Me too!!!!! Well said!

Well -- that's like saying cooking is a dying art because we use electric stoves instead of a wood burning fireplace! I, for one, believe my GGgrandmother would say I'm an idiot for not using the most modern convenience!!!! Okay - so I WILL admit that I'm trying to learn how to hand quilt so I can play while camping. :)

I think the old way is fun, the new "tools" make things alot faster for us to get projects done. I still like to hand quilt, but that is just me. I am teaching the children at work to hand sew and then after they learn to do this well, I will teach them to use the sewing machine. Either way the quilts are handmade and made with LOVE!

I know I'm reallllly gonna ruffle some feathers here with this reply but I do think modernazation (is that a word) is taking alot out of quilting. Not so much the tools & the sewing machines because that is all I have ever known but the long arms. Sure I'd love to have one but will not allow myself to go to that extent. If you go to quilt shows now, almost 90% of the quilts are all done by long arms & it really really takes the creativity out of quilting. A really good piecer can put a top together & then send it off to a really good machine quilter but let me tell you, I have been going to quilt shows since 1992 & there is NO comparason to the quilts now & the quilts back in 1992. More of them were done by one persons creativity. Now it's who pays the most to their favorite long arm quilter. I know several long arm quilters & have only had 2 quilts done by them. It's just not the same as if you had done it all yourself. I feel like I'm cheating. I now see how my aunt felt going to the quilt shows. She hated it when machine pieced quilts were first allowed! So the old is the best for me!

I think it is nice to remember the old ways or processes of of yester year so we can appreciate what our forefathers and mothers had to do. But I agree with amandasgramma. I am a quilter, construction worker and a farmer and would not like doing these things the "OLD" way. There is much to be said on this subject but for me the good old days are now. I love the light switch.

I think there are still plenty of quilters who do not take advantage of the modern conveniences. We have many, many members on this board who hand quilt, quite a few who only hand piece and a lot who peice only by treadle or hand crank.

I embrace the best of both worlds! I love my Bernina and love my new long arm machine. I also hand quilt. I own a treadle but have yet to get her up and running so I can try piecing a top on it. I will not do without my rotary cutter!

I would like to add as a beginner Longarmer, it does take just as much concentration, skill, practice and talent to operate a longarm and getting an intricately quilted quilt as it does for hand quilting, maybe even more. I am a self taught hand quilter and I was able to pretty much jump into it with both feet and have a nice looking result in the end. I think longarming, at least if you are going to do something other then a basic meander takes as much skill if not more as the less modern techniques. Same goes for FMQ on a domestic machine. I actually think that takes even more talent and skill as it is much more difficult to manipulate the quilt through the DSM then it is to move a machine riding on a carriage over the quilt.

I come from a family of carpenters. I sure would hate to see them using hand saws and hand hammers to build a house today when they have all those powerful power tools. Although it's good to know the history of how they used to do things, whether building a house or making a quilt, it's much easier to do them now with all the gidgets and gadgets.

well I agree that I want to quilt my own quilt but due to my inability to hand quilt poor fine motor control in my hands I bought my own mid arm machine and I going to learn to use it and be creative will loan to friends if the want to come and play in my play house and do their own quilts . I have retired and turn my living room into my play room

I love all of today's toys for quilting. I think the quilt shows should have a couple of sections, one for 100 % hand quilters, a section for folks who work, have a family and quilt for the pure joy of it and another for the professional quilter, who does it for a living.
Three different brackets, three different set of standards, what do you think?

You said, "so I can play while camping" I have to tell you a story. I'll make it short.
Last summer my husband and I went camping. Thats our favorite thing to do together. Anyways, my husband has a habit of going to bed for the night BEFORE DARK. And I think it is because its just so relaxing to just be outside with no worries. But after "many many" nights of being the only one awake (no one ever camps with us) I decided the next time we go camping, I am bringing my laptop computer so that I can listen to music, or I can play a couple hidden object games I have downloaded on it since he goes to sleep so early. And I am going to bring a quilt that I was putting binding on. (We camp at state parks and theres always alot of people there) So this one particular night, I grabbed a tablecloth, covered the picnic table with it, set up my sewing machine, grabbed my quilt, turned on the music and sat there and sewed out on the picnic table. We camp in a tent, with cots, and we have a table that fits in the tent that we use when its dark out and play games on. But anyways, across the drive in another camp spot, was this elderly woman and her husband, they were just sitting there watching me sew and there were other campers that were watching me, and all of a sudden, several people came over to where I was and started talking to me. The one elderly lady says to me "what possessed you to bring your sewing machine camping with you". And I told her, well, its like this. My husband gets so relaxed that he goes to bed at about 6:00pm when we go camping and that its too early for me to go to bed, so I had to come up with something to pass the time with and so I chose to bring my sewing to keep my hands occupied, my computer so that I can relax and "think" that I am not sitting out here all alone as long as the music doesnt stop. I did complete the binding on that quilt. I just thought you would like to hear that story. LOL. I can't wait to be able to go camping again this year.