How many hours to quilt on DSM?
 

I am about 75% finished quilting a 65” square top. It is a Christmas present for my 6yr old nephew. I wouldn’t be this last minute but due to a 6 month renovation from hell I lost my quilting space until about a week ago. Due to the time constraints I would have preferred to do an all over design but I wanted to keep the sports themed prints as clean as possible. So, block by block including some ruler work. I am guessing I have 8-10 hrs in already. I don’t consider myself slow but this seems like a lot and it started me thinking what the folks on this board would allow for such a small quilt. I am using my Janome 8900 QCP.

must get back at it now:(

I quilt on a LA but do a lot of detailed work. It is not unheard of for me to spend anywhere from 60 to 80 hours on a queen size custom quilt just on quilting alone. Add to that an average of 10 to 15 hours of marking the top. I won't even try to guess the amount of time I spend researching designs and motifs and figuring out how to execute them on the quilt.

The one currently on my rack I have over 80 hours so far. It measures roughly 90 x 108 give or take. When doing labor intensive motifs like ruler work or SITD it takes a long time. You have to go slower to be precise.

I quilt on my Janome 8900 QCP too. I don't like the look of all over quilting that I do, so most of my quilts I SITD, then quilt the other areas with stencils mostly. I don't consider myself slow either, but the quilt I just finished which is about 63 x 83 took approx 30 hours. It's just a time consuming process.

I also quilt on a LA, mostly custom with lots of ruler work. Some quilts just take a longgg time! I can remember doing a large lap quilt (Grinch) for my son and family when I first started quilting on my DSM and thinking it would never get done--was only stippling between the picture blocks and would get so bored that I was falling asleep (the early morning hours on this might have had something to do with it too) so I decided to stitch in their names and the year--realized a year later I had done it upside down!

It always takes longer than I think it should. You’ll be fine. Just take breaks. Please don’t put your shoulder out of commission like I did last year at this time trying to push myself to get twin grandbaby quilts finished by Christmas.

It has taken me two or three weeks, sometimes, to finish quilting a twin- to double-sized quilt on my DSM. Just depends on the amount of detail you want to include. I enjoy the quiet, meditative state I sometimes get into when I take my time.

Totally agree here. Take many breaks. I was rushing to do a king size quilt on my DSM earlier this year. Due to it's size I was doing lots of pushing/pulling of the sandwich and ended up giving myself tendonitis in my elbow!

Be careful! It's rough out there in quilting land!