LOL! That would also be my starting point. :oops:

I think you hit the nail right on the head for alot of us!

:thumbup:

I have several quilt tops in various sizes that are waiting to be quilted. I will send them to a local LAQ. There are show quality quilters in my area who charge $300 and up, but there are also some who charge very reasonable prices and do beautiful work. I have one posted in the Picture section now that was done by one of these lovely ladies for $35.00 and that included the batting. I will post one of the photos below. I love designing and choosing the fabrics and piecing, but hate trying to deal with the weight and bulk of anything bigger than a crib quilt. This is what I do to relax, so if it isn't fun, I don't do it.

I sometimes don't finish my quilt tops because the joy was in the creating / piecing of the quilt top. The rest is a chore. I can't afford to send mine out to be quilted either, so when I have a quilt I'm making for a gift, I will take the time to quilt it ... sometimes with procrastinating first.

Recently I've made 2 batik quilt tops for myself and I'm procrastinating again but I definitely want to finish them after the holidays ... a late gift to me.

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

totally agree.

I have two that I REALLY would like to put out in my house. There are others that await the sandwich, but there is no "destination" for them so there's no rush. The joy was in the learning.

I know at the prices, sending them out is not an option especially when you are on a pension like me. I have been doing quilt as you go techniques and pick the best one for me to do and the size of the quilt too.It would take me a year to save just to send one out to be done and that is a waste of money at the moment. I am not an expert so do my best is all I can do, at least while the machines work.

Thank you all for your replies. There are myriad reasons I now see.
If I may I'd like to add a couple of things friends and I have done to keep costs down. I know batting can be very expensive so we formed like a co-op and bought a whole bolt between us. One of our group found a site here in Australia where we could get 45metres of batting for the price of 30 metres. We were able to buy 3 rolls and try 3 different types:- 100% cotton
50/50 cotton & Polyester
100% polyester.
Unfortunately I was about the only one who liked them.
We have also banded together to buy fabric,( usually from America )
On a site called Shoppers Rule they are selling bulk machine needles today for next to nothing. This site is free to join. I've made several purchases from them even dies for my Accuquilt. Co-op buying is great for saving.
.

True...true. I like the feeling of being able to say that I made the quilt. Does anyone know how that works if a person enters a quilt in a show to be judged? Do they have a seperate category for ones that are completed by two people?

In the bigger shows they do have a separate category for quilts pieced by one person and quilted by another. If they don't have a separate category for those quilts, the quilter should always be credited with the quilting. As a professional LA quilter, if I found that a customer of mine was claiming credit for quilting I had done, they would no longer be my customer OR :evil: I guess I could prominently quilt into the quilt my name and the date that I quilted it!!!