That was amazing. Thank you for sharing. It made me want to go to a quilt show! Questions.
It looks like some of them are pieced by one person and quilted by another. The quilting is so intricate! Is this a common practice?
Are there machines that decide how to do the quilting stitch pattern? They are so smooth, even the random ones, I can see that if it were done by a person (me) there would be occasional jigs or jags.
I just love quilts! I would love to do some quilting one day!
Hey, hey, hey--there's a question I can help answer!
First, Marsha--thank you so much for posting the link. I come back here about twice a month, so I'm so glad I saw it! The folks on the quilting board often post virtual quilt shows, and I love to settle back for a few minutes to gaze at the beauty. Many are out of my comfort zone, but sometimes I get inspired!
I have all my bigger tops machine quilted. I agree they seem more durable than hand quilting. Just me, but if a top is machine pieces, what's the point of having it hand quilted? But many do. When I take a top (and backing) to a quilter, we look over many designs and then thread colors. The pantographs are an all over design--and that's usually what I pick. Now and then I'll have a top I want free motion done on, but that understandably cost more. Not all long arm quilters can do free hand. There are many quilters who post their work on the QB and my jaw just drops. I can only do very simple quilting on small pieces, so their work is magical to me. I think those woman/men have a special gene.
How some machines works is this: the design is printed on a roll of paper, anywhere from 6" to maybe 14" wide, from what I remember at my quilters. The long arm machine she had had a laser light that followed the design, so while the quilter moves the piece with the needle--wah-la the design is quilted onto the quilt. The quilt is then moved, and the process starts another row.
The part about quilting that is so hard for me is sandwiching the back, batting, and top. One needs a large space to lay it all out, and I can't handle having a pucker. So... it just helps keep the joy in the process for me to pay a quilter. They roll each piece onto the long arm rollers so everything is nice and flat--no puckers! I do mostly small projects now, no more than three bigger quilts a year, and less then year. Keeps costs down.
Kathryn--I've never taken a quilting class so I can't speak to those, but you are going to have a blast at this hobby!! It's a wonderful creative outlet.
