JoanneS,
I love Bargellos. They are so much fun and are so gorgeous. I have never liked red very much, except at Christmas. So, being so smart(NOT) I decided that I would force myself to use red and make a smallo Bargello. Long story short, I fell in love with this red Bargello and just kept going. Then I ran out of fabric and could not find anywhere to get more. Not tall enough and too wide...So--I may be very sorry for this, but I decided to use different reds and I am designing my own twin size quilt with different sets of Bargellos. Might be nice, my be gross. We shall see...

I want to also wish you all the best in your recovery.

Thanks Sadiemae - I don't want this thread to focus on me - I'm 2+ years a survivor with all positive #s - only thik about it when I can't focus and realize chemo brain has struck again! I'd rather blame CB than think it could be my age, Because chemo brain DOES go away LOL

Sadiemae--You're being too hard on yourself! Even with you telling us that there's a mistake on the top, I couldn't find it. I love the colors you chose and I think it looks great!

Go easy, girl! This is supposed to be FUN!!! :D :D :D

Thanks so much! If you look at the 2nd row from the bottom on the left hand side, the 2 green squares go the wrong direction. I will fix it, I just don't know how I missed it. Sewing in the middle of the night might have something to do with it. LOL

Just last wk I cut the border for a lap size quilt & thought the ist one was kind of wavy ? Oh,well, when all were sewn on, it'd be fine......NOT
Didn't have enough sense to rip it off & go from there, no...I had to rip off all 4 sides Grrrr.
Then to find out, it was my fault.I hadn't found my centers....just sewed them on & trusted all would fit.Shame on me!

Do a quick finish and send it anonymously to a charity!

I have just spent ages re - cutting some triangles because I misread a pattern, Then, when I had scrounged enough out of the scraps to make the correct size, I found that the next instruction was to cut it down to the correct size after the block was made. I have 125 little triangles that would have done in the first place, and a lot of wasted material. The person who wrote the pattern was trying to eliminate the stretch problem but I find it confusing and wasteful. I would suggest that you let the machine do the feeding and don't pull on the fabric. Try not to sew biases together - sew a bias against a straight side where possible and use a method that requires cutting after you have sewn. Otherwise, stay stitching might be the only solution.

What a fun idea! Maybe we should have a white elephant swap of our most hated UFOs. Someone out there might like them.

Oh I feel your frustration. :-(

If you can figure out which blocks have stretched you could either trim them up to the proper square OR steam press them to get them to shrink up a bit. If you starch the dickens out of the blocks it makes them easier to put together! Sometimes I have put sashing on every block just to get those stupid blocks that just refuse fit to go together because if you have to trim up the sashing a little bit you usually don't notice it.

This sounds sooooo very much like me!

Another lesson learned - how many times do we tell ourselves to read the ALL the directions a couple times and then not listen to ourselves? I've done the same thing and banged my head against my sewing machine a few times!

Sometimes if I make the same pattern again, I think I might go in to the project with a no problem attitue. And that may cause me to not be as careful.

Also it seems the simpler the quilt, the more problems I have, maybe the same reason. But then I think that God is looking down and saying, "don't get so cocky sure of yourself, or I will have to teach you a lesson".

I usually put the problem up and when I go back to it later with lower expectations, there is no problem. Hope this makes sense.

Thank you that is good advise and I will use it. What glue do you use? Gail

I had this problem once a long time ago, except that one of the fabrics shrunk. One of the fabrics had polyester in it (remember this was a loooong time ago - I think around 1973) and every time I pressed it, it shrunk.

I had already pieced a block and when I pressed the completed block, POOF - the center square shrunk. Puzzled, I figured I hadn't marked the square correctly. I unpieced the block, removed the center square, recut, repieced (same fabric)and .... you guessed it! PRESSED it again. POOF - center square shrunk - AGAIN. Hmmmmm....

Got smart this time! Cut a center square out of the offending fabric and pressed it FIRST this time. It shrunk about 3/8". Threw out the fabric and was very careful to NEVER buy fabric with polyester in it again. Remember this was around 1973 and polyester/cotton blends were rampant. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful quilt shops with 100% cotton fabric!!

Ladies and gentlemen; I think I wrote everyone of these comments about making the seams match, etc. I really got a chuckle out of "longarm"'s comment about if you can't see it in a 65 mph wind, not to worry. Love this blog. Thanks to all of you for your comments that give me the encouragement to keep on quilting!! :)

All the time! I usually will put it down for hours, days, or weeks depending and come back in a better frame of mind. If it happens again, it goes in the UFO drawer. Thank goodness there are not many in there.

I find that if i put something away to finish later I can never get it to look as good as it did when i first started the thing...frustrating

The 4" finished square throw I wanted to make for a friend's mother who was going through chemo turned into a living nightmare! A friend dropped by and we were chatting while I cut the squares (big mistake!). I prefer to sew blocks instead of sewing long strips together first, then cutting into smaller blocks. I didn't realize until after I had pieced the long strips that one-third of the blocks were 1/4" longer than the other blocks and were mixed randomly in the long strips. Needless to say, nothing lined up. And this was a pattern that most beginners can master with ease!

Years ago I owned a Bridal Shop and made a lot of gowns for different reasons. this woman came in and was 46 years old the first of 11 sisters to be married. The sisters were all older then her. They were all going to be Brides Maids. So they wanted long black dresses lines with long sleeves all made out of Black Chiffon. I was on the last 2 dresses both the same size. This was hard to see and exhausting especially at 2 in the morning.
I was tired and carefully made sure all the seams matched up and everything was perfect. I held up the dress to see it all made up and realized I had sown the 2 tops together. I was so tired I just stood there in disbelief. Went home and went to bed.

I so emphasize with all of you. I have a yours mine and ours family and raised 5 girls and ours was 2 boys. At christmas we were always short of money and fabric was cheep back then. I always made clother for my children with the same pattern just different material. I was always sewing at night when the babys were asleep. I made mistakes, but on christmas morning when the girls were screaming and jumping on me to thank me and running in thier rooms to try them on. I was no longer tired and frustrated by my mistakes only the joy my gifts gave to those who never see the mistakes.

Love your gift and see it as the receiver will. Gail

i painted the floorcloth in my dining room i spent 3-4 hours for 3 nights in row sitting crosslegged on the floor with a tiny little detail brush to make sure the lines were all exact.

after i finished it, varnished & waxed it, my grandson found a small flower center i missed... (because he was sitting under the table dusting the stretcher bars for me ....

no one else has noticed... i gave up on perfection after that!

Before I start cutting I make up a batch of starch using cornflour and water put in a spray bottle. Spray on fabric<WRONG SIDE> and sometimes I use iron on interfacing that way the fabric is pretty stiff and does not streach when cut on the cross.

every top pr thing i touch i feel that way
i get bored and TIRED
i should quit sooner
I should rest sooner
i am scared and shaking by the time I sit down to sew
this is not relaxing for me at all
this is hard for me cause I try to be a perfectionist and I
am NOT perfect-no one is-no matter who we crttisize each
as if we were. we see where the error or non error is.
i take this as a job to make charity quilts, therefore I
think I try to hard. a quilt is a job, it should be fun.

Sometimes you just have to give up on the original plan, rip out and rethink the project!

My 2-1/2 y/o UFO is now a completed top...all 8" sqaures in somewhat random colors, not a log cabin with 8" centers and 2" strips. Did I mention that it is several different weights and wale widths of corduroy???

Now to sandwich and tie...after I decide how to piece the backing, which she wants to also be corduroy. Have several ideas floating around in my head, not sure which will end up being used.

I had a time today. I'm making a bridal gown for my DGDs 18" doll. The satin I'm using is unraveling every time I look at it so I tried to be very deliberate in my pinning and sewing. I made the bodice and went to press it and found one of the shoulder straps in the front was backwards. I had to rip out and turn the fool thing around and pinch it to hold it in place to resew it. AAAAAAARrRRRG!

Sewing Barbie doll clothes is right up there with sewing slip covers...never again. Told Grdau when she has a family, this Grma is out of business :-) :-)

:( :( :( :( :-D

Whoever it was that says they learned to sew by making doll clothes wasn't me! They're the hardest things in the world to sew! Give me toddler's patterns any day - nor real waist or hips - and they don't usually care about perfection!

[quote/] I wonder if I am the only who once in awhile struggles with something I shouldn't[quote/]

I understand perfectly!!!
I'm hurrying to get an "Olivia" quilt done for my little g'daughter's birthday. And I'm using a big picture panel of Olivia to speed things along, right? Nope, not me! I can never speed things along. This bunch of fabric, with Olivia's name printed on just about every bit of it except the picture, is all going haywire! All of the lines of words go up and down, but never straight. Honestly they've been CUT straight, but they don't turn out straight! I've fooled around with it for so long that I just know it won't be made in time. It's to the point where I just hate Olivia and all things related to that darn little pig! 8-)

I know the feeling. Have a "reversible" quilt I started five years ago. I, too, tried to hurry things along and "skip" the hand sewing and just do all machine. WRONG!! The stitching got off, it shows on both sides, it looks hideous and it has set in my closet for five years waiting for me to decide to either throw it away or rip out all the stitching between the rows and do it right. I hate to rip, so I just keep shoving it to the back and doing other things. This was supposed to be "quick". NOT!! From this thread, I would say you have a world of company.

Why don't you recheck the size of your squares and see if you can fix the problem before you do any more sewing. Maybe as you said some fabric has stretched by trimming it to size might fix the problem.

umm yea my life lol!

[quote=JoanneS]It takes just as long to make a dolls dress as it does for a grown human/ only difference is that there are more stitches. I made dolls clothes on an assembly line with my daughters and their friend after school and holidays to make a little money for Christmas gifts.
I an having problems trying to decide how to finish the baby boys quilt. It starts with tractors in the middle with blue sashing around it then a row of square in a square blocks all round and then it STOPS. I can't figure what to put next. I want to make it about 45inch square. the Boy is nearly 2 yrs now.

[quote=Annya][quote=JoanneS][quote/]It takes just as long to make a dolls dress as it does for a grown human/ only difference is that there are more stitches. I made dolls clothes on an assembly line with my daughters and their friend after school and holidays to make a little money for Christmas gifts.quote/]

I'm in the middle of making a very small wardrobe for my DGD's American Girl doll, Molly. Gosh knows Molly was expensive enough, but the clothes and other stuff cost a fortune! Which no one in our family would/could spend on a doll! So I got a couple of patterns and thought, how hard could this be? I sew all the time.
Wrong again! This has been tough!! And getting the clothes on the doll isn't easy either! The clothes, even for an 18" doll are so tiny, and the sleeves are so difficult to manage. But I'm half way through, and Molly is going to get some lovely (?) clothes for Christmas. Boy! the things we do for our grandkids!!

[quote=Annya]I know what you mean I started a quilt that I have made before called sleeping bears for my neighbors D was having a baby started 3mo before he was born finished when he was 6mo old fought it all the way.

I just brought up a subject similar to yours a few days ago. It was about being too hard on myself. I stopped working on the quilt for a few days, looking at all the replies and then going back to look at the quilt.
I then decided, from all the encouragement I received that I was not going to tear out the tiny mistakes. I will go on and try to do better the next time. Sure enough the next row, was much, better and I only saw a tiny mistake where the corner was not exact, but, after tying the quilt. No one will notice, and the quilt is given in love. I used to want to be perfect in everything I did, but, it can stress you more, then just letting the small things go.
The quilt is beautiful by the way.

I had a time today. I'm making a bridal gown for my DGDs 18" doll.
Whoever it was that says they learned to sew by making doll clothes wasn't me! They're the hardest things in the world to sew!
The trick for doing sleeves is to sew the top of the sleeve first then sew up the waist and down the sleeve to the wrist. if you want to put anything on sleeve bands etc do it before you sew it up. It is easier that way. It is a pity I live so far away or I could show you ALL the short cuts which makes sewing dolls clothes more manageable.

:oops: :oops: :oops:
All the time......There is always something that just won't let my projects to be perfect.... .....

:oops: :oops: :oops:
All the time......There is always something that just won't let my projects to be perfect.... .....

I saw the tute for the 3 seam block: Thinking of making quilt with this cool block.nothing could be easier, right? Right. 1st time, I got the center piece sewn into the wrong seam. Then got it behind instead of between. then realized it was upside down. Finally after 4 trys, got it right. A little wonky, the center block is not very square, but now I have the idea. Okay, I made in a size that will work well for a pot holder. easy peasy, right? right. First I sewed the sandwich together so the batting was on the outside. then I sewed it so the backing was wrong side out. Finally, I basted, triple checked, and finally got it right. What should have been a 30 minute project ended up taking all afternoon. grrrr.