A Little Birdie Told Me... It's not a quilt until it's quilted

A wise friend has often told me "It's not a quilt until it's quilted." Her words have been getting louder and louder in my head recently as my pile of quilt tops has grown.

 

I often have multiple projects going on at once. A new idea will come and I'll start a project. Despite this I didn't use to have a pile of quilt tops. Once a project got to that stage of a finished top I was usually committed to completing it. 

 

Has anyone ever told you it's about the journey and not the destination? I think we often forget this during the quilt making process. Even if we enjoy the journey we keep focusing on the destination. When I went outside earlier to take these photos I stopped for a minute and just enjoyed being outside. The weather... the flowers... the sounds... all of it.

 

So I have this stack of quilt tops. There are six tops in this stack & more in the studio. I could tell you that I'll have them done soon, but in reality I probably won't. The "Quilting" step in quilt making is my least favorite. Recently I only get projects done because of deadlines. Once the quilting is done I love binding the quilt. When the right inspiration comes I'll finish these tops and have a few more quilts.

  

That same wise friend recently wrote a blog post titled, "It's not a quilt until it's quilted." Her post was actually the spark that got me thinking for this post.

 

In her post she shows the quilt below. I saw this quilt a few months ago when it was just a top. The quilting makes it sing & I wanted to share it with you.

  

quilt details

fabric is Mingle by Monaluna

& Kona Crush

pattern - Piece of Cake

designed by Camille of Thimble Blossoms

pieced by Natalie of Beyond the Reef

quilted by Kenna

  

What are your thoughts?

Is it not a quilt until it's quilted?

Do you have a pile of tops that need to be quilted?

Do you have a least favorite step? 

 

I'll be back on October 22nd

volume 1 post 5

{ julie herman blogs at jaybird quilts }

Comments

[rubia]

I have a growing stack of tops. Red/white/blue, my son's quilt, my daughter's, my own lap blanket and now I'm starting another top. My problem is that I never have enough batting and backing ready when the top is finished! And I hate binding. LOL

[Angela]

I do have a pile of quilts that aren't quilted yet! But I also think that the quilting step is what MAKES the quilt.

I'm constantly amazed at the transformation of a very pretty quilt top into a FABULOUS quilt by the actual quilting. It's like going from 2D to 3D. That texture and depth adds a huge amount of richness to the finished quilt.

[Angela]

oh, and my least favorite step of the whole process is the joining together of blocks in rows, or adding boarders. I don't like either of those things.

[Sandy]

Quilting the top is definintely my least favorite step. I hate having to think about the design and trying to get the thing in the machine and getting the stitches even and don't get me started on Marking the quilt (yeah, no free motion in this house).
Harriet Hargrave also told me that the quilt is not finished until it's quilted.
In all honesty I think the issue for me is that I get very frustrated with that part of the creation process since I really don't have the proper setup to quilt the quilt top comfortably. I think if you practice and have the proper layout in your studio the activity would not be as frustrating and I would approach it without dread. Until then... my long arm quilter is sending her kids to private school on my dime. LOL!

[Melissa Corry]

I just started "quilting" my quilts about a year and a half ago when I got a machine that is actually capable of doing it. I love it!! I actually don't like binding all that much. I despise anything by hand and so I attach my bindings with my machine :) It makes my least favorite part a little more pleasant.

[Julie]

I say a quilt isn't a quilt until it has binding. I love the feeling of finishing a quilt and quilting it the second I finish it. I think I love to quilt so much because I get to look at the pieced together top the whole time I quilt...and then it sits in a pile waiting to get binding. It's just the hardest part for me!

[Mary Val]

I make a top, then the backing, then I immediately make the bias binding. I hate to quilt a top then have to stop to make the binding -- I lose all my momentum, and procrastinate. I make a top, I quilt it or if it's too big to do on my table top machine, I take it straight to the quilter. When the quilting is finished, I bind it immediately. Because if I don't do it right away, it will sit while I go on to something else, and then the unfinished task will eat at me. I don't like the way that feels, and I DO like the way it feels to complete the project. I want to see the top when it's quilted, another motivation. I don't like making the bias binding.

[leslie]

i have a ton of tops that need to be finished and quilted!!! i am glad to know i am not the only one out there

[Kaye Prince]

Quilting is also my least favourite part and I always have to push myself to finish it! That said I'm often (unless I have multiple deadlines) a one quilt at a time kinda-girl (although that's not to say that I'm not designing all the time) and I feel truly accomplished when a project is actually done!

[Lisa]

I have a pile of quilt tops too. My least favourite part of making the quilt is piecing the back - but I really love pieced backs so the effort is usually worth it! I always find I don't have quite enough fabric left to make the back the way I want it, and by then I want to spend my money on a new fabric line! I love most of the aspects of quiltmaking, including binding, and I do try to keep it in mind to enjoy the process. But most of my quilts seem to have a vacation in their process in between being a flimsy and being a quilt!

Anyway, we perservere don't we - there really isn't any step in quiltmaking that is more fun than pulling the quilt out of the dryer, laying it out on the floor and admiring one's own cleverness!!!

[DianeY]

I actually enjoy the quilting part. I'm fairly new at it so I find it fun just that I'm able to do it. My least favorite part is actually the basting of it. I think it's the getting down on the floor part that I hate (I'm not as young as I used to be!)
And yes, I have a short pile (about 3) waiting for that step. I'm determined to finish them before I start any new ones

[Natalia]

I totally agree that it's not a quilt until its quilted. The quilting and the batting totally bring the fabric to life. :)

[KarrieLyne]

To me, a quilt is not complete until I pull it out of the dryer. I love the smooshed up look of a quilt. I know some say don't wash and dry your quilt but when I make a quilt, I want it to be used and loved and if it wears out, then it's done its job and I'm happy!

As far as finishing my quilts, over the last year I have gotten so much better. I used to never finish anything. Now, I make it a point to finish it. Not just the top but the quilting and binding too. I've made this a priority because I found when I had so many to finish, I was overwhelmed and basically gave up. Those tops deserve to be finished after all that work! :D

My least favourite part is the quilting, but that is because I have to do it on my machine. I think I'd enjoy it more if I had a longarm, actually, I know I would. How many tops do I have right now that need to be quilted....I have two. Three if you include the one that I will finish quilting tonight. :)

Love the quilt you shared! I giggled when she said she took a hose to it!! LOL!

[Toni]

I love to make quilt tops. I love playing with the fabrics, patterns and colors. But I agree, the true depth and feel of a quilt, isn't there until the quilt is quilted. I thought quilting with a walking foot was rather slow and boring. I just took a class in free motion and I'm practicing daily. I built a bunch of "quilt sandwiches" in advance so I wouldn't have an excuse to put off the practice. Hopefully I will be able to reduce my stash of smaller flimseys soon. Large ones will still go to the long arm quilter. My least favorite part? I agree with Angela, sewing the rows together! Binding? I like it. I've always liked handwork.

[Mary Ann]

I only have one top waiting for quilting and that is going off to Natalia next week (why I didn't send it with the one she just finished I can't tell ya..) I usually get the quilting done or I do straight line or small tops pretty soon after I finish the top. I love to bind but still have 2 quilted quilts unbound and thats because I didn't make the binding when I pieced the quilt. And they both have scallops which require some thinking and careful cutting before I attach the binding I haven't made yet.
What I don't like much is piecing the rows together, by then you know what the top is going to look like and I'm kind of eager to move on to the next one! I have been trying to have a couple of tops in the works so I can do chain piecing when I want to sew but not work to hard and something that requires more careful piecing for days I'm looking for the challenge!

[rachel]

I hate sewing rows together or blocks... I have a whole pile of tops hanging in my closet. Since loading the back is the tough part for a longarmer... if you give the longarmer a double long back and get 2 done at once you can sometimes get a better price... or if you are getting one done for print they may do another...
I have a handiquilter so I love the quilting part...
Lately, with all the sudden stresses of life I have really been into the "process" and not at all with finishing... its really my therapy now... but a quilt isn't a quilt till its quilted... this I know..

[Sarah C.]

I must be weird - I love all the parts of making a quilt, from picking out a pattern and fabric, to cutting and piecing, to making a back, putting the quilt sandwich together, quilting and binding! And then of course, washing, drying, and admiring the finished product! Because I make quilts for a quilt ministry, I don't have the luxury of setting a quilt aside half finished - we have to finish ours right away so they can go to their intended recipients. But that's been a good thing for me - because I used to be finish-challenged! So - I don't call it a quilt until it's quilted; an dI only have one WIP that's half-way quilted - it's for me and got set to the side when I had a ministry need come in - but hopefully I'll be able to finish that one soon!

[corina c]

My favorite part of the quilting process is the planning. I will think about a quilt for days, sometimes weeks....which pattern to use, maybe change it up to make it my own, find the right fabrics etc. By the time I've done all that it feels like I've "been there, done that" and I want to move on. Yes, I have completed many quilts in my mind, not that many in reality. Occasionally I have a project that is time sensitive and I get it done and it feels great. But i even love my "mind" quilts. They can never be given away and i can see them every time I touch that special fabric.

[JoQuilter]

For me, the best part of making a quilt is the quilting. I am a hand quilter and I love to sit in my favorite platform rocker, look out the window at the Mississippi River, have an audiobook on my iPod, and quilt. That's heaven. I have made the quilting easier by sending my top out to a long armer to baste. I do not use a hoop but cuddle with the quilt on my lap, I mark as I go, and most important, I "Big Sitch Hand Quilt".

The worst park of making a quilt is making the label.

[Diana]

I agree, it's not a quilt until it's quilted! I have a pile of quilt tops just sitting, waiting to be quilted and become "real quilts." It drives me crazy! My favorite step is piecing them; I love to see the pattern come alive! My least favorite part? Putting the finished top away to await quilting. Depressing! I think I better learn to hand quilt.

[Sarah]

I'm such a slow worker that I only ever have one "finished" project to quilt! I have plenty of block experiments, but nothing that could be described in any terms as a quilt top waiting to be quilted lol! If only!

I love the binding process and until I'm better at it, no doubt, I pretty much veer away from machine quilting and end up hand-quilting instead.

[Vanessa]

Pile of quilt tops? Guilty! I have at least 3, and I'm not even that big of a quilter. I do dread the whole pinning/basting step and quilting is challenging. As one other poster said, not haviing the right set up is the biggest mental hurdle. I also dislike adding the borners/sashing!

[Melissa Stramel]

It probably should actually be, it's not a quilted until it's bound!!!! I have one that's been quilted for years now and I just need to motivate myself to bind it.

[Marcia W.]

Yes, it is not a quilt until the quilting and binding are completed and you can use it (on the bed or hang it, or whatever). Otherwise, it is just an unfinished quilt top. One area quilting group says that it is not a quilt unless it is handquilted.

[Anne D]

I am still not very good at the quilting and I don't enjoy it. I have a lot of quilt tops to be quilted and most of my bigger quilts have been quilted professionally. A have a lot of quilts in progress, a pile to be quilted, some piles ready to be started and a million ideas!!