Cattitude

I am about 75% finished quilting a 65” square top. It is a Christmas present for my 6yr old nephew. I wouldn’t be this last minute but due to a 6 month renovation from hell I lost my quilting space until about a week ago. Due to the time constraints I would have preferred to do an all over design but I wanted to keep the sports themed prints as clean as possible. So, block by block including some ruler work. I am guessing I have 8-10 hrs in already. I don’t consider myself slow but this seems like a lot and it started me thinking what the folks on this board would allow for such a small quilt. I am using my Janome 8900 QCP.

must get back at it now

feline fanatic

I quilt on a LA but do a lot of detailed work. It is not unheard of for me to spend anywhere from 60 to 80 hours on a queen size custom quilt just on quilting alone. Add to that an average of 10 to 15 hours of marking the top. I won't even try to guess the amount of time I spend researching designs and motifs and figuring out how to execute them on the quilt.

The one currently on my rack I have over 80 hours so far. It measures roughly 90 x 108 give or take. When doing labor intensive motifs like ruler work or SITD it takes a long time. You have to go slower to be precise.

ekuw

I quilt on my Janome 8900 QCP too. I don't like the look of all over quilting that I do, so most of my quilts I SITD, then quilt the other areas with stencils mostly. I don't consider myself slow either, but the quilt I just finished which is about 63 x 83 took approx 30 hours. It's just a time consuming process.

quiltingshorttimer

I also quilt on a LA, mostly custom with lots of ruler work. Some quilts just take a longgg time! I can remember doing a large lap quilt (Grinch) for my son and family when I first started quilting on my DSM and thinking it would never get done--was only stippling between the picture blocks and would get so bored that I was falling asleep (the early morning hours on this might have had something to do with it too) so I decided to stitch in their names and the year--realized a year later I had done it upside down!

zozee

It always takes longer than I think it should. You’ll be fine. Just take breaks. Please don’t put your shoulder out of commission like I did last year at this time trying to push myself to get twin grandbaby quilts finished by Christmas.

Mkotch

It has taken me two or three weeks, sometimes, to finish quilting a twin- to double-sized quilt on my DSM. Just depends on the amount of detail you want to include. I enjoy the quiet, meditative state I sometimes get into when I take my time.

NJ Quilter

Totally agree here. Take many breaks. I was rushing to do a king size quilt on my DSM earlier this year. Due to it's size I was doing lots of pushing/pulling of the sandwich and ended up giving myself tendonitis in my elbow!

Be careful! It's rough out there in quilting land!