Mkotch

I do both, depending on the style and size of the quilt. I just finished a queen sized quilt by quilting it in sections using Marti Michell's directions in a book with that name. I wanted to quilt each block individually depending on the design (there were 144 6" blocks). But I just took a full sized quilt to a friend to long arm because I wanted an all-over pattern. Sometimes I supplement long arm quilting with hand quilting. Mostly, I try to do smaller things myself using my walking foot as my FMQ is pretty shaky.

pocoellie

I do my own, mainly just meandering, occasionally qayg.

SusieQOH

I send out large quilts and the women who does mine is very reasonable and does a great job. With shipping I never pay more than around 130. I think that's a great deal. She also provides the batting.
I was a handquilter and still am but am learning FMQ so I still do most of my own but last year I made a King for our bed and I was not about to tackle that one.

luvstoquilt

I hand quilt some, quilt up through lap quilts on my DSM, larger ones go to LAQ. If I was 10 or 15 years younger I would probably invest in a LA. I suspect it would turn into a business and it would take away my lovely hobby!

Karamarie

I have sent some of my quilts to a longarmer but the majority I FMQ myself, even quilt/king size. The feeling I get from doing a quilt totally myself is so worth it. To me the hard part is getting it sandwiched together, but I pretty much have that conquered now also. It's not for everyone but it works for me. Do what works for you.

AlvaStitcher

I quilt all my own on my DSM. Cannot afford to send out to a LA and besides what I save in not having that expense, I can use to buy more fabric. LOL. I quilted 1 queen-sized quilt and the rest have been either full or lab sized. Most of the quilts I make are for donation so they are usually baby/child or lap. Recently I have begun to quilt a friend’s quilts in addition to my own. I mentor her as she is just starting out in the quilting adventure. Most of the quilting has been meandering, stippling or SITD.

NoraB

for many years, I hand quilted...so I had to really plan in advance for quilt gifts. Then, I was able to get a Brother PS1500 on a grace frame and that worked wonderfully for 9 years. That allowed me to increase the gifts I could make and start doing more charity quilts (Project Linus). That set-up worked great for my needs and I'd still be using it now, except........I saw the Innova quilting machine on a frame and fell in love with it. Hmmmmm, luckily my husband decided to get it for me and now I am in a quilting wonderland. I love it! I do not quilt for money. I quilt for gifts and charity quilts for Project Linus and Quilts of Valor. I figured I could increase my "production" and the money saved by paying to get it quilted would "even" itself out after several years and many quilts. I don't regret spending the money...Now I regret that I'm getting older and may not finish all the quilts I want to make (and those I don't even know about yet)! But, it's our passion...so it's good to feed that passion and share our gifts whenever we can!

Eva Knight

I have always quilted my own quilts, at first by hand, now on my domestic sewing machine. I love to say I did this myself.

KalamaQuilts

if they are 40" or less I do them myself, beyond that I send them out. I don't buy fabric, haven't for years, so I feel no guilt or penny pinching about paying to get my tops done.

That said I do mine double sided, so in effect am getting 2 quilts done for the price of one.
I don't enjoy machine quilting, and love piecing tops, quilting is my happy place, why make myself sad?

copycat

I enjoy quilting my own quilts with free-motion quilting. The size I usually stick to is baby or throw size quilts. I am trying a quilt as you go style quilt for the first time right now where you quilt a block at a time and join with sash strips on the front and back. I have only sent 1 quilt to be long armed. The quilt was a queen size and I had not yet learned how to quilt the layers so I sent it out to be custom quilted.