handquilting is not dead!!!!!!When I first started quilting, I handquilted the tops I pieced, but at the time working full time limited my quilting time to about an hour an evening, which was my "clearing of the mind" time........but then found I was piecing faster than I could possibly hand quilt all those tops, so tried using dm to machine quilt....too hard, sent out to a LA, looked into purchasing one and did, took early retirement from academia, and set up "shop". It is true, LA can take up much of your personal quilting time and become a full time business and then it is not doing what you love anymore-at least with me. I limit my "working" time to 4 hrs, 4 days a week, and that gives me time to "play"....I still have many of my own tops to quilt...and was thinking last week of maybe taking one and putting on my handquilting frame and spend the winter nights handquilting. This thread has certainly reinforced that thought...so that will be my personal Winter Project.......actually love the rhythm(sp) of handquilting.......thanks for the push.........