I too am impressed with hand quilters...they do such wonderful work and it is a dieing art.....I want to do other things don't have enough time to hand sew.....Our quilting Guild has a lot of hand quilters...that's where you need to go.....they are the best with advice....I think your trip was bad...they just wanted to sell you a machine ...ha ha.....

More power to you for still being able to hand quilt - I can't - my hands immediately begin to cramp... it's all I can do to get the binding hand stitched around a quilt.

That said, maybe that quilt shop owner has seen 'hand-made' quilts like some of the ones I've seen...

there's a place here that sells hand crafts - some absolutely fantastic work and then there are the 'hand made' quilts - I'd be embarrassed to have my name on some of them. the stitches are HUGE - they look more like basting - the kind of thing you'd say, 'that will fall apart the first time it's washed'

do you recall seeing any of the hand quilted quilts at walmart? the huge big sitches probably done by very young children? that sort of thing

if you've seen any of the Gees Bend quilts they are very very crudely made - like maybe a 5 year old just learning - don't yell at me about it unless you've actually seen one of them - I know I wouldn't spend thousands of $$$ on one of them

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, there are different degrees of effort and talent in anything to do with quilting, just as every person is different so is their talent...

Apparently this woman hasn't seen your work and jumped to some rude conclusions....

I think hand work is gorgeous if done well - if not, it's just shoddy, just as machine work...
For decades any woman who did her quilting 'by machine' was really put down - it still goes on, people sniff when they see that you 'quilted it by machine'..... so the prejudice goes both ways - heavily weighted against the machine quilters in my experience.

that woman's opinion of your 'way of doing things' is totally not important - do your own thing, enjoy it for what it is - your way of expressing yourself...
and then show off some of your creations here!!

I'm one of those weird "half breeds" I do both...I usually have more than 1 project going on at a time and I ALWAYS have something going on to do with my hands in front of the tv. I can spend some time with the machine during the day, but would MUCH rather spend time with DH at night and I usually always am sewing, knitting or something or another. It is very relaxing to me. Its funny that sometimes, my hand pieced projects get done quicker than my machine projects! You GO GIRL and do it anyway YOU want...to heck with that store owner...you don't HAVE to shop there :wink:

KQ.............don't worry about it and if possible frequent another quilt shop if need be. Just think........you can more than likely get more for your crafts simply because they are hand-stitched! I love hand quilting and have not mastered machine quilting myself yet.......

Linda D.

I'm a hand-Quilter too. And I find That I have to addaped most of my patterns. I also get why don't you do it on the machine? But if the ele. goes out Oh it's a different story.

The quilt shops figure you will not take their classes or buy their machines or have as quick a turn over...... next time remind them to smile when they make a comment like that

It's a big ol' world, and there's room for everyone! We all know how we feel about the quilt police! You have the ability to do something that very few people can do, and that's fantastic! Just keep on doing it as long as it give you pleasure!

KrazyQuilter--I hand pieced and hand quilted my first quilt over 25 years ago. I then decided that quilting was not for me! I admire you so much for your talent, time and patience. I returned to quilting 9 years ago, but now my motto is more like-"so many quilts, so little time". Arthritis keeps me from doing as much handwork as I would like to do, so I stick to the sewing machine and send a lot of my tops out to be quilted by someone else.

I am so sorry that shop owner was so thoughtless. She did not realize what a turn-off her selfish comment was-she could lose a lot of customers with attitude like that. Please try not to lump everyone in the same basket with her, there are a lot of people who share, or at least admire, your hand quilting preference.

I combine hand and machine stitching...I have the feeling that the person who said that to you also sold high-markup frames and quilting machines and got a commission. She cannot rely on you to be buying shiney new stuff and filling her pockets, and wants to sway you.

Do whatever makes you happy. I am the first to admit my hand stitching is better than my machine quilting. I do not have space to sprawl and work on anything large. Does that mean I wouldn't LOVE a longarm setup and the space tp use it? Of course not!!!