Originally Posted by roselady
You have brought up a subject that I have been thinking about alot lately. I have hand quilted everything I've done until ayear ago when my son got married and I knew I wouldn't be able to get a hand quilted quilt made in time, I am very slow. I designed a rather intricate quilt, with both hand applique and machine pieced. It was my first time to send a quilt out to be quilted. I was very disappointed in the quilting- not the long arm quilter, but in what I asked her to do. I knew that she was fairly new at quilting, but I knew I really couldn't afford what others cost. I have since had her do two more quilts which I have been much more pleased with, I knew a little more, so I could ask more for what I wanted. But, I still am not really happy with the quilting. I can't afford to pay for custom quilting of my quilts, and hand quilting takes me so long, unless it is very basic. I just feel so sad, I guess, that I have this pretty great quilt (forgive me for tooting my own horn) and I feel like the quilting of them has dropped them down a level. I have a 24 year old Bernina and only recently discovered that it has the capability of quilting, the feed dogs drop, and I do have a darning foot. I made a practise "quilt" and gave it a try....I couldn't even follow a line!!! Wow, was that a shock. Anyway I feel like I have soooo far to go before I could even consider machine quilting anything small, and something large seems impossible right now. My guild has a show coming next June and when I think about putting these recent quilts in it, I'm kind of embarrassed about the quilting.
Keep at it, it will improve! When I first started, mine was horrible. All I could do was laugh at it. But after awhile, you look at your practice sandwiches and notice that the stitching is more consistent, shapes are much more like what they should be and the "eyelashes" are gone from the back. I can now comfortably flip it over and sew around shapes on the back without worrying how the front will look. They say if you practice 10 minutes a day, your skill will improve immensely. I can't do that because I don't have a dedicated sewing room. But, I still practice before every quilt. You'll get there! :)