Disappointment
 

How do you deal with disappointment in a quilt you've made?

I just finished quilting one and I am just ugh over it. It's so bad I just want to throw it away and not bind it. I swear since the moment I cut into the charm pack things went wrong. From a mistep cutting to being unable to match my navy when I ran out (two different stores and checked every bolt of solid navy there including the same brand I originally bought). Seam issues when making the top. Border issues that turned into creative license. Making the sammich was an issue. Thread problems. That one is all me. What I thought would look good doesn't. The first time I quilted it I got 3/4 of the way done and ripped it out to redo it. Now I'm really unhappy and just want to throw the dang thing away and move on. I have plenty of side projects I can do instead. But I know I can't do that. So I need to deal with it.

If it looked better I would give it away as a Christmas gift but right now it's barely fit for my dog to snuggle under.

I will add a picture of it in a bit. My boss wants to play in her toy box lol.

You said it yourself "move on". No sense spending more time and energy on something that you have decided makes you unhappy. Life, and quilting time, are too short for that.

I would put it aside and work on something else. Then go back and finish it and donate it to a homeless shelter or women's shelter. Some times it just takes a break from something that your not satisfied with to develope fresh eyes and the energy to finish.

Here are pictures. I love the top and the back is my favorite but the quilting. Ugh. I swear I could just beat myself for ripping it out and redoing it since the redo looks like poo.

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Top

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Back

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Close up of my attempt at wavy lines. I *think* the part that eats me up is the thread. I thought it would pop and looks good but dang it looks bad. Really really bad. I love the quilting on the backing. That just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I don't know what to do with it right now. I just know my head won't let me move past it till I finish it.

I like what you have done, but we all are our own worst critics. It's really OK to not finish it. We all have to give ourselves permission to stop making ourselves crazy. Think about it for a few days, then do what your heart tells you.

I really like it! Send it to me if you want to get rid of it.

Deb

finish up the binding & donate it to one of the organizations that put together holiday baskets/gifts---someone will love it! they will not see what you consider glaring imperfections- they will only see the beauty, love & caring that someone put into it. I've had a couple of those- oh so bad quilts- I hated- wanted to send to the dump- they wound up going to someone who thinks they have the most wonderful quilt ever created- one of them when I visit the person who has it even though it's been years- I still cringe at the site of it on her bed---want to take it off & hide it---but she LOVES it! someone will LOVE yours too.

Sometimes we all learn from mistakes and bumps in a row !! Sorry it just all jumped in one quilt. There are dog quilts needed in animal shelters that would be thrilled to get ! Keep on going and .. Congratulations, you have joined the "ugliy quilt club." this club is honorary. :)

heh ! you are beating yourself up with the ugly stick.. this is unique !

I know I could easily give this as a gift to my sister in law or mother in law or my own mother and they would LOVE it. Heck my toddler is obsessed with it. It's the only top she would pull off the table and lay down on or try to carry around like its her wubbie.


I know I'm my own worst critic. I want to be good and I can't get better without practice but it's the not being perfect right off the bat that messes with me.

I'm going to put the binding on during nap time today. I am going to try the Elmer's glue trick though to hold the binding down for the back. I have the devil of a time with binding so hopefully this helps. Maybe I won't hate it so much if the binding turns out ok. Lol.

Thank you for the compliments. At least when it's all said and done I can say I tried.

Donate it to a woman's shelter or ask if there's a poor family at a church. Someone will be happy to receive it especially with the cold weather coming and the holidays around the corner.

Awww. I just read your post. Why not let your toddler enjoy it. It may be something she'll always cherish.

How do I deal with disappointment in a quilt I've made? I finish it up and get it out of the house asap!!! Out of sight, out of mind. I've made a few that I just couldn't wait to get them out of my sight. Whether it's due to 'not being my colors' or just detesting the pattern. For those I didn't even take pictures. I don't want to remember them.

There was one block I made that no matter which way I rotated it, it looked like a nazi symbol. I told my instructor at the time that I was going to throw it out. I was very surprised when she asked if she could have it. She didn't see the symbol at all. I gave her permission to do whatever she wanted with it. I don't think of that block very much at all. Thank goodness!

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It would be pretty hard to deny this face. She was hamming it up doing her cheese face so I could send df a pic of her wearing the pants I made her. Lol. She's such a little goofball but she's my number one fan. She has three wubbies that I've made her by just hemming some soft and snuggle fabric and she will beat the dog up if he lays on them lol. She is my little sewing buddy. The bottom of my design wall she claimed with scraps to play with since I showed her they stick to the batting.

Finish it up and send it on it's way. Our Guild has a community quilts group that gives out large quilts to Habitat for Humanity. It's amazing, some of the quilts we get don't appeal to me but there is always one person who loves it in our group. That way, you won't have a reminder of it, and you can make something you are proud of for family and friends.

You can send it to me too

This looks way too good to be a dog quilt, IMO. I'd donate it, since you're not fond of it, but to a person who will appreciate it.

Hugs,
Charlotte

What a little sweetheart!! It sure would be hard to say no to her. By the way, I really like your quilt, quilting waves and all are just fine. I'm glad you are finishing it and moving on. You will feel better about it when you are done.

I like the way it looks so far. I am perfectly imperfect. There is not one perfect thing on this God's green earth! I like your quilt!!

Lay it out in your house where people will see it. I can guarantee you someone will come in and claim it. That's what happens to every quilt I make. My kids love them all. The quilt is really a pretty quilt. It just looks bad to you because you had so much trouble with it. Someone else will love it. I have some that have given me a lot of trouble, and it is hard to love them. I'm proud of you for finishing it.

Try not to be self-defeating. You learn something new with each project, so take the lesson learned and move on to the next thing. It happens to all of us.

You are really being too hard on yourself. Your quilt top is beautiful, and the only reason you don't like your quilting is that it didn't turn out the way you thought it would. It still looks good. I know you have to finish it, I hear that in your voice. :) So finish it, then you can decide what to do with it. You could sit it on a top closet shelf, donate it, or give it that cutie daughter of yours. If she is already loving it....well, that might be the way to go.

I can identify with all of your struggles in this quilt. I just had the same experience with the quilt I just finished. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. I did learn a lot though. I am leaning towards the idea that so many things went wrong in this quilt that the next four should be "mishapfree" (is that a word? My spellcheck doesn't think so. Oh well)!!

Dina

Embrace the lessons learned and move on.

I love it ! Finish it and donate it. It will give you a feeling of accomplishment. Hugs

You are your own worst quilt police. From the pictures it looks great. :-)

I agree, put it aside and work on something else. We have ALL had this problem at one time or another. Right now I am VERY disappointed that I stitched in every row in my Twist & Turn Bargello. It is so over quilted that it will never lay flat. So I am working on another project and hopefully I can once again get back to my unfinished bargello! I will probably become very friendly with my seam ripper. UGH!

Just saw your picture. I would have stitched it diagonally in the ditch and let the print be the focus. I don't know what it is specifically you don't like. I STILL color my mistakes with Micron Pens (used when writing permanently on fabric). I would just very carefully touch the black or navy color to the white thread ONLY on the dark triangles which will make the thread virtually disappear. Finish up the border and the binding. If you still are unhappy, then donate it to an organization (especially one that donates quilts to disaster hit areas)that will make sure it has a happy home. We ARE our worse critic !!!

It looks fine to me, but I understand your feelings. I have one that I put in a plastic container and won't look at it. I paid good money for the fabric so I won't throw it out. I just hope I can salvage it one of these days.:D

I really think it looks great!!!!

I don't see anything wrong with it. I like it!

I actually like the wavy lines you put in. It gives it movement!

I would chalk it up to "the one that should have been".... and finish it and donate it. I hate reminders of my imperfections ... so I would donate it. Someone will see it differently than you.

Ok everyone get ready. Biiiiiggggg huuuuuggggssss!!!!! I hate it a little less just because of the love y'all gave it. If I had more patience to rip out stitches I would have ripped the waves and redone them in a navy. The white thread is what made me grrrr and add up all the other crap it just went bleh. But heres some new pics. My daughter went down for her nap and I went straight to my machine binding in hand and tackled that beast haha. Here it is all done. I even went all fancy and took pictures outside on my deck to make up for being mad at it.

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My sister made a quilt from a kit that didn't turn out at all to her liking, so she gave it to me to see if I could do anything with it. I assured her that even though she didn't like it, surely someone would be glad to have it. Besides, it give me a chance to practice my machine quilting. If I hate it when it is finished, I know someone out there will be glad to have it.

I like it! I think you will have a very good feeling to finish it up and donate it. Is it ready for binding? I haven't read all the responses, but if you truly can't deal with this quilt and want to send it to me, I'll put the binding on and donate it to a good cause. Just PM me.

Oh . . . too late I see. You finished it! Great job!

Finish it, then wash it. Washing seems to correct a multitude of quilting sins--at least in my experience. I think if your daughter loves it, giving it to her is a perfect solution. I mean...look at that face! :)

I love the picture. It turned out well. And the backing is really fun. I like the way you pieced that together.

Thank you :)

I have it in the dryer right now waiting impatiently to see the crinkly goodness to see if it helps hide the white thread. I have a giant overstuffed chair that is MY chair I'm thinking it will look good over the back of it.


Or over my daughters princess couch lol.

Don't throw it away! Always remember the old adage, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" I've told this
before, but here it is again, once while distributing quilts to a children's group we had a purple and brown donation quilt.
I thought that quilt was the ugliest thing I had ever seen and was embarrassed to add it to the pile of quilts we were
taking. As we were laying out the quilts, a little boy ran up to the purple and brown, he had huge smile on his face and he was saying, "a peanut butter and jelly quilt!". Needless to say, he claimed that quilt and cuddled in it all during the party. That "ugly" quilt made one little boy very happy.