I have decided that from now on, I am going to cut the outside pieces (all sides) a bit larger because when it comes time to square up the entire quilt, it never fails that one corner or section is just a smidge smaller which then results in a trim everywhere else to make it all square. :mad:

I am going to call the "fudge factor" LOL

If my sewing machine and fabric were a hard headed as my Garmin, I'd be finding another hobby. I live a mile off a county road that was a state road when I was a kid. Now the state road with the same number as the old road is a bit over a mile west.

Just for fun, to see if Rosey (Garmin) has given in any, I turn it on to go home after stopping at my favorite grocery. If I drive 8 miles south of the grocery on the county road and then turn one mile east on my road she goes insane. "turn left at A" and I keep going straight. then same thing with the next west bound road, then the next. She's trying to get me over to the new state road, but when I'm at MY road, I'm also a bit over a mile too far west.

And she does not pronounce German names correctly. There are lots of roads with German names since so many of our ancestors came from Germany 150+ years ago. I've settled on laughing at her, instead of cussing her most of the time.

I'm with you. I make quilts from patterns the I can handle-----------from pictures, not from patterns.

Gosh,yes, I agree with you! I bought a quilting book and after reading it,thought to myself,why make individual squares and then sew them together to make a 4 patch. Why not make strip sets and do it the fast and easy way. Some authors of quilting books stipulate using tedious instructions,rather than using fast,easy ways to accomplish the same thing.

If there's an easier way to do something, I'll spend 4 hours trying to shorten the "to do" time to one hour. I think it's the challenge I like best.

I mostly use patterns for inspiration rather than try to follow them step-by-step. Especially when I can figure out a better way to put a block together than what's shown. Pattern-makers are only human - I treat patterns as "A" way to do something, rather than "THE" way to do it.

Quiltingvagabond that is a really good idea for the outside borders! Thanks for the tip! I've found the measuring and then cutting borders is very important for helping keep things flat and more square, especially for wall hangings.

Love your description of the driving instructions! I had a similar experience with a GPS system telling me to go a block down the street to get to my house when I was parked in my driveway. Lol!
And I'm not too much on following instructions for sewing or quilting either. Do look at them if I'm having a problem to see if there was easier way to do it than what I tried.

I recall saying to my best friend about a very colorful quilt, "I did so much fudging with these borders I expected all the fabric to turn brown." Ironically (to me), when I posted the pics here and did not reveal the same comment, almost everyone commented that they just Loved the unique borders most of all!

I thought it was just my inexperience! I used a book to make my first quilt (which took me 2 years) that had many errors in it. The people at the LQS finally admitted the book had errors. I thought I just wasn't cut out to quilt until I learned that. Now I just try to do simple things and most likely will never use a patten in a book again... and now I just "wing" it!!