My sister-in-law was up at my in-laws' recently and my MIL was agreeable to parting with a few quilting related items. Once my MIL began to get irritated, they stopped, but she said she wanted me to have this quilt top. I am honored. She doesn't remember making it, but she absolutely did. At 102"x 118", it is huge.
I need to hunt for a backing, but It's just a hodge podge of so many old western prints combined into one fabulous scrappy quilt!
We're thinking she made it about 20 years ago so the fabrics are probably 20-50 years old or whenever western fabrics were first produced.
I don't know if low-volume prints were a thing back then, but she found some great ones to include
She hand quilted every single quilt she ever made and part of me is considering doing the same with this one. Is that the crazy part talking or should I have it machine quilted?
I could use your input. My SIL is a quilter and she thinks it's crazy to hand quilt it.
I'm on the fence....and of course it's barbed wire so I'd like to pick a side because it's a tad prickly up here. 😂
10 comments:
In the past year or so I have started hand quilting and I love it! If you aren’t in a hurry to finish it, it’s nice to have something to pick up at night and work on. I do mainly the big stitch type of quilting and I do baste it on my long arm. Beautiful quilt and you won’t go wrong, whatever you decide.
I think hand quilt, unless you are in a hurry to finish it .I have made many quilts and I have hand quilted most of them.
Let your longarm ladies do their magic! It will be done and you can enjoy it.
I think it depends on the time you are willing to spend on it. There are no rules. This is an heirloom quilt for your family. The machine quilting will not make it less valuable. You always are very busy so your time is the factor.
It would honor your MIL’s ways if you hand quilted it and you would connect with each fabric as you stitched but given its size, it would take a long time. If you have the gumption and are willing to wait, I’d hand quilt it :-)
I long arm the log cabin quilts that I make, quilt a straight line horizontal one inch apart the entire quilt. They turn out beautiful. You can put the binding on by hand and that way you can say that you had a part in finishing it. Such a beautiful and cozy quilt.
I would hand quilt it and use the Baptist Fan pattern.
The fabrics are wonderful! She did a great job. The big question for me on whether or not to handquilt would be space available. Time will be available this winter. But, can you leave a frame up? Do you have a hoop and the willingness to carry around the weight? It will be lovely either way.
I am a hand quilter. My first class was on hand piecing and hand quilting over 30 years ago. I still hand quilt but do not hand piece. Nothing beats hand quilting in my opinion but that size quilt will take you a long time! You will probably need to buy a quilt frame; they do have plastic snap together ones. I don’t have any problems with my hand hurting and I’m 63 but I know ladies who can no longer hand quilt because of arthritis. Lots to think about.
So far it seems to be evenly divided on opinions. With all the seams, machine quilting may make it stronger especially if you are going to use it. If not then hand quilting would make it extra special. Either options works, how soon do you want to utilize it. Time is a consideration. Dotti in CT
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