boggled by piecing
 

I've been working on super simple baby quilts with either a simple piece of fabric with batting and binding, using stipples made easy for my quilting, or else panels. No piecing or anything complicated. I'm ready to go back to piecing which I really enjoy but after so many no brainers I feel intimidated by my kits or pattern's that require thinking about what I am doing. I've got plenty to work on but no confidence. I've pieced more than my share in the past that have turns out pretty well not perfect but I sure love it. Thanks for letting me express my fears, now maybe I can get to work and do something more. Oh and another thing, I don't feel like a real quilter because I use the tear away paper for my quilting patterns, the finished product looks pretty good, but I feel like I am cheating. The quilt police are at my door. Good thing my quilting room is downstairs, sunny and yellow and warm, when I am there and I have it cleaned up it is a wonderful haven,I quess that's what it is all about. Well the rambling has gone on long enough. Thanks for reading if you made it clear to the end.

just jump back in. you will be that pro again in no time. remember, the quilt police were made up by meanies who wanted to intimidate you. don't let that happen. the worst day quilting is still better than the best day at work.

I didn't consider myself a quilter until I found this board. I like to buy fabric, cut it up into little pieces, sew it back together, then run it through my sewing machine a zillion times. I call myself a quilter now. haha Don't be hard on yourself and don't worry about what others say. Just enjoy what you do.

the tear-away paper is just a means of marking your design and i don't consider it cheating at all!! even long-armers use templates. If you're an artist as well as a quilter, then you could free-hand your designs but wouldn't you still need to mark it in some way? (actually not sure about that last question lol)

Just hang in there!!!!!

The quilt police can't get to you. Keep on going. There are no rules in quilting. Just love what you are doing.

Chose a pattern with nice size pieces and as my son would say, start small and do a little every day. I don't like squares smaller than 2 1/2 inches. I really liked working with the 6 1/2" HSTs in the Carpenter Star quilt. Come back and let know how you are progressing. There are wonderful helpers and cheerleaders on this board.

Do a few practice pieces before you jump into making a quilt. I'm always stitching up a quilt block I like, or a nine-patch, or a 16 patch, or a particularly intricate quilt block, something like that. My rule is: they all have to be 8" square. Then I toss them in a box. Someday, I'm going to do something with that box. Until then, it's just my "warm up" pieces, or my "gain my confidence" pieces. It's just put me through the whole process of choosing colors, cutting pieces, stitching them together to make a whole, practicing my scant 1/4 inch seam -- everything I'd do for a quilt. It doesn't take much time to do one block, and then I'm all warmed up and ready for more.

Oh, and please just get past using paper for quilting. I use it too. I can do some small things free hand, but if I want them to look really nice, I need the paper. I am not going to mess around with the pounce and chalk, and drawing things on my quilt, when in mere seconds I can slap some paper down and start on beautiful quilting. Easy peasy. It's just another tool for quilters like us. I focus my art on putting my quilt together, because I'm not an artist with the quilting itself, and that's just real life. Doesn't mean I can quilt. Doesn't mean my quilts aren't beautiful. Just means I do them a little differently that some people. But if you read this Board a lot, I'll bed you'll see that there are lots more people like us, who need "assistive devices" with their quilting, than people who can just take off and spontaneously quilt gorgeous motifs right out of their head! That's an art form in and of itself, and we are not all so gifted.

Happy Quilting!