Hi, I always quilted my quilts myself, either hand quilting or tying, and I still like to hand quilt, however, when I had some quilt tops quilted, I was hooked. The quilting really made the quilt top "pop", and it was so much faster. As other people have said, bring your quilt tops to a quilt shop first. Some of the quilt tops may be very fragile, or too worn to be quilted, if you handquilt a quilt it is going to take a long time, so you want to be sure it would be worth the effort, the same as sending it out. Also sending the quilt out to be quilted, can be expensive. After deciding to quilt the quilt, ask the quilt store for some good machine quilters. Then I would call them and ask what would be involved, and some idea of what it costs. They will tell you what you need for the quilt sandwich. My machine quilter needs 4" around each side of the quilt. You have to provide the quilt backing, and either buy batting, or see if she will supply batting. Then piece the backing if neccesary, iron the top and the backing and send it off. You do not have to baste it. That all said, good luck with all your projects.