Decisions
 

I am sure you quilters can help me out. I want to use some of the fabric I have been collecting. It is not a big stash, but I would rather not buy new fabric when I have some. Do I need a pattern first? How do I convert jelly roll, charms, etc. patterns into the yardage I have. I am looking to make some baby quilts, charity quilts and possibly a twin size. By the way, I am in my upper 70"s and really would like to use what I have.

There was a recent post where someone's mother 78 years old passed on all her fabric to her. That made me wonder am I getting too old to quilt. I love to create and hate to have to give up yet.

To answer you last comment first...NO you are not too old to quilt! I'm almost 72 & plan to be quilting for many, many years from now. I don't know if you are familiar with Bonnie Hunter but she makes wonderful scrap quilts & you might check out her site here:

http://www.quiltville.com/

She has a lot of free patterns & tons & tons of valuable information on her site.

Go for it & never stop doing what you love!

No, you are not too old to quilt... I am 73, mow my own lawn, clean my swimming pool filter, prune my bushes, garden, keep chicken and I still have time to quilt. I do the outside work in the morning, come in take a shower, a nap and then quilt in the evening. I also have a HQ16 that I quilt for myself, friends and others.

My daughter, who also quilts, comes shopping in my stash. We have discussed what will happen to my stash and my sewing machines (7).

O hope you don't think this is morbid but I want my son to make my casket lined with my favorite quilt and a rotary cutter in my hand..

So never give up, have fun doing what you like to do.

In my mom's senior quilting group you would be the young one. One of the ladies just turned 98 and she is still going strong!!!

No, you definitely are not too old to quilt. I am 79 and started quilting 4 years ago. I quilt every spare minute as there is so much I want to quilt. And I am having so much fun! I love using pre cuts because they save me time. Most of the patterns I use are for precuts. When I want to use yardage to make my own precuts, I use the slots of the June Taylor Shape Cut Pro to cut 10" or 5" squares or 2 1/2" jelly roll strips. I have the electric AccuQuilt Go Big; but, for me, there is less fabric waste with the Shape Cut Pro and I have used it so much that I am very fast with the cutting. I hope you will quilt and that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Jenny Doan from the Missouri Star Quilt Company has lots of video tutorials on YouTube--she makes quick and easy quilts.

This site lists the sizes of pre-cuts--you can cut them from yardage to suit a pattern that calls for pre-cuts: http://www.quiltwithmo.com/fabric-terms.htm

Keep quilting!! It keeps the mind active.

No such thing as too old to quilt!

as for using your stash, I tend to look for patterns first, keeping in mind my stash fabric and quantities. Once I have matched up piles of fabric to a pattern, THEN I start cutting. The trick is going through patterns/pictures of quilts and finding the pattern that suit your fabric and quilting skills.

If if you are looking for some simple designs, think about a 3 or 5 rail fence pattern---you can make it work with almost all fabrics. Another is a simple square in a square pattern if you have lots of small cuts and FQs.

If you want to and are able to - you are young enough to do so!

Your never too old to quilt. I am 72 and quilt almost every day. It gets so "bad" that I dream about quilting my latest creation. One bad habit I have is starting the next quilt before finishing the one I am working on. I enjoy making difficult patterns, and have 3 almost ready to quilt. My new machine has a larger harp so I can quilt on it. I have recently made 3 or 4 twin sized using mainly my stash. The only problem is my stash seems just the same size as it's always been.
Sue