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Quilting Woes (Quilters please enter!)


Snickerdoodle
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I made a scrappy quilt top from some leftover fabrics.  It's a muted green/yellow scheme.   I finally took it down to the local shop to and couldn't find any fabric I liked for the border/binding and back.    Some other shoppers got interested (all you quilters know what I'm talking about!!) and I got talked into a quite bright raspberry border and a muted green/gold with lots of raspberry accents fabric for the back. 

 

It seemed to work in the store, but now at home in natural light, I don't like it.  I mean it works, I just don't love it.   I just prefer more the more muted, understated look.   Fabric prices being what they are, this will have to do.

 

I'd post a pic, but I'm giving it as a gift so I don't feel right about that. 

 

What ya'll working on?

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I understand, even though I'm not really a quilter; I want to be a quilter, but I can't claim any skill or real experience. 

 

(I am attempting a go at Frankenquilting :smash:  a beloved old quilt; and am working very slowly (think 5+ years) on a paper-piece quilt.)

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I'm working on a queen size quilt, but I get bored easily. My mom gave me the fabric which is lovely, but I have to cut the strips.

I have seven out of the twenty squares I need finished. I was watching videos from the Missouri star quilt company last night, and I can't wait to try some fun quilts with jelly rolls and fat quarters.

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I had a similar thing happen to me when getting backing for my Diary Quilt. Because it is a really big deal quilt for me, I did end up buying different backing later on; I love the fabric I chose originally, but not for the back of that quilt, so I look forward to getting that fabric back in my stash. I did wait for a fabric sale to buy the new fabric, though; it is pricey!

 

I hope that the recipient loves the quilt with what you chose; it sounds lovely. 

 

No current works-in-progress here; just finished a throw for the couch though. Not sure what I'll start next. 

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If the quilt you are making is a gift, I bet the recipient will love the color combo. They probably don't have exactly the same tastes in color combos that you do.

Yep.  This is what I think too.  
 

 

I'm working on a queen size quilt, but I get bored easily. 

 

I've given every quilt I've ever made away as a gift.   The only one I've been working on for myself is still with me 10 years on and only half done...LOL

 

Funnily enough, with this much time.....the fabric choices the former me made...are less to my taste now than they once were.  :D    I might give it as a gift.

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I haven't quilted since fall of last year which sounds like such a long time ago even if it is just a few months back. Oddly enough, I don't love winter for quilting. I think it has something to do with my space being in the basement where it's so cold. Last year my mom and I signed up for a min quilt of the month from Canoe Ridge Creations and I got the first one done fairly quickly, but then the second one has a crazy number of HSTs both big and small and I'm really hating it. I promised it to my girls, though, so now I have to finish it.

I also have a winter quilt cut and I've begun to assemble the top, but then it got a little stressful so I had to out that one on a timeout for awhile. I have another one that the top's finished on, but I have to piece the backing and I'm still on the lookout for the right binding. I saw a nice black and white print on the Noodlehead basket, but I haven't been able to find anything similar. Oh, and then there's a wonky cross quilt that has a long way to go as well as an improve batik wall hanging. Not to mention the other four mini quilts from the aforementioned mini quilt of the month thing. Lol

I can sympathize with you on the fabric. What about a solid border or no border at all? Moda's Bella solids are fairly cheap online @ Fat Quartershop and Fabric.com has really good prices on Kona (so does JoAnn's, but their selection is fairly limited).

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I came back to this thread to tell my quilt story for the week. Ds had to take his car to the mechanic a long way away so I threw a quilt I recently finished in my car when I went to pick him up. In the middle of nowhere I found a great view of a mountain where I could stop and take a picture of my quilt so I had dh take a pic of the quilt while ds and I held it up in the back woods of eastern Shasta county. A local rancher drove by and saw us holding up this quilt (which is the Portland Modern Quilt Guild sampler for 2013, so not a typical quilt anyway) and it was funny as all heck to see his jaw drop. And I have a cool pic of the quilt. Don't ask me to post it, the boards do not like my photos, I am not even allowed to have an avatar, lol.

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My first quilt was enormous squares. My second I sewed together two years ago, pieces were cut by someone else, shades of red, triangles. Looks pretty good. I don't like the way it turned out after I tied it, but dd is happy with it.

Other dd needs something and I have promised. Ds needs a new one since his other one is fairly old.

I am thinking of making a traditional log cabin for myself and dh.

Do you machine quilt with a regular sewing machine?

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Hey, fellow quilers! I just started my very first quilt in November. It's a sampler. It is totally a learning experience. I am using a book (and a few phone calls to a sister) to learn. The quilt top has been finished for about 2 months. I had to wait a couple of weeks to get my walking foot. And now I just need to find the time to continue the quilting. I should have used a paler color for the backing like my sister suggested because the mistakes are oh so terribly noticeable. But oh well. It's my first one and a learning project. I'm hoping my next quilt will be even better. I hope to hang it somewhere in my house when it's all done (and just hope no one looks at the back!). 

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Amethyst, my experience is that you as the quilter know every. single. mistake. that your quilt has.  If you hand quilt it, then you know every single stitch that wasn't an even length and you were too lazy to pull it out.     

 

Other people look at it and only see a work of art.  

 

LOL, true!!!

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I started two quilts at a retreat earlier this month and finished the tops for them. I finally finished quilting and binding them - the second one just last night! I am pleased with how both of them turned out, they are both gifts. Now I am going to work on my block of the month clubs - I am doing the Michael  Miller clubhouse quilt and a Dear Jane quilt. For Dear Jane, we do ten blocks each month and I have three completed. I haven't started my March Michael Miller yet. I also have a graduation quilt to start on, so there's plenty going on here! 

 

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Amethyst, my experience is that you as the quilter know every. single. mistake. that your quilt has.  If you hand quilt it, then you know every single stitch that wasn't an even length and you were too lazy to pull it out.     

 

Other people look at it and only see a work of art.  

 

LOL, true!!!

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Some of the mistakes are pretty obvious. A bunch of the threads got all tangled and there are lots of loops of thread all tangled. But hey, hopefully people will only be looking at the front. The front looks pretty good (for a first attempt). I hope to finish the quilting in the next week. And then I'll have to figure out binding! The binding scares me more than any of the other steps for some reason. (I may be back here looking for tips!)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dd wants a quilt that uses blocks of the stars: Stepping Stones Star Block;Friendship Star;Ohio Star, etc.

These came with a quilt calendar in a box, you know, a block for every day of the year. The layout shows the same 4-7 fabrics being used on all blocks, it is like a star sampler, but we are looking at using different fabrics on each block. 

So, my question is: when you are doing a sampler, do you try to use the same fabrics in every square, or do you just use what you have on hand and don't concern about matching?

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Thanks for the words of encouragement. Some of the mistakes are pretty obvious. A bunch of the threads got all tangled and there are lots of loops of thread all tangled. But hey, hopefully people will only be looking at the front. The front looks pretty good (for a first attempt). I hope to finish the quilting in the next week. And then I'll have to figure out binding! The binding scares me more than any of the other steps for some reason. (I may be back here looking for tips!)

 

 

You'll get it! YouTube became my friend when I taught myself to quilt.  Just remember it is supposed to be fun!   :laugh:

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Dd wants a quilt that uses blocks of the stars: Stepping Stones Star Block;Friendship Star;Ohio Star, etc.
These came with a quilt calendar in a box, you know, a block for every day of the year. The layout shows the same 4-7 fabrics being used on all blocks, it is like a star sampler, but we are looking at using different fabrics on each block.
So, my question is: when you are doing a sampler, do you try to use the same fabrics in every square, or do you just use what you have on hand and don't concern about matching?


Well, I wouldn't say matching, but I would want coordinating which could be as simple as using the same solid for the background fabric which wouldn't have to be white. I'd be more interested in getting a good mix of lights and darks than I would be about matching per se. In part because it's more interesting and because it's a sampler.
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