I like your batik rails, the colors are so vibrant. I machine quilt my quilts; mostly straight line variations on my Janome. I've dabbled with FMQ but only on small things.

Quilter Kathy said...

Those ironing board covers do take a beating at a quilter's house!
I hand and machine quilt and enjoy the benefits of both.
Twice I have paid for long arm quilting for really big quilts, but prefer to do the quilting myself.

Rose Marie said...

I can see that you are having fun with all those projects! For quilting, I do both these days .... myself and send out. Your new cover looks good and yep, the old one was gross! LOL

Vic in NH said...

Three cheers for the new ironing board cover! The rail fence is coming out fabulous, too!

Angie said...

I've done some of each, prefer to hand quilt, but due to time constraints - more often I quilt by check since most of my quilts are bigger and gifts that have a deadline.

Sherrill said...

Check none of the above! HA I've always sent mine out to my longarm quilter. I've taken a couple of machine quilting classes but then was never brave enough to ruin a quilt I've worked so hard on. Never really wanted to make the sandwich anyway. LOL

Anonymous said...

I like your idea of working on several quilts at once. I should cut out some pieces so I can sit and sew on the different blocks at the same time. As for how I get my tops to a finished stage, I have machine quilts a couple, some I've sent out to be quilted (by check) and the one group ties them for charity. Thanks for sharing.

Loris said...

Happy Easter, Julie! Fun projects you have going. I love those stars too! I quilt by machine and was blessed years ago to get a longarm to make it easier :-) Except for big stitches on small wall hangings, I have never got the hang of hand quilting though I love the look of it.

dianne said...

i have decided to stop beating up on myself because my own quilting never did get better than mediocre, and just pay the Wizard ... which, i guess, makes me a piecer and not a quilter ... yeah, i'm okay with that...

Tired Teacher said...

Hmm, I quilt mostly by checkbook, except for small projects (runners & baby quilts. Thankfully, the QOV I make are quilted by a volunteer.

Carolyn said...

I do both. I hand quilt special quilts for those who are worthy :) I have a longarm from my days as a professional quilter and most go on that to be quilted. Although very little has been finished in the 6 years since I wound up with postherpetic neuralgia and trigeminal neuralgia after my first bout of shingles, and PHN on most of the left side of my body in the half a dozen or so bouts of shingles I've had since. Once I get home from work, I'm usually in too much pain to do much of anything! Love your rail quilt!

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

I only hand quilt and I also don't use any kind of hoop or frame--
just in my hand--just finished one last month that took me nearly 34 hours to hand quilt--
( this year I have a little timer and little note book to keep track of each days hand quilting!!) In the 15 plus years I have quilted I have only had 2 quilts long armed quilted!
love your blog=
enjoy, di

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

I used to hand quilt everything, but, I got burned out on a large quilt. Now I only hand quilt small things. I machine quilt (straight or wavy lines only) smaller projects, and I quilt by checkbook large quilts.

loulee said...

Love your current projects.
I quilt it all by myself, by machine, with the walking foot, free motion and on a frame with a mid arm.

Sue SA said...

I mostly machine quilt, but recent continuous shoulder and arm pain has stopped me wanting to quilt anything bigger then a mini. So looks like I will be paying my good friend (who has a long arm) to do all my quilting for me. It will be cheaper to pay her then pay the physio for multiple visits!

Material Girl said...

I quilt my own quilts mostly by machine. I did big-stitch one and may do more. A few years ago, I made a very special quilt, I was careful to make every point perfect and I DID APPLIQUÉ. For the first and last time. I had it machine quilted. The center was lovely but she did little feathers and curlicues around my appliqué and an awful fat feather in the border. My quilt was ruined! That was the last time I sent out a quilt. I have at least 10 tops in my closet. I like simple quilting so will either big stitch the rest or do simple lines and serpentine stitches.....

AnnieO said...

Your rails are pretty! Love the piecing variety you’re working on. My ironing board cover looks pretty hideous too, and it’s not that old!
I do my own quilting by machine. I’ve occasionally hand quilted a small quilt. I’ve paid for quilting about 4 times, when quilts were too big and when I wanted custom quilting I felt too tedious to do myself!

Lane said...

I think a quilters have an ironing board cover like your old one. I hand and machine quilt and quilt all my own quilts. I know many qualified professional quilters I could hire. But I still do it all myself. I enjoyed reading the other comments. Thanks!

jude's page said...

The needle and I don't have a good relationship, and my one experience hand quilting a small project has not led to anymore. I quilted a few quilts on my domestic years ago, and this led me to purchasing a longarm, which makes the job much easier. But of course, I had to quilt other peoples quilts to pay it off, and they pay me, so my quilts are at the bottom of the list!!

Jan said...

I piece the quilts and fix up the backing and bind. My dear hubby has a Handiquilter Fusion 24 computerized quilt machine. This is his part-=time job after retirement. So he quilts all my quilts. He is very good at it. (I'm just a little prejudiced .) I don't hand quilt because my old hands can't do it! I sure enjoy your quilts!

QuiltGranma said...

if it is a small quilt, FOR ME, then I hand quilt it. If gifting a small quilt I may machine quilt it. Large quilts are done by check, however hubby's mom made us one, that I have started hand quilting, FOR US! Since so many in the "outside world" do not understand the time and pain that goes into hand quilting, by me, they will not get one done that way. They do not even understand that I have not made a bed sized quilt in years, and think that I'll just whip one out for them today... so unrealistic. Feeling UNDER appreciated at this time.

Debbie J said...

Some of both. There's just something special about a hand quilted quilt. But, I love machine quilting too especially since I learned how to do free motion. Well..... I love any kind of quilting. Planning to tie a baby quilt soon too. I never paid anybody to quilt a quilt for me, but I thought about it. Those people who have the long arms do a beautiful job.

Ruth said...

I quilt everything - even king size - on my Janome 6600. I started learning how to free motion quilt from seeing blogs about it and then some blog challenges, watching you tube, etc. Before I retired, I usually sent out for quilting, but I didn't think I would be able to afford it after I retired, so I decided to do it all myself and I enjoy doing it all. My fingers go numb when I do a lot of hand work, so I have to pace myself and I didnt really enjoy hand quilting that much anyway.

cocoya said...

I quilt it all by myself, by machine, with the walking foot, free motion and on a frame with a mid arm.
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