I am a hand quilter myself and it is my passion. It says it's from the heart, in my opinion. Time is precious, so I think we should all slow down and enjoy the process.

I love the hand work and yours are awesome.
I'm very dissapointed in quiltshows, they need to have seperate catagoriies
for handwrk and machine work. At least here on long island, at the recet shows they havent

Personally, I prefer hand quilting. For me, it feels more handmade and traditional. I also prefer the traditional patterns and scrappy quilts, but that's just my opinion. You do lovely work. I have moderate RA , which makes handquilting more difficult, so I usually only handquilt my smaller pieces, having, reluctantly, to resort to machine quilting for my larger quilts, but i choose the pattern and I don't care for heavy qulting.

I have only machine-quilted one quilt and it was a quickie for a baby. I don't like to do it. I prefer the look and activity of hand-quilting. It looks more "homemade" to me. I can quilt and sit with my husband 4 feet away from me on the couch, too. So it is not a solitary actviity.
I adore all the handwork and the wonderful applique on your quilts. They are true heirlooms!
I think it is important to do what you want to do with a hobby. Just don't destroy quilts and heritage in an effort to "get 'er done."
However, I agree wholeheartedly that machine quilting an old quilt top is anathema. IMHO, it turns a potential treasure into a "blanket." I have completed 2 old tops-using cotton batting, cotton thread and cotton backing fabric and intricate hand-quilting, because "polys" didn't exist in 1930-1950s. I chose to finish them as authentically as I could!
I call upon all quilt lovers to pass/sell/give your old tops to someone who will do the same, instead of "whipping them together" just to get done. If you don't have the skill or time or interest, pass them on to someone who does. It is more respectful of previous artists.
If you are a quilting artist (machine or hand) carry on. Please honor our past.

Your work is the best I've seen, I can't say enough about it except that I can only aspire to be like you. Wonderful

Your work is stunning! Thank you for sharing with us. I, too, prefer hand quilting....that's the way I learned many years ago. However, with age has come some handicaps that causes me to be unable to do hand work much any more. Rather than quitting, shutter the thought, I now do machine piecing and quilting, BUT only because I am forced to do it this way.

Every now and again I will do a small project by hand and its takes me forever as I have to work on it a little while, then stop for awhile then work on it again. Takes me awhile to do it by machine also, but I am addicted and will not stop........yet.

I also wish they would have the hand work separate at the quilt shows as I so love to look at it. Thank you for showing us yours.

delma

That is so beautiful. I am in awe. But I know I'd never have the patience to do it. I'm glad people still are, though, and I hope hand quilting goes on forever!

That is amazing. I do love hand quilting. I can't do it. 1. It hurts to much and 2. I can't sit and do it. I do envy the people that do hand quilt.

OMG!! If I could hand quilt like that I would never send another quilt to a long-armer. But my handquilting leaves much to be desired. Plus I would never get my quilts done. I certainly do admire those of you who can do such a time-consuming and lovely job. I think you are right about fairs and shows should have a special division for the hand quilted items. That certainly takes talent which many of us don't have but admire so much.

Oh how beautiful!! You could have a trunk show of your own. Your work is stunning!! I just wish I had the time to devote to my love of quilting & creating.
Thanks for sharing.
Chris