ditto.
Annie

As a lifelong handquilter I would have no problem with setting the frame up in the room where we spend time as a family watching TV etc. Get started on it and let him see how long it is taking. For me it would probably only take three months max and I would have an excuse to enjoy all of my favorite TV and or radio shows. It is hard to do either while machine quilting. I believe you mentioned your age as being on the verge of retirement. If your husband is fast approaching that time in your lives you will be seeing a whole lot more of him. It might be a good time to start a project together. If you teach him to handquilt you can work together and maybe this will be a way to ease both of you into your new lives as a retired couple. Once he tries quilting he will either love it or suddenly have a new and improved respect for you and all you do.
My husband retired at 65 and stayed home for about six months. Those were the longest 6 months in our marriage. He went back to work and now six years later has just announced that he is going to retire again in June. I am making sure that he knows that I do certain things with our without him. It will not be easy but that is part of marriage and life in general.

I guess I'm in the minority here. I almost exclusively hand quilt and that is because I love the process. I've done several queen and even king and don't really find the size particularly daunting. I'm currently working on an over-sized twin that is probably close to a queen. I do use W&N batting because it gives me the option of not needing to quilt particularly densely if I don't want to, although I have done very dense hand quilting on large quilts as well. That said, I also use a hoop and not a frame. Don't think I could do it on a frame because of the single position I would need to be in for long periods of time. I can scritch around and change my position constantly by using a hoop - or not - and my body doesn't get as stressed or fatigued. But as others have said, this is a decision that you and your DH must reach together. IMO with hand or machine quilting one is not better than the other they are just different. Either can be beautiful, and depending on skill levels, either can be horrible. It's a very personal choice. I think whomever mentioned there being some emotional issues for your DH with this quilt hit the nail on the head. I see some long discussions in your future. Good luck!

Both are beautiful. I would never attempt to hand quilt a quilt that large, especially a Mariners Compass. If it is machine quilted, he could be using it in a few weeks, if quilted by hand, well? Do you work outside the home, have a busy schedule?

For your survey: I am a hand-quilter. I am trying to machine-quilt, but I'm not nearly as good at it. I've never sent out to the LA and don't plan to until I can't quilt anymore.

For my "two cents": Maybe you could do both. I think a mariner's compass would look best as a S-I-D and that would be so much easier to do on the machine. But maybe you can add some hand-quilting in the border or find somewhere that can be benefitted with some hand stitches.

Good luck!

I hand quilt and handguide LA quilt (not computer guided). I love both. One is not better than the other. Both have their merits. When well done and thoughtfully executed, both are beautiful in different ways. Both have the potential to become heirlooms and eventually, I think a hand guided well done machine quilted quilt could be a valuable, sought after antique. It just hasn't happened yet as with antique hand done quilts.

I have no time for people who think one is better, more traditional, more worthy than the other. In the evenings when watching TV I almost always have my hoop and handquilting going on. I have gotten to the point that I don't like to sit idly and watch TV, but much prefer to have a bit of handwork to keep me occupied. I find handquilting to be relaxing and a true labor of love. Labor of love being key. I think maybe your DH is looking at it this way as well.

I am very slow. Takes me over a year for a quilt that size and I have had some take up to 4 years to complete working on them off and on as the mood struck me. I enjoy the process. LAing I can complete a quilt in a weekend but usually custom takes me longer. I can not sit and visit with my DH or watch TV while LAing but I enjoy that process as well and I really like completeing the quilting in days/weeks instead of years. I feel something is missing when I don't have a quilt loaded on the LA frame. So as you can see I love both.

If you don't enjoy handquilting then you have to tell your your DH that. There are many, many quilters out there that only like to piece and don't like the quilting process at all so they send their tops out to be completed. If you do enjoy HQ (you said you had done smaller projects) and it is only the size that intimidates you then I say give it a try. Like the other poster said, how do you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. Just as the Chinese philospher Lao Tzu said: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". Do not let the size intimidate you but only IF you want to take such a journey.

You may get that you look forward to your hour or two of handquilting time a few days a week. When you don't feel like working on it you don't. But really you have to decide and if you decide no, you need to calmly explain to your DH that you don't enjoy it and that it will go from a hobby you look forward to, to a dreaded chore. It won't ever be completed if you feel that way. If he still insists the quilt should be HQ (which strikes me as quite the compliment of your piecing) then send it out to be done by the Amish. You can find many HQers for hire on the net.

In regards to posters who said they wouldn't attempt a MC due to all the seams, then plan your quilting so you don't intersect the seams with quilting. I did mine by quilting various designs in the compass and background. I purposely planned my quilting to intersect as few seams as possible. In places where it was unavoidable, I stab stitched.

Here are pics of mine. This quilt took me a little over a year and a half to complete the quilting. There were periods where I didn't touch it for weeks and periods where I worked on it every single day for weeks. As the mood struck me. I enjoyed the entire process. It was a labor of love for my brother and he told me it meant a TON more to him because it WAS handquilted.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...p-t127559.html

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...n-t161213.html

What a thoughtful answer. That seems to be just the right thing to do.

For me 'hand' is a dirty 4 letter word. He he! I do all quilting by machine. Ask him if he wants it in this lifetime or as a post-humous tribute. Let him know that you are not prepared to tackle hand-quilting a queen size quilt.

Wow, what beautiful advice! That is spoken like a true Iowa girl(I'm one, too, from Cedar Rapids). Thank you for your thoughtful answer!

I vote for machine quilting. I love the look of hand quilting and I am pretty good at it but it takes way too long and I would get corpul tunnel syndrome in my hands if I tried to quilt a large quilt.

When the quilt is a special one, like a family wedding quilt, I do hand quilt. 5 years ago my DH gave me a quilt frame "kit", saying he would build it for me. It's still not done. I have started machine quilting smaller wall and lap quilts simply to get them finished!!!

Hmmm, I would have to ask WHY he wants it hand quilted? Could it be: 1) He wants something you did with a real personal touch? or 2) Because he made you that beautiful frame, he wants you to use it to make something for him on? I am a longarm quilter and while machine quilting is fast and beautiful, hand quilting is much more personal...but comparing machine quilting and hand quilting is truly like comparing apples and oranges. Each has its own beauty in its own way. Why don't you make it a family project, you quilt some, and he quilts some, it could be a real learning experience for him, and I'll bet he never asks you to hand quilt another! Let us know what happens.

Having not yet read the entire thread, here is my two cents. I handquilt only and do queen sizeed quilts. If this is the way you want it finished, but feel overwhelmed doing it yourself, hire it out. There are many, myself included, who have handquilting services. You can always hire out a longarmer too. Of you are unwilling to do the finishing, just be clear about it and ask him to foot the bill for the way he wants it.

I have just begun machine quilting and have hand quilted things up to this point. I have a hand pieced queen sized quilt that I am definitely going to hand quilt because that's what I've planned for it from the beginning. At this point I would not attempt quilting anything larger than a twin size on my featherweight, but that has more to do with my confidence level than anything else.

My personal opinion on hand quilting vs machine quilting is that if it is hand pieced then it needs to be hand quilted. If it is machine pieced then it can be quilted either way, but I would be more likely to machine quilt it simply because that seems to be quicker. If finances were not an issue, then I would be prone to look for someone to do the machine quilting on a queen or king size.

This is what I heard... Quote: "mariners compass...at his request" and "He's such a wonderful husband" I understand overwhelmed, however, I also know there are many people on this board and elsewhere who...if given the chance to honor their significant others, would do so in a heartbeat.... I for one would never want to sit and say "I wish I had".... lovingly, just food for thought.

I have hand quilted wall hangings and other small items but have yet to tackle a whole quilt. My daughter is a purest and feels that quilts should be hand done. Recently I was lucky enough to take a class with Jill Schumacher and my life took a change!!! I learned how to machine quilt! I need lots of practice but thanks to this wonderful teacher, I plan on doing it!!! As for a queen size quilt, I'm all for sending it out for long arm quilting! I really enjoyed that class so much! I may even have my daughter convinced!

There is no right or wrong answer to this questions. I'll be honest I love to hand quilt, I find it so relaxing to curl up on the couch and work on a quilt. Machine quilting is in my opinion "WORK". I only machine quilts that I want to finish quickly. I make mostly queen size quilts and because I work full time and go to school it can take me up to 9 months to finish a quilt. I will likely always prefer to hand quilt because I like what I can do hand quilting. I actually have the opposite in my house, my husband keeps asking why I hand quilt when I could do it so much faster on the machine.

There is a lot more going on here than can ever be resolved by a survey. Sounds very much like a control issue on his part. You have to want to do it, not just be willing to do it and certainly not be intimidated into doing it. The choice is entirely up to you. Not a bunch of cyber quilters, not your DH, not your MIL...just you and you alone. You will gain absolutely nothing if you quilt it out of guilt. Wishing you all the best.

I never hand quilt anything. I don't have the patience, plus once I get it pieced, I'm so anxious to see it quilted and done. I have had Amish ladies hand quilt things for me in the past. They do a wonderful job and are fairly reasonable!

If you don't want to do it, I suggest you don't do it. Surely your husband is not a big bully who will make you do it? My suggestion would be to do what you are happy to do.

Ask who is making the quilt--ask if he would like to assist and it will take a long time-

I think he is trying to recapture a memory of his mother. I would do it jointly because that would also create a memory.

I hand quilted a 106x106 log cabin for a friend for her wedding gift and it took me about 4 months but it was so beautiful when it was done and right now I am hand quilting a 80x85 mystery quilt for her sister as a wedding gift. I LOVE to hand quilt and find it relaxing but it does take a lot of time. My goal is to learn to machine quilt but everytime I try it looks terrible and I get discouraged and go back to hand quilting.

I'm positive the quilt will look beautiful no matter which way you decide to do it

If I ASKED him to make the cherry frame, I would put this quilt on it. It may take years to finish, might even be part of my estate when I die, unfinished, but it would show him that I appreciated it.
Then, I would show him the responses from people like me, who do not hand quilt.
I guess I did, once. I finished a maple leaf quilt that my husband's grandmother left, but I used the 'big stitch' all I could commit to.


If I did NOT ask him to make it, and he did so out of the kindness of his heart, then, I don't know. That's a tough one. Maybe put it in the frame and show him online that men are quilting now too.

I do not hand quilt because of some arthritis issues in my hands but having said that, I still would not hand quilt. Talk about a daunting task!!!! I sympathize that his mother has alzheimers but that's her & things have changed.
He doesn't drive a car from the 1920's does he? He needs to get with the program & get with modern times. I absolutely am envious of hand quilting but it is not for me & a quilt that size would be overwhelming to say the least.
Hopefully, he will understand or do like the others have suggested & teach him how to thread a needle & let him have a go at it. Good luck.

i agree. i don't have the time or patience for hand quilting.

Quilting is supposed to be fun, but when it comes to be an obligation then it becomes a drudgery and even an imposition. When my husband asked me to make him a quilt, I agreed only with the condition that it be quilted by a professional. The fee was well worth it - he has a lovely quilt which he proudly shows to everyone. Besides, if you don't feel comfortable quilting it by hand why punish yourself?

I love to hand quilt and did handquilt a queen size. It can be done. However.............I now machine quilt most things because as a friend said, "there's too many quilts in my head to hand quilt every one of them". I do understand where he's coming from. I used to think it was a mortal sin to machine quilt :) and switching was a lot like changing my religion. I decided it was better for my grandchildren to have all those completed quilts rather than my only having finished one or two.

Quilting by hand or by machine simply produces a different look but the end result is the same - to show off the beauty of the top and to keep the layers from shifting. Buy your husband a book on the history of quilting, then do whichever you are most comfortable with. The point is to finish it, not turn it into a UFO! :)

I really admire and appreciate hand quilted projects, but I do only very small ones that way. My sister has a LAQ and I pay her to do my big quilts.

I absolutely love the look of hand quilting...have never done it. I have arthritis in my hands and just sewing on a binding by hand hurts. I think machine quilting is lovely too(but still love the look of hand the best). It is a matter of preference. If you dont enjoy doing it, then dont do it.

I hand quilt all the time and love it. I think hand quilting is a dying art.

While I can admire hand quilted quilts, I do not believe a quilt has to be hand quilted to be considered a family heirloom quilt. If you look back in time, when the sewing machine was first invented, women embraced the sewing machine to help them quilt their quilts. If it was good enough for our ancestors, it should be good enough for us today. If your husband still insists that it be hand quilted, hand him the needle and threat and tell him to go for it, or forever hold his peace. I would like to hand quilt my quilts, however, I have carpal tunnel from years working as a secretary to help support my family, I now machine quilt all my quilts.

I'd do it for him as a labor of love. He seems to feel strongly about it and I feel from your post that he is making an emotional connection to what the hand quilting means to him. You mentioned his mother hand quilting and a beautiful frame he made for you. The hand quilting would be a gift.

I like the looks of both hand quilting and machine quilt but I only machine quilt. I know some great ladies in Iowa that hand quilt and I sent one full size quilt to them and they did a beautiful job. But I won't ever hand quilt.

I still hand quilt ..about 6 queen/king a year and I love to do it. But that doesn't mean that is
what everybody should do. It should be a hobby, but if you don't enjoy doing it, it turns into
a job, and that takes the fun out of it.

I hand quilt only. I have done a number of twins, queens and kings. Yes, they take time. But to me, I love the journey through the process. I have done one heavily quilted in about 6 weeks, but that was working several hours every day. I find it soothing, relaxing and very therapeutic. It would be a loving thing to hand quilt it. Perhaps your hub would learn and work on it with you...
Ellen

I love to hand quilt. I always have one on the frame. I don't care how long it takes me to get them done. I enjoy sitting down and working on it at the end of the day while watching TV. It's relaxing and cheaper than therapy. I also machine quilt either on my domestic machine or my mom's long arm but some quilts just require the beauty of hand quilting.

To do justice to a quilt that big, it would take me years to finish it. Machine quilting by even some of the quilters on this board would most likely be beautiful. I love hand quilting, but if you want it done in this lifetime, let him know it must be sent to a longarmer. Great he is interested in your hobby, but he must let you make the decisions on the quilts you produce. Many men are quilting...show him a needle and let him begin.