Quiltingboard Forums - View Single Post - Is there a thread about unloved, fed up with, unfinished quilts ?

09-06-2014, 11:49 AM

#19

Macra

Member

Join Date: Aug 2014

Location: Lanarkshire,

Posts: 47

Thank you for the replies; I think Jan's sums my opinion on this one up perfectly

I tripped across it again this week. It was intended to be a bright happy, sunny, rainbow of a quilt with appliqued and embroidered (with silk no less

) butterflies.

I am, if you'll excuse my Scotticism, thoroughly scunnered with it.

I have only one phobia; I was never the type to hide under the blankets, I wanted to see what the bogey man looked like; and it's fluttery things. Moths and butterflies have me squeaking like a six year old.
I carefully pieced a rainbow of Leonardo's knot and herringboned over the long pieced on rays to make a rainbow sunburst centre, and then started to put on the butterflies and embroider them. All of the top stitching is hand embroidered using silk.

I hate this quilt; I open it up and I kind of shudder. I had some daft idea that it would somehow ease my phobia, stop me being so blooming stupid about insects that can neither burn, bite, sting, nip or poison me. It didn't work. I started it twenty five years ago when I couldn't even buy quilting fabrics easily, so though it's mostly cotton, it's a mix of cottons, from the then fashionable satin finished stuff to lightweight twill woven. The colours and the silks pulled it all together surprisingly well. I had thought to applique on the butterflies, embroider over them, and then when I was quilting it to make kind of loopy circular trails leading the butterflies back to their matching colour on the centre rainbow thingie.

I opened it up and shook it, forgetting that I had put the paper templates and cut out appliques for my butterflies inside and they 'fluttered' and I squeaked and when I got my heart rate down again, I realised I really, really, really, do not like this quilt, will never finish this quilt and want to see the back of it.
I can't seem to throw it in the bin though.

I am so tempted to cut the centre medallion out of the background (plain yellow, so terribly 80's too) and see if I could somehow turn it into a small throw.

I'll see about pestering the husband to help me get a photo up, but in the meantime the quilt top and pieces are back in the box.

I can't be the only one who starts something like this thinking it's a good idea, and realising after a fair bit of work that it's as dead as the dodo and not going to be resurrected ?

It'd feel like a bit of a cheek phoning up some stranger and asking if they'd like my castoffs; different if I belonged to the guild or a group though.

Mary

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