frustrating day!!
 

Today I spent trying to complete a Log cabin QAYG that was started by my daughter's friends grandmother. I am going crazy as the batting is all crooked, and the blocks sizes are all messed up. As it is they want this queen size, so I will have to make lots more blocks to get it done. What I am dying to do is get my hands on some hand work for the evening, but have nothing ready to hand quilt. Finished that yesterday...Looks like tomorrow I have to go buy more batting and the tape used to join batting. I am going to have to make a back for this quilt as the flannel used on the blocks done so far, is outdated and not enough!! Hoping that I can get this all done in the next day or two so I can get back to what I want to be doing...Next time my daughter says" My mother can..." I may have to kill her!! LOL

I know what you mean, but isn't it a great compliment for her to think you can fix anything? I have to remind myself of this from time to time and hope she doesn't figure out differently!

hmmm... maybe it's time to teach the daughter to quilt?

What dunster said.

Try to focus on the joy you are giving your daughter's friend. I would give anything to have another one of my grandmother's quilts.

You are doing a good thing...but I would be thinking about my own project (if I were you) as I was doing it. :)

Dina

why tape the batting together when all you have to do is zig zag it together

Did you look at this before agreeing to do it?

I have learned to be non-committal - after getting stuck a few times -

When Grandma started it , most beds were probably a lot smaller - or it may have been intended to be a small quilt -

Good luck with the project. Sounds like a major challenge to do what is wanted.

PS - so often the asker has no clue of what is actually involved - and then thinks one should be honored to have the opportunity to spend hours of time and possibly lots of dollars - without any compensation!

You are a sweetie for finishing someone's project. I used to do more of that but the last few years I have become more stern in learning to say no. I have so many projects in my head that I want to do and not enough hours in the day. When people learn that you sew or quilt, they have lots of favor to ask. And then the negative voices would be playing in my head while I was doing them......so to me that was a sign to stop volunteering.

Here is to hoping that you quickly finish that project and can move on to something you love. Life is short!!!!! :)

Hang in there!!!!

remember the tape for joining batting is only temporary. be sure to stitch near those seams to hold them well. Good luck.

I'm sorry you have been having a frustrating time. Kind of reminds me of the saying "No good deed goes unpunished.", a saying I never liked because then no one would ever do a good deed. I say keep plugging away at it, when it's done, reward yourself by immersing yourself in a project you would really ENJOY doing. You deserve it! And tell your daughter the next time she wants to rescue a quilt project, SHE can do it! LOL!

All I can say is - I'm glad it is you and not me. Think I would refuse.

Thank you for today's hug. I am also the official "Mom, can you ..." My daughter and son do not specialize in quilt requests; they ask cooking questions. All sorts of cooking questions from the ridiculous to the sublime and quite often into the later reaches of the night. Night owl cooks. Yup, they're mine.

Anyway, it pleases me that they do ask me and That I CAN answer their questions. I was supposed to be some sort of engineer but I discovered I was handy with writing and math and became a project manager instead. I am still managing projects, just house and family ones. My favorite kind.

Congratulations on being loved, respected, important, and marvelously talented.

Hugs,

Pat

I can so relate, but no matter how frustrating it can be at times, I do consider it an honor and privilege that my children think enough of my quilts they volunteer me. I have lost count of the number of baby quilts I have made over the years for my daughter's friends when they have babies, and I have even had her friends ask me to make quilts for their friends. I do love to quilt, however, as it helps to keep me sane. I even have a magnet that says "Hey, it's cheaper than therapy". LOL

I love Marti Michell and what she says in one of her books is that if you make a quilt for another person, there are two rules: one is that you pick the pattern and the other is you pick the fabric. Quilting can be fun but if you are making something you hate with fabric you hate, it ain't fun no more. Same goes for putting in zippers, working for free, repairing quilts others have messed up......the list goes on and on.

Doreen Speckman said about the same thing in one of her books -

My mom used to make woven 'rag rugs' - but she used decent fabric for them. She did ONE commission job - and that one was such a pain where she sat that she said Never Again.

I am happy when asked to do something, generally for my kids I will. Now when someone out of my circle asks I say I am busy. Unfortunately some people do not for one thing know what the fabric costs, let alone the time it takes to put the quilt or whatever together. Sometimes people figure if you do it at home your time is not worth much and that I find a little disappointing. So no it is.

Bless you for agreeing to do this. Hugs and keep going it will be over soon and you can be onto your own work.

Here is a website http:// http://www.stitchedincolor.com/2013/...og-cabins.html Hope it helps.

Second try htttp://www.stitchedincolor.com/2013/04/tutorial-quilt-as-you-go-log-cabins.html

My DD just sent me a text - 'Mom how much do you charge for a.....quilt'. So I told her. 'Darn that's expensive'. My response, tell her if she wants cheap go to xxxxxxx. So works for me! They do believe we can 'do' anything. Good luck on your project.

Thank you all for your encouragement. I have decided to work on it in stages to make it less overwhelming. I am trying to salvage the blocks I can from the grandmother..joining blocks has become quite creative. It is QAYG, and the batting isn't quite right on most of the finished squares, so I am using heat and bond to join battings, adding what I need to- this way I don't have to worry about adding batting where there will be no quilting....I am definitely learning patience with this one!!

Finishing someone else's project is definitely a challenge.

I discovered how much of one it could be when I undertook finishing a mystery quilt that had been started by someone in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's.

First I had to determine what it was supposed to look like as we had no idea where the instructions had disappeared to. Then take out all the mispositioned pieces and restitch 75% of it.

So I can certainly feel for you!

Took me a couple of months. Hope yours goes ever so much faster.

I'l the call Mom about cooking too w1613s, it makes me feel good that all my kids from 18 to 34 still call me for an idea or what is wrong or is this still good. Out of them all only 1 grandchild out of 8.5 is a sewer like her Gammy. :thumbup:

Wow--you qualify for sainthood! Taking on someone else's frustration! I just do my own--had to unsew about 2/3 of the machine quilting on a table topper I was doing for a Guild challenge--it was a challenge alright! But finished both the unsewing and re-sewing tonight and tomorrow the binding!