In November I tied a rail-fence I made for my son. Worked well and was necessary because I used quite thick fleece for the batting. Used combination of perle cotton and embroidery cotton for the ties...worked pretty well and looked good.

I always tied until my DDIL came into my life and started me FMQing. I attended a quilt show in a very small town in Wisconsin where I live part time and two of the ladies at the show were demonstrating tieing quilts. A quilt is called a quilt if it is pieced - it has nothing to do with how you afix your layers (apparently). I was so pleased to watch and listen to these ladies. It is a preference. Tie if you like or sew if you would rather. I do find that the "tied" quilts seem softer and fluffier and the quilted (or sewn) quilts are stiffer and less fluffy. I have had to retie some of my blankets. I use yarn. The ladies at the quilt show were using string.

When I began making quilts for my grandchildren, it was whole cloth and tied with 4-ply acrylic yarn. Some of those quilts are now over 15 years old now. they have seen a lot of washing and drying and are still going strong. About a year ago, I tied a quilt with perle cotton. (really hard on my fingers)

My first Bargello quilt I tied. It has an old HEAVY blanket for the backing and would never go through a machine, so I tied it.

I have tie quilted a few quilts but as stated by others here, when its a high-loft.
Sometimes a quilt "asks" to be tied also, you will know if they do!!

Heather in Australia

Thank you, Everybody, for your imput. Now I don't feel like a shirker for tying my quilts. Also like making quilts out of whatever is at hand. I Covered an old chenille bedspread with a topping of pieces on one side and a monogramed piece on the other with machine embroidery years ago. I still use it and it has held up well. There is something so satisfying to me to do this.
I do Love seeing all the lovely work on this forum that quilting produces, but I love the old-fashioned feeling. And I love this site!

I tie all my quilts. I could never afford to send them to be quilted by machine and am way to impatient to hand quilt, and my Janome does not have a large enough harp to try FMQ. I start and finish each quilt...no UFO's at my house. LOL!

I loved reading about tying off quilts, since I am just learning from a 94 year old lady in our church. We are making quilts to give to people in our community who needs them, home burns or other reasons. I love tying them and they look so cozy when finished. I am binding them on my machine and am having some trouble with the high loft batting. I serged around one and that worked best. It was good to find out what others use for the ties. We are using yarn.

I hand tye most of my quilts using the Decatur Knot, its easy and I like the results on top of quilt. Found the instruttions at a quilt show. I think it is on this link now wwwqorsite.com/begin/tying.htm or search for Decatur Knot quilting.

I tied my first several quilts but I love Machine quilting. Its so much fun. I also like the way they look when you wash them.