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As you all know, many hours are spent in planning, cutting and piecing a quilt top. The excitement of the start, the satisfaction of all those pieces matching up, and then a celebration when what you envisioned comes to fruition. But now you are faced with the most daunting of decisions...how to quilt it? I wonder how many of you are toppers? And by topper I mean you love making the quilt top but then lose steam when it comes to sandwiching and quilting the layers together. I admit what really stops me in my tracks is the layering part...boy, if I could hire someone to layer my quilts I would enjoy the quilting, LOL. It is, after all, another step in the art. With that said, I have a flexible rule for myself...if I have worked really hard on the top...as in hand stitched wool, hexies or hand appliqué, I am sending it out to a professional longarmer. I feel no shame in this decision. On the other hand, if I have pieced a quilt with traditional piecing methods I will give it a go. I like honing my skills and testing my creativity. How about you?

So how do I decide what to quilt? I keep a running board on Pinterest called Quilting, The Final Chapter which is filled with ideas. I have a nice pile of stencils if I need a starting point and I also collect photos of quilting when we are on the road. There are so many wonderful longarm quilters. It truly is an art all by itself!!

I ran out of time so I sent this quilt to one of my favorite longarm quilters. It would have been a perfect quilt for me to practice on because the fabrics are so dark and busy it is hard to see the quilting.

But...when you see the quilting on the back side you really understand the gift of a longarm quilter!

Here are some amazing examples of how quilting sparks a quilt. The samples are hanging in The Quilter's Market in Tucson, AZ. Hope you are inspired to finish up some of those tops!

Click on a photo in the slideshow to zoom in.

Stay tuned and travel along with us on Quilt Roadies.

Click here for Anna's blog.