Carleneky

As a brand new bride, I began sewing my clothes to live within our tiny budget. Through the years, I made my children's clothes, prom dresses and home decorating items. After retiring I decided to look inside my mother's sewing trunk (she died in 1980) again to see what needed to be completed. I have three beautiful quilt tops which need to be hand quilted. So, here I am ready to learn from all of you.

I recently completed a beginner's machine quilting class at Bernina and found it to be very helpful and fun. However, I don't think these appliqued quilts should be done on a machine. Here is a picture of the first one.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]613605[/ATTACH]

cjsews

Welcome from another Tennesseean. Hand quilting is fun but does take time. Relax and enjoy the process. Mom did a nice job on the quilt

osewme

Howdy from Texas. I think you will like it here at the Quilting Board. There is always encouragement & information to glean from this board. Your mother's quilt is beautiful & I agree that hand quilting it would be best for it. Machine quilting is a lot quicker but you have an heirloom there made with your mom's loving hands & she would be very proud to have you finish it the way she would have.

Tartan

Welcome from Ontario, Canada. Hand quilting is a nice relaxing way to complete a quilt but it takes a long time. A completed quilt that you can use is better then the top sitting in a trunk. You might be able to find a group that still hand quilt but they are getting scarce. If you can find a group, you could learn with them and get it quilted. Good luck.

SillySusan

Hi and welcome from North Carolina! Your mother's quilt is beautiful and worth the time and effort of hand quilting it. You will have a wonderful heirloom when it's finished. And, you'll find tons of help and encouragement from your new friends here.

Iceblossom

What a lovely lily treasure! Your mother had a good eye and skills.

I don't come from a family tradition of quilting myself and I have zero hand quilting skills, but I admire those that do. So many wonderful people here who can help you.

We also have some wonderful machine quilters here, I wouldn't dismiss that as an option either. Unfortunately for me, quilting by machine is also not a strong suit of mine! Much better than my hand skills though. My main problem is the thinking of a design more than the doing at this point, I just don't usually think in that direction.

Good luck and welcome, glad you found this board.

Lori B.

Beautiful quilt! Welcome from Michigan!

SusieQOH

What a beautiful top!!!
Nobody in my family sewed or quilted but I became interested in both when I had little ones. I took a quilting class with a friend and got hooked. We hand quilted our sampler quilt and I spent many years hand quilting. It's my favorite way although I am learning machine techniques now. They both have advantages and are both beautiful.
But...... if that top you have had been my Mom's I would definitely hand quilt it. That's just me though. You really have no limitations.
Good luck and welcome to the board! There is so much info here and lots of friendly people

I forgot to add- Youtube has videos of everything you can think of. You may want to check it out.

QuiltnNan

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting

Sharonquilts

Welcome from N.C.! Lovely quilt top. I admire those who can hand quilt but I just never got the hang of it very well. You will definitely find good help on this Board.