Ok I am going to admit it in print. I LOVE making quilt tops and absolutely HATE the quilting part. Am I alone? I go all bang up on making the tops, hours, I never get tired then when it comes to putting them to the backs, and quilting.. I dread it. I wait til the last minute. Any suggestions on how to make it .. fun? I could make a queen sized top each month or two twins no issue.. not very warm those tops. Nor are they exciting to receive I think.

Not at all! :D Piecing is always the best part for me. Choosing colors and patterns - seeing your vision coming to life. It's exciting and fun.

Once I've got the top finished, the rest seems almost chorelike at times. Especially the binding, which I absolutely DETEST.

I don't know how to make it more fun but I'll be checking this thread for ideas. I tried FMQ on my last quilt and I did find that to be more fun than just ditch stitching.

I'm right there with you too. Right now I have 2 large and 2 small quilts ready to finish. Instead, I join swaps and start new projects.

I can relate to that. I tried something different with this last one. I am almost done a lap qult for a gf who is a breast cancer survivor. I did part of the quilting by machine, now I am handquilting the block centres. Kind of a nice change as I can work on it and still spend an evening with my hubby. A little less monotonous than all machine quilting...and adds a little more character. This also allows me to have more than one project going...I have piecing going on in the sewing room, and finishing in the LR.

Patti

I can get the tops done, and then do hand quilting with the ladies at church and we can get them done! It helps doing them with friends!

I'm like you - love the piecing, but hate the quilting!! Even with the frame my DH made me, it's still a 'chore'!
I tend to put it off until I can't anymore.
I also love doing the binding! I hand sew the back part while watching movies on Lifetime or Hallmark channels! :wink:

I am not a hand quilter......... lucky me I have two girl friends who have longarm quilters......
I keep saying that I am going to do a quilt as you go & at least quilt one quilt by hand....... It is just so much easier to have one of my friends do the quilting. :oops:
I just never got that rocking motion down.... when it come to the hand quilting......... Have thought about getting an Aunt Becky and try that.
Scrap Quilter

Not a hand quilter at all!!!! Bindings are hard enough for me to complete!!

I have a new toy, a Mega Quilter maching with the Inpira frame and hopefully I can master that well enough to help me quilt my 10+ tops!!!!

Gosh, I'm not the only one. I figure it's all ok though, if I were to die just the tops done, I'd still have something to "give". If I concentrate all my efforts on the total thing, I'd get bogged down. So for now, I have a pile of tops, but that is better than a pile of scraps!

I must be then the only one who hates the top part, but love the quilting. I make tops because otherwise I don't have abything to quilt, even though I am about to jump into a whole cloth quilt.

Maria

Would you like a couple dozen tops to quilt????;)!!!!! LOL!

No, you're not the only one, because as I was reading this thread I was thinking that I was the only one! I enjoy the piecing o.k., but as I'm doing it I'm always thinking that I want to hurry up and get to the quilting because that's what I really enjoy. Once I start quilting it and have it in my hands, I feel like I "have something" going on now. And I love doing binding, it's like putting icing on a cake. Of course, I do mine all by machine, so might feel differently if I were doing it by hand. But the quilting and binding are actually my favorite parts of the whole process.

There are two things I've found to make the quilting more fun ....
- quilt as you go, so you're not trying to maneouver the whole thing around the machine throat
- using machine embroidery stitches as the "quilting" along the seam lines, I've having fun playing with the variety of stitches - it's only a 30-stitch machine.

I did up a little sample of all the stitches on a rectangle so I can see better what the stitches look like. And you can play with stitch length, variegated thread, etc, too.

Cheers,
Linda

Quilt as you go is certainly easier and you kind of have a little "quilt" every time you finish a block.

I like making the tops, but my favorite part is the quilting. I love free motion. I put an music and could quilt all day. See, your not alone.

That's a really good suggestion, Linda, thanks! I fall out of the ditch a lot of times when doing a straight stitch so if I were doing a decorative stitch it wouldn't be noticeable.

I hand quilt and that is the best part I feel the quilting makes a quilt come alive.

I'm relieved to know I'M not the only one! I like piecing but I'm not crazy about the quilting part either. I tried a quilt as you go technique (without the sashing, which I don't like because it changes the whole pattern), but ended up with a bump where it got joined (and I KNOW I measured perfectly, lol!) I'm actually one of those who likes to do the binding, too, because I can be part of the family and do it on the couch while watching TV with everyone and not be huddled away in my sewing room. Plus it means I'm on the final stretch with my project.

Do you (or does anyone) have a tutorial to recommend? I feel like my brain gets tweaked when I read articles about the "as you go" method. It is one thing that has me stumped and I would like to learn.

Thanks in advance.

Fun and Done quilt as you go tute:

https://www.baysidequilting.com/store/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=284]https://www.baysidequilting.com/stor...idCategory=284[/url]

I love piecing and quilting. It is just that I am a hand quilter and there are so many things I want to do and by hand quilting it takes me forever and I hesitate to start a new top when I have so many things still to be quilted. I also love the hand sewing part of the binding.

Put me down as one who enjoys making the tops more than doing the quilting. DD keeps reminding me that I haven't yet finished the baby quilt for her daughter who turns a year old this week. Good thing the quilt isn't so much a baby quilt as a little girl quilt. I finally got the quilting done and am now working on the binding. Hope to have it done in the next few days.

I also have two or three other tops waiting to be quilted.

I have a box full of quilt tops to be quilted:) My prob is it is such a ordeal to baste, even w/pins on the floor and then cram it in my machine...:)I usually prep 3 at a time and get them done that way...:)I am thinking a quilting machine would make it soooo much more fun!:)LOL Am working on that!:)I also do some by hand...but, time is the prob w/me sometimes:)

Thank you thank you thank you! That is exactly what I needed - I am so visual. I will DEFINITELY try it. Wonder how it looks with random stripes and scrappy?

I think it would turn out just great! Here is a link to one I did, PM me for some tips

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/17398.page

I cannot relate - I love every aspect of quilting. I hand quilt and I love to do hand work - - - if anyone would want me to handquilt/bind for them I will - I'd have to charge for it but am willing to do it... just let me know.

I like everything about making a quilt, except the binding. I just have so much trouble with the hand sewing. Hate it. :evil:

Of course, having a computerized quilt frame setup really helps with the quilting part. :D

Now if I could only afford to upgrade to an 18" throat machine. Then quilting would be even more fun!

What's an "Aunt Becky"?
I love every part of the process. Picking out the fabrics take the longest, bc I usually change my mind so many times.

I think if I could master the art of quilting them I would love it. I just have so much to learn.
Judy in Ohio

http://www.connectingthreads.com/too...___D80688.html

You hold it with your non-sewing hand under the quilt sandwich and push it back and forth under the needle (instead of the rocking motion of the needle). It looks so easy when it's being demonstrated but it takes a bit of getting used to.

Thank you, I guess I'd have to see it being used. I don't do alot of hand quilting anymore> My HandiQuilter is quicker. When I got my first HQ, my DH said he couldn't sleep under a machine quilted quilt. I made him a quilt, put it on the bed without telling him. Next morning I asked him how he slept. "OK" he said, then I told him about the machine quilted quilt he had slept under. No comments since then. He loves all my quilts and doesn't like any of them to leave our house.

Here's what I did as a variation of Fun and Done. Oops, should not have left the pillows on the bed.

Here is a video showing how to use an Aunt Beck, just bought one. I think it is going to take some practice.

I dunno, I would think it is exciting to recieve a quilt top :)
Honestly the best way to do this, is hand it over to someone who enjoys finishing them to finish it up. I Like the quilting and piecing part, but I hate the binding..The other way, is to make the back just as unique as the front, then it doesn't seem so bad putting it all together.

I love making the tops, figuring out anew pattern, but the best part for me is sitting down at my floor frame and hand quilting. I love seeing a quilting pattern come together, a pretty flower, or a chain or a feather, that is the best part!!!

I 100% feel the same way. That's why I hadnd everything to a long arm quilter I trust to take care of the dreaded part. :wink:

I always do my own binding though. I don't mind that at all.

I've gotten so many quilted lately, I'm going to focus on baby quilts for a while soon, so I can quilt them myself. Bah. :roll:

I also have the Mega Quilter and the Inpira frame, and now have trouble doing it for friends instead of myself!! So I didn't help myself a bit!

I get bored/anxious to finish the top.
I can't hardly wait to get to hand quilting. I think because I can move it around with me and keep my hands busy. I have never met anybody who feels like I do. Most of the classes I have taken everyone talks of having their quilts quilted by someone else.

I'm with the majority. I like piecing the top more, but none of it is a chore to me. I recently got a quilting frame, and although I've only had time to use it a little, I think I'll like quilting as much as piecing now.

Oh no, don't tell me that.