Have a question regarding quilting the entire top.
 

Do you ever leave parts of your quilt "unquilted" or does the entire top have to be quilted, or is this
a matter of choice, or does it depend on the pattern. I appreiate your replies.
Thanks,
Elaine

as long as you use enough quilting to satisfy the batting's requirements, the decision would be your design choice. however, one must keep in mind that the more dense the quilting, the more the fabric/quilt is drawn in. unquilted spaces will puff out compared to the quilted parts.

Ditto to QuiltNNan ... check your batting as to the maximum distance between quilting, so that your quilt will hold together. Otherwise, do as you wish. You should also consider how the quilt and batting might shrink after quilting ... and what the after-results might be.

I hand quilt, so I make sure I check the requirements set by the batting first..I like the puckered look, so I try to quilt more, tho.

Usually I strive to have an even density of quilting across the entire quilt. The quilt can look lumpy and saggy if you have very dense quilting in some areas and no quilting in other areas. So I will normally either do tight all over, or loose all over. That's not to say there can't be some variation, but it's better to try and get it fairly even throughout.

And as others have said, the density is dependent on the type of batting you are using. So if the batting says 'quilt no further apart than 3 inches', you wouldn't want to leave a 6" area unquilted. Some battings will not hold up very well under use and washing if there isn't enough quilting.

Ditto what everyone said about checking the batting, and another thing to consider is the intended use of the quilt. If it's going to be a wall hanging you can get away with a lot less quilting because it won't be laundered as much. If it is going to be used and washed a lot though I would tend to quilt heavier than the minimum requirement of the batting (for example if the batting indicates minimum of 6" - I would quilt 4").

I personally see no problem with quilting some area's heavier than others. Some area's just dictate more or less quilting because of the design. If for example you are quilting a landscape quilt, it's quite probably that your quilting with be heavier in the trees, bushes, grass etc than it will be in the sky. If it's a traditional block quilt and has a large center block - you may want to quilt the center more or less than the outer blocks, or the borders.

the batting you use dictates the amount of necessary quilting- but also you want balance- for it to look good and hang/drape properly. as long as the design is balanced and meets the minimum required (dictated by the batting choice) you can quilt it any way you want-
and if it's a wall hanging which will never be laundered you can ignore the batting recommendations- but if it will be laundered-the minimum required by the batting choice is very important for a happy outcome