Rubesgirl

This may seem kind of silly, but I have several quilt tops that I have made in the past couple years and I don't know what to do with them. I do not do the quilting myself and my LAQer charges (as she should). I have given away many that I have finished to friends, family and neighbors. I have actually only kept a couple for myself and I have nearly run out of folks to give to. I only make tops that I like unless I'm giving it for some special occasion. I love making them, I love fabrics and different patterns, but it's getting expensive to finish them and with my DH retiring Jan. 1, I am trying to watch what is spent. I guess what I'm asking is, what do you do with all the tops that don't get quilted?

MartiMorga

I think you should try finishing - buy a backing and some batting and do some crazy free motion quilting.

quiltingloulou

Oh yes, please try and finish some of them. Such a shame to leave them unquilted.

pdcakm

i, too, love the process of making tops and have several that need to be made into quilts. some are class experiments and some are block of the month, some are just fabrics that said they needed to be quilts. after completing the ones i give or use i have to find a home for the others.

there are many organizations that would love to have these quilts. the local quilt shop probably knows of some. most local guilds will have community outreach programs that they donate to. they would take your completed tops and finish them for donation. just check online for quilt guilds in your area.

yel

see if your long arm person will quilt for a top or two ....i have a gal that i swap work with ....

dunster

I agree with yel that you may be able to swap quilting for tops. You might also be able to sell some of them on eBay or Etsy, or occasionally to other quilters through a guild. You might also consider quilting them yourself. I used Marti Michell's book Machine Quilting in Sections to quilt several very large quilts on my Bernina before I got a longarm. There are several different methods to quilt in sections, and it's a new skill that you might enjoy.

Neesie

I always finish mine, myself. With Warm & White/Natural batting and Elmer's School Glue, it's unbelievably easy. I just do simple straight-line quilting and use Sharon Schamber's method of binding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hWQ5-ZccE Seriously, it isn't at all hard to do.

willferg

You can just do the birthing method and tie them with yarn, if it comes down to that. You don't have to send every quilt out to a longarm quilter. If I had to that, I wouldn't be a quilter!

NJ Quilter

I have some tops as well that are primarily sampler quilts from BOM's at my LQS. Not really my style. Normally I hand quilt. It finally occurred to me a while back that I could bite the bullet and machine quilt them and donate them. I do the BOM's to perfect techniques and learn new ones. And it's a pretty cheap way to do. It took me a while to realize though that I don't need to keep these or gift them to family/friends if I don't like them. There are plenty of other people in the world that would love them.

Now, to just go DO IT!

raedar63

I often knot mine , I have never been able to afford to send out to a longarmer . Most of my quilts are scrappy though.