Friday 13 December 2013

Friday Binding Marathon

Today I picked up two quilts from a local long arm quilter. I've never had anything long arm quilted before.I am a dyed in the wool hand quilter. I'm quite passionate about how wonderful the process of hand quilting is, and am constantly amazed how many people think it's a bit luddite and old fashioned, where as I think it's super progressive and forward thinking!

However, i'm all about horses for courses, and walking in other shoes, lot of people LOVE machine quilting. They love the flatness of the finished quilt and it's durability, and I can agree that it's definitely a different quilting beast. Not better or worse, just a bit different. I also understand that often the piecing
machine goes faster than the quilting one! I have a permanent pile of quilts reproachfully awaiting their moment in the hoop. I have learnt to be OK with that, but it does sometimes stress me out.

I took two quilt tops to be long arm quilted as demos for my class students. Making your first quilt is so daunting that when you get to the finished quilt top point - sometimes embarking on a second hand quilting journey can be too much. Also sometimes you just want it done fast. Sometimes you want a quick functional quilt that will stand up to rough treatment. Often the machine quilting can add a different style of quilting that suits the design you've carefully pieced.

This weekend I plan anther binding marathon, then they'll get the washing machine treatment and I'll'll show you how they look.