Have you ever thrown a quilt away?

Unlike my nature I have. Honestly this is really not me, but I did!

Went to a quilters retreat and used my favorite fabric for a mystery quilt. ( I didn't had a lot of it, but for this project, enough).

I haven't seen this fabric anywhere either, must be a very old, but beautiful fabric. I'm always on the look out for it, but no luck.

I chose all the other colors from this fabric, it was a wonderful combination. (So in my opinion, nothing could go wrong).

The nature of the mystery, it's a mystery!

It came out, that all the other fabric where more dominant than my main fabric. (My favorite). My main fabric was seen only in small areas, which really ticked me off. Urgh!

What made it even more upsetting the instructor knew which one of the fabrics, I wanted to show off more. She didn't say anything, just smiled.

Looking at the finished top, I almost cried. (Which isn't me either)!

Even though I really didn't like it at all. I did started quilting it at home, but never finished it. Every time I looked at it, it made me upset. So it went in to the back corner of my closet and lay there for many years.

Until two years ago, I just threw it away! Couldn't even give it to someone else, because it still made me upset.

So now you can call the quilt police on me. I'm guilty as charged and confess to my crime. :oops:

Do I regret doing it? No way! :P

So what is the lesson I've learned? Don't do a mystery? No!
Just don't use your favorite fabric until you know what it will look like! :thumbup:

Since I am new to this board, I have no idea what a mystery quilt is.

You don't know what the quilt will look like, just get the requirements for yardage.

Also you don't know what you are working on. Once one step is finished, you will get the instructions for the next step, and so on.

Just like baking a cake, you don't know what the endresult will be. You get to know what you need and what goes in the batter next, but don't know which cake you are baking, until the end.

I hope that explains it a little bit.

Sorry that you waisted your favorite fabric. A mystery quilt is when you don't know what it is until it is done. Our quilt club does these every year. They can be fun. But as we just read, they can be upsetting also.

Good lesson learned!!

I havent "quite" thrown one away... but... I did go to a class, it was for a QAYG method. I was going to make said quilt and give it to my sis, so i bought fabric just to suit her likes. I HATED IT. I hated the technique, I hated how it looked... It sat and sat and sat. Finally I binded what was done, and gave it to her has a mat for her dog. :) Worked for me and her!!

I have thrown a couple of them away too. Ugly, poor technique, etc. They are just quilts not sacrd artifacts

I've got one in the back of my closet....not brave enough to toss yet!!!

I haven't ever thrown any away, but I have been disappointed a time or two when it didn't turn out like the picture in my head. I gave the tops to a nurse friend who quilts them, then she gave them to terminal patients in the hospital. After they pass, the quilt is given to the family. The quilts may not be what I wanted, but they gave others comfort, and that makes me feel much better.

That is something I should have done, but like I said, my behavior was so not me.

The only one I threw away was my Fairy Quilting Godmother. It was aweful. I think because one of my questions I answered "triangles and rotary cutter" I had pieces smaller than a sliver of my fingernails. I was disgusted that I even did a few rips and cuts and very, very bad words.

That was a hard lesson to learn. Actually, I think you did the right thing. I've had a few knitting projects that turned out less than I'd hoped for. I can't tell you the great sense of relief I felt when I got rid of them.

I did a block swap once and had so much fun participating. But I was so disappointed in what I received back that they all got tossed. Didn't even attempt to sew them together into a quilt top.

I recently took a Bargello class. When I started to put it together, I decided I didn't like any of the colors I picked. At least I didn't like them together. I mentioned to another in the class that I was going to throw it away. She kept saying that she would finish it. I gave it to her, and never saw it again. I think throwing it away is better than looking at it and feeling guilty and hating it.
Sue

What you actually threw away was the instructor that failed you. She was wrapped up in this quilt and you could never get her out. You did the right thing to get rid of her. Sometimes it just has to be. And in the end you did at least have a learning experience from it all. :thumbup:
peace

I tossed a quilt top I hated. It was a mystery quilt through my guild. I didn't enjoy cutting it out, I hated sewing it together - and so I tossed it. Life is to short to have to waste my time working on something that annoys me - in the name of a hobby. Move on to something which brings you some enjoyment.

AMEN!

Amen to that!

I hurt for you. I almost used a favorite fabric in a mystery quilt, but changed my mind at the last minute. I am so glad I did. It was the most awful quilt I have ever made. It was just plain UGLY! I did finish it and donated it to a charity. The person who received it absolutely loves it. So I guess the quilt wasn't that bad. I am just glad I changed fabrics!

Amen (smile). Ditto.

Oh, dear. My second bed-sized quilt. I found a floral fabric that was so beautiful. I came up with a pattern to feature it and planned to quilt feather wreaths over the large open blocks between dark green chain. I thought it would look like a trellis. Problem was (the first problem, that is), I didn't have a pattern and really didn't know what I was doing. Mismatched seams and disappearing points everywhere. Little tiny chain blocks. I finally got that son of a gun pieced together and sandwiched and was so excited to start quilting. At that point I still liked it. Soon after I started quilting it, I realized that the quilting didn't show on the floral fabric, which was an especially big blow since I was handquilting it. It was going to look very blah. All the badness of it just started to glare out at me.

I changed the plan from feather wreaths to one giant outline of a heart in the center of those big blocks. I started to hate the whole thing, but kept plugging away anyway. (I bought fabric for, and abandoned, a couple of other quilts before this one. DH was giving me the evil eye.) Eventually I hated it so much that I put it in a trash bag and stashed it away in the attic.

Last year, I pulled it out and gave it to my sister. She kept it for a while- then gave it back, darn it. Back to the attic.

The thing is, it was supposed to be for my little girl and she really liked it (she didn't know any better!).

I pulled it out recently to re-assess the situation. I think I've come up with a quilting compromise that I can live with (will just have to pull out that one feather wreath), so it's now on the list of things to finish. DD has moved on and wants me to make her a different quilt, but at least it will be done and will keep somebody warm in the winter!

I have done several Mysteries with my quilting friends at church. However the person who picks the Mystery knows what it is and which fabrics go where and usually helps the rest of us with where to use each fabric. It has been fun!

Pitched one for the first time a few months ago. I took a class for OBW through the guild I belong go. Fortunately, there was no charge for the class, and I got the fabric on sale.

I had all of the rows done, it was on my design wall for weeks, but I just hated it. At first I thought it was the fabric I used, but I've since looked at lots of them and I just don't like them.

After a while, I just decided to give myself permission to pitch it and that's what I did. Didn't try to save any of the fabric, just tossed the whole bit. Ahh, a weight off my shoulders!

I have done a few mysteries, and some I ended up liking more than others, but I've never disliked it enough to toss it.

Thank goodness I am not the only one! I am not fond of the OBW either... I dont mind the ones that are sashed... but still. Not a fav. So glad I am not alone!!

Okay so we are sharing disasters.....Mine was a panel done with highloft that I tried to pillowcase BEFORE I quilted it. Can you tell I was a beginner?

I have tossed a couple baby size ones that were terrible. Others that I didn't like I finished and gave away.

Yesterday, I made a dog quilt out of a baby quilt I had made as a gift. When I went to quilt the baby quilt,, the back side had all kinds of wrinkles where I had not pressed well. My dh was going to take the stitches out for me...well, we waited a few months and I figured that wasn't going to happen.

Yesterday I enclosed the quilt inside a blanket (fleece) and then quilted it all in channels. The dogs have a soft fleece padded bed for the living room floor, and I no longer look at the horrible quilting.

I don't like mystery quilts for the same reason. I don't mind doing a mystery block but I want to know what is going on so I can choose the fabric that I want to use

A friend gave me a partially quilted quilt if I wanted to finish it. Otherwise donate it somewhere because she couldn't stand it any more. I tried. Got to certain points and couldn't make myself complete it either. It's sitting in the closet for one of those days when I have nothing else to work on. Otherwise it will get donated somewhere. Don't sweat it. It's a live and learn situation. I've not done a mystery quilt but I'm surprised that they didn't tell you which fabrics would be dominant. Maybe I'm just uneducated on mystery quilts????

Give it to a shelter or nursing home. The quilt can still help someone keep warm in the winter and in the end, give you peace.

I'm glad to see, I wasn't the only one, throwing a quilt away. :-D

I would not through away a quilt, at least I would have given to Goodwill, I'm sure someone would have bought it.

As ubequilting and JimGem's mentioned upthread, a lot of the failure of the quilt belongs to the teacher running the mystery.

I've run several, and I always did everything I could to make sure the instructions were as explicit as possible, so the participants could/would make the appropriate fabric selections.

The color theme was actually irrelevant, but it was my responsibility to make sure that the value and scale of the fabrics selected would work in the final quilt.

Although, sometimes I do have to say, someone would insist on using fabrics that had been in their stash forever, and even when warned that it might not work, still insisted. And when it didn't, I could only shrug my shoulders.

I'm sorry yours didn't work out. But mystery quilts can be a lot of fun.

You just have to really dissect the fabric requirements provided, and if details on the value and scale required are missing, push to get more details.

I have not thrown it away yet!! but I did un pick it and now I have a box of pieces which I am intending to stitch back together one day into a different design! I know exactly how you feel and congratulations on letting it go!!

I've DONATED a couple. There was that big six point star cut from pieced blue stripes. It made me seasick. The clerk at Habitat said a lady bought it and came back a week later with it finished! Couldn't understand why someone would get rid of it.

Always consider stuffing everything in a bag and donating it. I'm always thrilled to find someone's unfinished project.

I would never make a mystery quilt. I have to know what the quilt will look like before I spend my precious time on it. Maybe I'm just not a fun person.

I just recently tossed one. It was a buck-a-block made with thangles. I found a backing that had some lines on it that made me think I could quilt it from the back . . . .WRONG! I got it over half done and decided it looked awful. I put it aside thinking I could use it for practice. Got tired of looking at it. I cut it up saving what fabric and batting I could and tossed the rest. Have too many other projects I want to do to waste anymore time on something I disliked so much. No regrets.

I haven't thrown one away, but I have made a screen porch table cloth out of an unhappy quilt. After some sun fading the quilt became a happy accent on my table.

8-) 8-) well i was making this Quilt for my daughter, the pattern was tricky but doable,BUT i hated the fabric,not anything i would buy thank god it was a faze she was going through. i made the top . put it on my long-arm, even went as far to take a picture ---looked at the photo-- that was it , UGLY. i took that puppy folded it up and donated that, what i call mud fabric to senior citizens club ,they cut up material and reuse it,Ducked the Quilt Police. ps, never did tell Sindi. ;-)

I agree with you to get rid of it. I use my burn barrel.NJF

I've donated a few to the quilters at my church, they finish them and donate them to disaster organizations. If someone is left with nothing they appreciate even the pieces we consider disasters.