Does computer quilting save time?

[victoriasews]

I am so swamped with quilts that I never have time to quilt on my own or even make a quilt for me anymore. I\'ve been considering Intelliquilter. Does it actually save time or just let you do a different type of quilting and designing? I love the freehand and will never abandon it but I could sure use a break now and then.

[Mary Beth]

Linda Card brought this subject up once before...I wish I could find it...I think the answer was "no" it doesn\'t save time, it allows you to do other things while it is stitching...like get another quilt ready, etc. You need to stay close by to keep an eye on things. But if I am not mistaken the end verdict was that it is not a time saver.

[nineva]

Nope, not a big time saver. But it does allow me to do things I cannot do freehand. By the time I get the design set up in CQ, get the parameters set up and stitch out, not a lot of time saved, for the first stitch out. But the design can then be used over and over wherever I want to use it on the quilt. That is where the time saving comes in. If I am doing an edge to edge, yes, it is definitely a time saver. Set it up once, index down to the next row, press run and go. Over and over and over. There ya go!

Nancy

[JoAnnHoffman]

If you do pantographs it saves you time.

You can do 3 medium size quilts in a day instead of one.

You don\'t get physically tired doing the pantos by hand you just have to pin and unpin your quilts and change your bobbin.

It save a lot of wear and tear on the body.

[Grammie]

I have done three quilts in a day many times. Like Joann Said you don\'t wear your body out with the computer.

Just depends on what design I choose. One thing is for sure the design that might take say Thirty minutes to stitch in one pass of my quilting space would take me days to draw, trace and follow with rulers. My system more than paid for itself in just over two years. Dont\' forget there is much you can quilt and not just QUILTS.

Also when your having a bad day and not feeling the creativity the computer KEEPS money coming in no matter what. I could do it ONE handed I think. lolo

And it\'s perfect every time. lolol

I also freehand quilts on another machine. I can freehand a queen meander in say about 1 and half hours or less or I can spend three hours freehanding some wonderful Feathers so I guess it is all all you look at it.

I can get CUSTOM results with my Computer and I GET CUSTOM MONEY for the results.

Love Computerized quilting.

Grammie

[Darlene Epp]

I would beg to differ that it doesn\'t save time, and lots of it! BUT it depends on what kind of quilting you\'re talking about. In my Beginners Workshop last week, the students did a block insert "by hand", following a block design with the laser. The time isn\'t in the stitching so much as the set up. Finding the center of the block, positioning the pattern, checking that it\'s square with the block, getting a good start and stop that is tidy enough to bury the ends etc.

Then we inserted 2 MUCH more intricate blocks with the CQ. Tell the machine how big you want the block, jog to the center, push R for run and watch it stitch. The beginning and ending stitches are so tiny we didn\'t even need to bury them. We were using King Tut variegated thread.

The block the students did "manually" from set-up to finish took at least 10-15 minutes and was a simple 12" Fleur de Lis block from one of Norma Sharp-Counce\'s packet.

The blocks we did with the CQ were Daisy Chain Block #6 and a Great Blue Heron I digitized. The husband wanted the heron on his quilt! I think each 13" block took about 4 minutes. THEN the husband decided he wanted the same bird in the upper right hand coner, but facing the other direction and 4" instead of 13". That one took about 2 minutes to set up, flip and stitch.

There is NO way anyone could have stitched those intricate blocks manually, even if they had marked the quilt first and then stitched them.

I think there\'s a computerized system in their future!

[nineva]

Darlene is completely right on. The only time consuming part is the initial set up of that first block. Even then it\'s pretty easy. Then it\'s click and stitch. No tracing around patterns. No templates. No annoying laser light. No wear and tear. I would not give up the computer system. Have you seen Joanne\'s Koi fish. How could you do that over and over quickly freehand. Darlene\'s placemats stitch out in a matter of minutes for that last minute gift you forgot about. Yep, it\'s one of those things that just makes life fun!!

:) NAncy

[DebFigved]

The wear and tear the computer takes away from my lower back is an added benefit. My CQ has been wonderful for the large quilts I\'ve had recently for which customers want dense pantos.

Darlene is right on, the computer is also great to have when you want to quilt very intricate designs. There are many designs that can be purchased that fit into the quilts that would take an enormous amount of time to digitize or quilt manually. Having the ability to purchase designs is wonderful.

Definitely, time is not the only advantage to consider when thinking of computerized quilting.