I haven't heard many references to "tying off" a quilt. That is the way I was taught by my grandmother, but then, she was not an avid quilter. She did more knitting, crocheting, etc. When I had my children she helped me with baby quilts and we tied them off. Several years ago a client asked me to renew one side of a counterpane that his grandmother had made, and she had tied it instead of "quilting" it. Just wondering if anyone still does that!

There was a thread about a week ago--I tie about 30 a year for charity quilts....

Oh, yes, a lot of people still "tie off" a quilt, but I think they do it mainly on ones with thicker batting. Trying to hand or machine quilt a high-loft batting can be difficult. I did machine quilt one with a high-loft polyester batting when I was stll pretty new, tho. LOL, guess I didn't know any better!

I tie a lot of my quilts. I have just started free motion quilting.

tied a bit today

we tie charity quilts, but most of the rest i machine.

My first quilt was tied, made about 5 years ago. Since then, I've become enamored of machine quilting, and that's mostly what I do (with occasional forays into hand quilting).

Tying is all my mother and grandmother do. I really prefer the look of quilting, but if I needed a kids quilt in a hurry, I would tie one. I think it is good to know as many techniques as possible, so you can pick the right one for a particular quilt. I think tying would be good, for example, on a thick wool winter quilt. I've seen some great vintage ones like that.

because I have arthritis in my thumbs, holding a needle to handstitch is quite painful, therefore, I won"t be doing any handquilting. I've tied several large quilts in the past, and I enjoyed the process, and even like the look. I make quilts mainly for my family, and for them, it is the pretty pattern and colors they care most about, so it is a win-win for me.

Some of the quilts sent from this board for the Military Barracks Quilt Project were tied and looked darling.

Jan in VA

Thanks for the positive feedback. I love to make quilt tops and am also perfecting FMQing on small pieces. A lot of my work is for our charity group and try FMQing on pillows, cancer hats, lap quilts, etc. When I feel I have a handle on it, I Tying off" is still used!