Quilts were started by women who wanted to use up left over fabric, not wanting to waste anything. They used what was available for batting and then stretched them on a frame and sat in front of the framed fabric and meticulously stitched beautiful patterns. It was more of a chore than a hobby, although some were more creative than others. The value in old quilts is that they were lovingly handmade by our ancestors. Not only a piece of history, but a work of art.

We've come a long way from those days. Now there are quilting machines. One machines resembles a sewing machine but has a long arm so that the larger size of the quilts will fit through. There are now quilting machines that can cut out an entire quilt in less than a half an hour. You just put a cam into the machine in the size and shape you want and it will cut the fabric. Then, once put together with the batting and backing, there is another machine to do the quilting stitch that is continuous around the whole quilt in chosen patterns. The average home quilter needs some mechanical skills just to use them.

Quilting machines are made for home quilters and for manufacturing. The price ranges from $150 for the home quilter who wants to invest in automation, to $17,000 for the manufacturer. Usually the home quilter first chooses the long arm machine and may later graduate to the cutting machine or the quilter. Quilts remain popular and will be a part of our culture for a long time either hand made or machine made.