Originally Posted by weezie

This is not a question ... mainly I'm just whining.

Because I don't get much time to quilt and only make large quilts, it takes me forever and a day to complete one. I'm almost finished a king sized quilt top which I will photograph and share with you in a few days (hopefully). Right now, I'm sharing my latest goof-up, as follows:

I've always bought large pieces of fabric (leaving room for the inevitable errors), but I have been sewing for decades and thought I had graduated to buying/using die-cut pieces. I bought a selection of lovely 2-1/2" wide batiks (Hoffman Bali Pops) for my first attempt at a French Braid quilt. I also bought the trims, accents, border, backing, instruction book, and lots of neutral 2-1/2" strips for the light areas of the FB ... a total outlay of a lot of cash, for a cheapskate like me.

This past Saturday, I got the urge to get started cutting and putting the strips on the design wall. The interesting thing is that apparently I cannot count or do simple mathematics at this late stage of my life. I have only 1/3 of the batik strips that I need, so I had to go find them on-line (that particular collection is mostly sold out ... forever), but I lucked out, found in stock the 4 more sets I need, and they are ordered and in transit as I type this. So, maybe I'll get the quilt made after all.

Sometimes I wonder if my hobby should be playing with Tinker Toys or Lego blocks instead of something as tricky as making quilts. Making quilts should get easier after the first dozen or more, but sometimes I think I'm making no progress at all.

So, all of you out there who believe dummies (like me) should keep on quilting, please clap your hands!