Many of us told her to thank her teacher and move on. I alwys felt sorry for the people who signed up for my beginning photography class at the night school in Harvard Square. I pushed so much down their throats that 2/3s of the class would be gone by the time the class was over. And that wasn't the idea.My job was not to cram two years of photography school down these people's throats, but to instill a love of taking photographs in common every day people. I did fail but I learned. Such is with a mentor from your guild. She is trying to impart so much knowledge to you, she loses sight of the objective. Learn to quilt and LOVE it. Some of her advice was sketchy, like about the sewing machine. It takes simple basic tools to make our art spectacular. We all get into gadgets, new stuff and even new machines but you can never get lost in AQES (Aquire Quilting Equipment Syndrome). Just quilt until you hit a problem that can be solved with technology. And then think about it very hard at first before purchasing something new. Do you have the tools required to get the result you desire? tim in san jose

I made a quilt for my great aunt who has been a quilter her entire life. It had wavy borders, pleats, bad FMQing, mismatched/unmatched points and I had to had extra fabric here and there on the borders and backing fabric. She literally cried when I gave it to her because no one had ever given her anything made specifically for her. I was touched by her reaction and it made the sleepless nights so very worthwhile. A quilting friend of hers saw it after I gifted it and proceeded to point out some of the more obvious flaws. She said she didn't care because it had been made with love and that made it perfect in her eyes. I can only hope my mother will be so gracious with her quilt. I am not a beginner but everything I make has an issue or two but finished is much better than perfect.

Forgot to mention that I used thread to quilt with that *gasp* showed instead of blending in with the fabrics on both the front and back of the quilt. Her friend also pointed that out. Blending the thread would have been impossible given the variety of fabrics and colors used on the front. She still loves the quilt and shows it to all her visitors.

I agree with others. Thank your mentor, make some more friends in the guild, keep your Brother until you're ready to upgrade (if ever) and get going on the borders. It'll be fine and if it's not then the galloping horse test rule comes into play. Can't be seen from back of galloping horse from 200 yards away then it is fine.