Hi Mike,
Aren't rotary cutters wonderful. If you still have all of your fingers, then you did it right.
I'm in TX and things tend to be a little cheaper here, but the length x width x .015 is what we pay for an all over pattern. Meaning no custom quilting. If they provide the backing and batting and thread, that is extra. Shop around, you will find different prices and different skill levels.
It took me a long time to cut strips without curves. When you make that first fold, selvage to selvage, don't force a match on the right and left. Just make sure that the fold is straight and not wrinkled. Your first cut will be to straighten the end that you start on. Your first cut may have a large piece of one side and a sliver of the other. Cut your first good strip and look to see if it is straight. Check every few strips, because you may have to make a tiny adjustment and a straighten cut again. I probably saw this on Fons & Porter a few years ago. It has really helped me.
:oops: And I wasn't going to say anything, but my evil twin Helga is looking over my shoulder and she thinks that you may have two blocks going in the same direction on the lower left hand side. She is such a witch.

Happy Quilting,
Helen

Ohhh by god your're RIGHT! THANK YOU! Better to find that now than after I was done....EAGLE EYES!

Wow I would have been SO annoyed with myself when I noticed that! :)

I'll pass your thanks to my evil twin Helga. She is probably somewhere pulling whiskers off of cats or something.

Really, forgive me, we are here to encourage and praise each other. Since you were bothered by the perfectness of your strips, I was afraid that you would be very upset after it was quilted and no one said anything.

I think it's ok to hand quilt, machine quilt yourself or pay someone else to do it - whatever pleases you or fits with the use of the quilt. On the US West Coast I paid $105 for a 95"x95" quilt in Oct 2009. I physically dropped it off and picked it up, so no shipping fee involved, so don't know what that would be if you had to add shipping. Try checking with local quilt store or guild for a recommended local machine quilter (they can be either sewing machine or longarm machine quilter). Good luck and don't worry if you have a little mistake in your quilt - typically only you know it's there.

Also anyone know the price to have a Queen Size quilt machine quilted? I just want a ball park figure for reference. I plan on making quilts for family members, and depending on how much it would be to hire someone as opposed to me trying and failing....I can do a straight line...but idk...it makes me nervous! :)

I am a longarm quilter. For a 90 x 100 Queen quilt, size approx., if I were to do a fairly open design (panto/edge to edge design) I would charge .0125 per sq. inch. The price for quilting would be $112.50, if you didn't supply the batting that would add to the cost. Thread would probably be in the $6.00 to $8.00 range. I give new customers a 10% discount on the quilting service.
Anna

Mike - I think your quilt is great - nice and bright. I am fairly new at this too and it is adicting - your basement does not stand a chance of looking the same as it did before the quilting bug struck you!!! lol Good luck and keep us posted with notes and pictures too of your work. Hopefully Cedar Rapids won't be flooded this spring - that could be hard on fabric and quilting tools.

Congrats, The wickedly easy is catching on. My beginners class is using it for batikc, scraps, novelties. Where's the pictures? We love pictures.

THanks guys, and I did get that bottom panel fixed this evening. :P Woohoo! Thank goodness it wasn't in the middle!!

nice to see a "man" quilting. as for price, i just finished a quilt for my grandson and his new wife and sent it out to be quilted it is only costing a penny a square inch. now i could have sent the batting also but the long arm quilter is picking that up and charging me for it-which is only right.
i also have to pay shipping both ways. so yes it could get expensive. make sure you want to put out this kind of money.
good luck with all your quilting