I'm with everyone else on the shorthand and dictation, however I took the beginner's hand quilt class at LQS and aside from sticking my fingers alot I swore I'd stay with machine quilting. I'd like to be able to do both but don't know who to learn from. I find the needle is too small to work with and I can't get the talent down to make those continuous stitches, or how to tie off properly. We'll see how things go down the road.

I took a hand quilting class at my LQS in late 2009 when I was taking all my new learning to quilt classes and hand quilted the quilt that is in my avatar, then I hand quilted a 106x106 log cabin for a friend as a wedding gift that I gave her in June of this year and right now I have a 70x93 quilt on my frame that I am hand quilting. I have tried machine quilting without much success (everyone tells me just to keep practicing, that it will get better) but I find hand quilting a lot more relaxing.

I do a little hand quilting. But I use shorthand at work every day. People are amazed when they see me taking notes in shorthand.

I love to hand quilt and try to keep one always going. I do have most of them long armed, because I will not live long enough to do all of them by hand. There are 20 in our little church quilt group and several of us still hand quilt. I try to do special baby ones and wedding ones by hand.

I have hand quilted since my first quilt in the mid 80's, but, I have such a backlog of UFO's that I have started doing very simple machine quilting. Sometimes I mix the two. The projects I am making for Christmas are all going to be machine quilted, except for one which I am hand quilting. I think I will always have a hand quilting project going to just keep the art alive for myself

Another hand quilter here...Can't imagine doing it any other way. It serves as my therapy after coming home from work. I'd love to start a business finishing off vintage quilts for families. I am also disappointed when i go to quilt shows and I can't find hand quilting thread or needles. Templates are another thing that are hard to find. Thankfully, there is a store about an hour away from my house. At least it's a beautiful drive up there.

I hand quilted all my children's baby quilts. Then I got bad arthritis in my thumbs and just couldn't do it anymore. (It had nothing to do with age, but I think it had something to do with playing Super Mario with the grandkids.) So now I machine quilt. I agree that it is an art. I have a neighbor that hand quilts beautifully.

I love to hand quilt. Not all my projects are done b hand but I always have one on the frame to enjoy in the evenings while watching TV. I usually always hand quilt a "time period" piece like a quilt using the 30's or Civil War fabrics. It looks more realistic and in time with what was done then.

I'm a hand quilter too. I love to hand quilt, but I have way too many projects to hand quilt 'em all.(Doing 9 different projects now.) I've done SID & other straight stitching but now I'm trying to learn to FMQ. I only make lap quilts & baby quilts so my DSM can handle it. 3 generations of hand quilters in my family. I don't think that my Great GM quilted, but my DM & DGM do. I will say that my DD doesn't want to hand quilt. She does want to learn to machine piece & machine SID. However, she doesn't live here so I can't teach her.:(
I hope that hand quilting never gos out of style.

I took shorthand in school also, never used it. Love to hand quilt, hate to machine quilt. Probably cause I'm not any good at it. I just do simple lines or SID, the last two quilts I tied. I have a Irish Chain waiting to be hand quilted, I started tying a Christmas present but I would rather be doing my Irish Chain.

I think Hand quilting looks beautiful...There is no comparision....... However there are not enough people out there to appreciate the labor or the look. Because of this, I evaluate my machine quilting to no more than sewing. Look is not the same.......

I do too. I do not think it will ever fade all the way. It is very soothing and many of us that machine quilt might also do some hand quilting even if it is only when camping or waiting at the doctor's office.

I love handquilting, but I do wonder how long it will last as a skill since everything nowadays seems to emphasise speed. And if there is one thing that is not quick, it is handquilting!

But I love the process and the calm.

I really admire people who hand quilt but in my area it is fading out fast we live in a micowave world to get things done in a hurry and no one has the time I am also wondering with all the hand held gadget and the prices of everything if quilting will even be around in another 10 years I use to go for miles for a quilt show now I don't no interest in seeing what a computer can do and some of the big quilt shows that use to be around are no longer here as no one has the interest to work that hard anymore yes there has been some gig big changes

I belong to a group of six handquilters. We meet each week and take turns handquilting our quilts. The friendship, fellowship and comradarie in our group is wonderful.........plus.........food is always involved too. Our group has been together for twenty odd years - losing one member to cancer. We keep the number at six as it's a perfect fit around the frame. Hopefully, handquilting will never be a lost art.

I love to hand quilt its so relaxing,I'm do a double wedding ring right now in peaches and mint greens!

I am going to try my hand at hand quilting one day. I have made some quilts for nieces that I stitched in the ditch that turned out very nice after I got the hang of the transparent thread, thanks to some of the hints from all you experienced quilters. I usually have a hand piecing project going as I can watch TV with hubby or carry it with me for "waiting times".

I do both hand & machine quilting, although I wouldn't win any prizes for my skills. The quilt I'm working on now will have some of each.

I am not a good hand quilter but I like doing it, but my hands just won't let me do anymore.

I too am a hand quilter, sometimes hand piecer and hand embroiderer. When I do hand projects I know who the recipient will be-- and I am weavinging in love, prayers, good thoughts, dreams and hopes in each stitch. I believe there will always be people like us who keep the art alive and recipients who recognize the gift of love we have bestowed. On the other hand I will never give a quilt like this to someone I don't believe will treasure it!

I'm a newbie at hand quilting but I love the relaxation. Machines seem to have something against me. The bobbin runs out of thread near the end of the seam, the top thread breaks, the thread bunches up under the pressure foot. Oh, well....... BTW, are there any hand quilters in the Valdosta GA area?

My Granddaughter asked me why I hand quilted when it was so much faster to do it on a machine. I told her because it looked different and it was considered an art and I loved it. She still looked skeptical so I told her if I was to sell a hand made quilt that it would sell for more than one done on the machine. That she understood. lol

I do think hand quilting is going by the wayside. I hand quilt and think hand quilting is the only way to go. I am lucky enough to belong to a quilt guild that has many hand quilters. But, also, many of our members have a professional quilter machine quilt theirs. Each year we prepare a raffle quilt, and it is always hand quilted. So many guilds of today offer raffle quilts that have been machine quilted. When visiting quilt shows I see that many displayed quilts have been machine quilted. I think the hand quilted quilts are becoming fewer and fewer at the shows. Sad!

I do both hand and machine quilting. My hand quilting isn't the best, but I taught myself how to do it. My mom always machine quilted hers but she was given a hoop around the time she started working again (and before we had a computer to search youtube). My first attempt wasn't too great, but neither was my first quilt, so both were a learning experience. I hand quilt those that say to me that machine quilting won't give it justice or call for something other than straight lines and machine quilt the rest. I normally only have 1 hand quilting project at a time, but I have 2 at the moment as they are both christmas presents

I started out machine quilting and never had an interest in learning to hand quilt until my quilting group was making a quilt to raffle off for the Food Pantry in our community. I felt I should learn and do my share on this quilt we were making but never thought I would actually enjoy it. Well, I REALLY love hand quilting! So glad I had a reason to learn and discover I enjoy it. I am hand quilting a christmas quilt for my daughter and as I work on this am finding that it may be difficult to part with the quilt when the time comes...lol. It has horses and ponies, little dogs and cats, sheep and a snowy farm scene all decorated for Christmas. I am hand quilting around all the little animals and quilting the ouline of the barn etc. It is like a little story but I don't know if my daughter will ever look at it closely and let it tell her the story....lol. Anyway, I am really enjoying hand quilting this quilt. I still do machine quilting on certain things. I made a quilt for my father in law that is about 84yrs old and did not want to take the time for hand quilting, all I could think of is he might pass away before I finished it and had a chance to give it to him so I machine quited his quilt. I don't think I could ever enjoy FMQ near as much as I enjoy hand quilting.....it frustrated me but I keep trying... Corry

I think time is the problem.

I can still do letter writing, and hand quilting, but NOT Gregg shorthand!:shock:

Hand quilting is my love. I am interested and admire the LA quilting designs and finished product but to me it is a "real" quilt if it is hand quilted!!! I am a quilting traditionalist in the true sense of the word....I know of several hand quilters in my small town here in the Appalachian mountains.

Hand quilting
 

I too took two years of shorthand and never used it. I don't hand quilt, would love to learn, but have no one to teach me.

I my opinion, handquilting is still being done, but it is not receiving the attention that machine quilting does in shows. It seems impossible to place a hand quilted piece into a show. So many competition quilts have thread work, micro stippling etc that is doable by hand, but would take years to accomplish. These machine techniques are certainly difficult and artistic, but should not be judged alongside handquilting. Locally they are, and it does not make for a level playing field or promote the method. I also realize that all things come in cycles, so I hope to see a move toward the rewarding of handwork.

This is pretty much how I feel about hand quilting.
Only recently have I thought about trying FMQ on my machine, only because it is really beginning to hurt my hands, elbow and shoulder. I never realized that it would eventually effect elbow and shoulder.

I also took shorthand and never used it! :) Technology moves too fast and leaves us behind!

I have a MA quilting machine but when it comes to family or if asked I do hand quilt. Right now I am working on my frist great grand daughters baby quilt and am doing it all by hand as being the first I want her quilt to be as special as she is. My mother didn't sew I learned in Home ec. But my step mother is a great hand quilter and showed me some of the basics, my biggest problem is I can not ware a thimble, I have tried many different kinds none worked for me. I still poke my fingers numerous times but doing a quilt by hand in front of the TV with hubby is very relaxing.

I always stitch in the ditch around the edging and each block on my kids quilts but add a bit of hand quilting inside each block. As others said; quilts for kids just get machine quilted. I have been practicing FMQ but only on tablerunners and table toppers. not good nuff to put on a quilt yet. Kudos to all the beautiful hand quilters out there! It is enjoyable to do.

I'm not sure if it will go away, but it just takes too much time. I was over 50 by the time I finished hand appliqueing and hand quilting a quilt my grandmother started by for me when I was a baby (my avatar). I know I don't have another 50 years to do that, so I will probably stick with machine quilting.

Hand Quilting
 

I love handquilting - am handquilting Grandmother's flower garden pattern with 1930's reproduction fabric. My mother said I have a lot of patience. It is therapy for me and fun! I also took shorthand: Pitman and still use it after all these years! Those were the days! Yes, I believe hand quilting is the ultimate art with patience and skill as someone else posted. It's good see others are still interested in hand quilting.

I hand quilt. It may take longer but I feel good when it's completed and I like the look of hand quilting.
I don't have any interest in getting a "long arm" machine.

I think everyone should know how to hand quilt because if we lose power and can't use our sewing machine at least you will have something to do. Of course those of us that have treadle machines are all set. :) Plus, it is really special when you can say I made this quilt all be hand.

Well, I am sure many quilters see it like this and prefer machine quilting (of course this is not the only reason....). For me the process is the main thing, not the result. I enjoy every single minute I need for a quilt more than the finished item!

Although I machine quilt, I also usually have a hand-quilting project going "simultaneously." I just posted my latest Hawaiian Applique' project. There's something gratifying to finishing a hand quilting project.

PS. I also took shorthand and continue to use it in my work and every day life.....

I took the two years of shorthand and used it for 25 years. Still find myself writing and then switching over to shorthand ;) There are many tutorals on this board that can get you started with hand quilting. I enjoy the journey of hand quilting and once in a comfy position find myself relaxing. Good luck!