Surround yourself with other quilters, the best way to create is in a group. You will feed off of each other. In no time you will be able to see the possibilities in the process. it takes work and commitment. Make the quilt like you planned.

I read the header on this and the thought that flashed into my mind immediately was "What does she mean she's 'not creative'? She creates quilts!" Maybe we should do a poll of all quilters, from mega professional to newbie amateur and see how many are satisfied with what they've created. One of the greatest joys of my quilting is it's done to suit myself and there have been times in my life when quilting felt like it was the only thing I was doing for me. Sanity saver for sure.

If you were happy with your original idea, go with it. You are entitled to march to your own drummer, make your own decisions (and mistakes). If you truly like her idea better you can incorporate some or all of it in this or another quilt. Try new ideas, do something different, be your own designer. I've made a lot of quilts and I'm here to tell you that if you make a boo boo, it's not the end of the world. Mistakes are the tuition we pay for learning something new or trying something different. Throw your failures in the scrap bag and move on. You are not obligated in any way to use any one else's ideas. If you don't want her opinion, don't ask, if she offers take it with a grain of salt, you still don't have to use her suggestions, they ar not rules. Quilting is YOUR hobby. You need to enjoy every minute of it.

I was always the artist in my family and I won many ribbons with my quilts over the years. But now being disable, I do stumble sometimes with the fabric and what pattern should I use. I am mostly doing charity quilts. I can't just slap any fabric together like other in the group are able to do. I strive to to the best of my ability that God gave me. It is so frustrating. I do have friends that I send out suggestions of what to make with fabric I was given. I am hoping to hear back from them soon. Otherwise, I will be posting a question on QB. Take any advice as advice not criticism. Sometimes the light bulb is working and other times, it is like being in the dark and I need to reach out and get some advice. You are so lucky to have a sister that has a lot of talent. I would LOVE to connect with someone who could help me get on track when I get stuck in the mud. Hang in there and remember that quilting is a hobby that should always be so enjoyable. Best wishes and hugs from a fellow quilter who's Great Great Grandfathers were born in England but migrated to America in the middle of the 1800s.

There are many free videos on the internet for quilters. Go to Missouri Star Quilt Company and she has a bunch of free videos. You don't have to use precut fabrics. You can cut your own if you wish. There are a plethora of other free (and paid) quilting videos regarding color choices, piecing, quilting, paper piecing, etc. etc. and they are ALL available to you. Craftsy offers paid classes and some free ones. The more you study the more ideas you will get. Spend an afternoon at your local library perusing the quilting books for ideas. Your creativity grows with all these things. Enjoy, enjoy. Life is too short of always feel like you have to have someone else approve of what you do. You are a one of a kind person. Feel free to create one of a kind quilts, or pies, or whatever you make.

Here is a quote I like that might apply. I don't know the context this came from ....
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open… No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” Martha Graham

Everyone feels this way at some time. No matter how uninspired you feel...keep plugging away and do your best.

For any art/hobby/craft medium there is a point where you hit the "Ah Ha!" moment and things come together. It will happen.

Read, study and look to this site for inspiration and knowledge.

Relax. you bought the fabric and selected the colors. Kaffe's fabric is fabulous and anything you do with it will be wonderful. You have done a large part of the quilt already. Put it away for a short time, get over her 'help', then go back to it and whatever you do will be your creation. Think about the pattern, maybe combine yours and hers and come up with something everyone will like, especially YOU. I have learned every quilt is different and everyone is a work of art from the heart. I am sure this quilt will work out great and you will be proud of it. Please show it to us when you have finished it.

Be encouraged, I consider myself "creative" and I did make a quilt of squares using mostly his fabrics and I love how it turned out. Here it is! It came out beautiful. Go for it!!
http://www.quiltingboard.com/members...411-347521.jpg

I think you are more creative than you realize, but just aren't confident. So when your sister makes a suggestion (and you "think" she is more creative than you), you start to feel inferior and believe that her idea was better than yours. I've been through this with my oldest sister. She's an interior decorator and a bit of an artist (I can barely draw a straight line with a ruler--LOL). So, I let her help me with colors but no longer include her in the design process. The main thing with making a quilt is that *I* like it. It's MY quilt and I should like it--it shouldn't matter if my sister thinks she can improve my design. So I say, go with your original design--that's the design that's going to make you happy.

First let me begin my saying I love your avatar. It's beautiful. If it's made by you, it was created by you.To be creative means to create something from what you've seen. I get my creativity from being inspired by others. I''m not that creative but it's from years of watching others. I have a sister who is so creative and doesn't realize it. Your environment helps in creativity. My sister made a quilt from a cartoon character of Snoopy sitting in a window sleeping in the warmth of the sun. Don't be so down on yourself. Finalize your design, we are anxious to see it.

I am very similar to you. I often ask my daughter for advice with colors and patterns because she is much more artistic and creative than I am. My quilts have been mostly my designs but she helps out with colors and placement. For me, the enjoyment is in the sewing and looking at the finished work. I have seen lots of quilts out there that are much more gorgeous than anything I have created but planning, cutting, and sewing for me is very relaxing and enjoyable. It's the one thing I can do that others around me aren't "experts" in and telling me how I should do it differently (I have too many of that type of person in my life!). I think you should use your own ideas, make it your own even if it's not as beautiful in your eyes as your sister's design. At least it will be yours and yours alone and your sense of accomplishment will be much greater. In the end you may decide you like what you did better than you expected!

Wow! What a thread. The answers are wonderful! But I especially like numbers 16, 20 and 30.
You have to remember that almost no two quilts are truly alike. Even with the same pattern, people choose their own fabrics and colors. That makes them their own creation.
I would go with your sister's suggestion and then thank her for it. Even if you don't really want to. It will make you feel better.
I understand the sister thing. I have older sisters and younger sisters. (Yes, I'm a middle child.) My relationship with each is very different.

Your idea is your original idea and hers is hers. They are different and special to each of you and both excellent ideas for their owners. My friend loves bright scrappy quilts I love pale subdued shades with a symmetrical patterns. We both know we have our own designs but still differ . Neither of us is wrong or right and other people but more importantly ourselves love what we do for ourselves.

Take a step back and as others have said ........is more going on here? If you like your sister's design better or parts of it use it.......to me it is like the Quilt Board.....I book mark quilts I love or color combinations that I wouldn't have thought of. I also have gotten specific help here to improve a design! Do not be so hard on yourself, I think the ideas
will flow as you gain confidence and ? experience. I too have bought some beautiful Kaffe Fassette material and have had to get others ideas to use it ......I couldn't get it myself either! It is so pretty and expensive I didn't want to ruin it or not like it when done!

YOU are a quilter, so "YOU ARE CREATIVE" When every you look at something that is nothing more than fabric on a bolt, you see a quilt (just because it's not the same quilt that someone else sees, doesn't mean it's still not a quilt and a work of are). Each of us (as quilters, sewers, ect), see things in a different eye. Myself I can see things (prints, colors, ect...), together even when others don't. I found a print that had a cute print with many colors in it. At a small quilt shop that two sisters have (they are about 15 years older than I - and yes you do need to know that - lol), they both said they loved the fabric (and both had made items with it). One made pillow cases, she showed me what other fabrics she used with hers (not bad very nice and very cute for kids). The other used in a quilt with a theme and totally different fabric from her sister. Again very nice yet looked totally different. I picked different colors and prints (most from my stash), to end up with the original fabric looking still totally different again. When one sister called the other over to see what I was going to use and do with it (she was the one who ordered the fabric), she couldn't believe what I had been able to see in the main fabric that both she and her sister had missed. When I finished I brought my work in and they each had what they had done (all of us with the same main fabric). We had all made what we could see in our fabric, yet it was ALL different. So give your self a BIG HUG, lay your fabric back out and work out YOUR idea. Remember your one of a kind, just as your sister is too. For me SIMPLE gives you LOTS of room to work and grow. Your ideas and your quilting are the same. Please never be miserable with your beautiful quilting skills and ideas, they are what make you the person and the quilter you are. Good luck

Dearest Annesthreads Please don't feel alone. I have no great creativity either. I come up with lots of ideas but then I can't "picture" them in colors or what colors might look good. I am just working on my first quilt. LOL I had it planned, picked some fabrics that were given to me, drew it on paper, colored it in with colored pencils. I really thought, this is going to be so awesome. Then the roadblocks started appearing. First, I never learned to make sure the fabric pieces were large enough. First, I decided my border should match the one tiny block in center. Hunted and with help from quilter's on here, found enough to match for the border. Then I learned to use a mat and rotary cutter, both gifts from a new quilting friend, cut tiny squares all day long. LOL Then Ran out of the white with flower shadows in it , then measured the light peachy flowered and discovered way too small a piece for what I was doing. SO needless to say, there it all sits. I am not creative enough to come up with another solution for this. So, I have decided to stick to the scrappy quilts for now, until I become more creative in quilting. LOL These ladies are super and I feel more comfortable asking them for help and suggestions than anyone in my family. Of course, my family is more critical of me than helpful. So like others stated, keep your chin up, make it your own and you will be more proud of the achievement. HUGS from another newbie. Rachel

When you buy a pattern or copy a free one off the internet, that is someone else s creation, but you picked the fabric and you sew it together. I don't have a creative bone in my body, but I don't mind using someones ideas to learn from. Your sister has ideas and you can learn from them. It will start your creative juices flowing one day and you will be sharing with her. Hang in there and keep sewing.

Don't compare your creativity with another's.......You did have 'original creativity' when you initially laid out your pattern. Go with it. I am never so happy as when I think of something myself and go forward with it. Remember the old saying. Different strokes for different folks.

I feel your pain. I, too, have no ideas of my own. Friends and family SAY I'm the creative one, yet they are delusional. Like you, I love art...love looking at it, seeing the nuances of the artist's work, and trying to figure out where their mind was as they were creating it. I am frustrated that I really CAN'T come up with ideas of my own.
When I was a kid, I was coloring with my cousin (a very logical, accountant-type). I had my crayons...the whole box...I had my coloring book, and whatever was on the page was colored simply with helter-skelter colors- a bit of blue here, some red there...it made no sense to the picture that was being colored, and every color was outside the lines. My cousin felt it was necessary to tell me how it SHOULD be done...she outlined every section with her crayon, and colored inside the lines with the color that every section SHOULD be...it didn't make me feel bad about my own work, but to this day I remember the incident. I liked MY page.

...BUT...

...there is hope for us: it comes in the form of "inspiration" and not necessarily "this is what I have for a vision and now I'm going to build it." You and I can take the world around us and can be inspired by others' work...by nature...by a stiff spring breeze laden with the scent of freshly thawed earth.

I, personally, am inspired by characters such as Anne of Green Gables (Megan Follows), and how she sees the world and all that's in it. There is a line in it when she returns home, grabs a handful of flowers by the picket fence, and presses them to her caretaker's face: "Smell them, Morilla...drink them in!" This one simple line is just so incredibly inspiring to me- taking a simple handful of wild flowers, and finding happiness and the ultimate beauty in everything that makes them unique.

This is not to say that I'm full of vim & vigor- quite the contrary. Most days I feel very mediocre at best. But I aspire to be like Anne- to find inspiration in everything, regardless of whether it is a happy occasion, or one that brings feelings of despair, and to be able to take those feelings and express them with other people, or in my hobbies.

Ever notice that there are times when you are fabric shopping and certain things catch your eye...or on another day when something that was there before but you just didn't notice it, but because of the mood you're in (today), it speaks to you and you take that 'inspiration' and build on it. This is my point in all this rambling: build on it. Take your sister's suggestions as merely that...suggestion...and if you like the IDEA, run with it. Say to yourself: "Ok, that really is a good idea, but I want to make it my own, so if I were to do something like that, I'd do it THIS way."

I don't know what her idea was, but for example...if she suggested sashing, ask yourself what kind of sashing style you like best. Go to pinterest or google other sashing ideas, border ideas, outline ideas...wide lines, thin lines, or a combination of both. Take her "idea," and make it your own. Like I said, I have no fresh ideas of my own, but give me a jumping off point, and I can run with it and come up with something that says "I made this."

Just remember that more than likely, people who have "ideas of their own" usually have experienced something you may not have, seen something you may not have, or they, too, could be running with someone ELSE's idea. Everyone is unique, and sees the world differently. How YOU see the world and what makes YOU happy will ultimately reflect in your quilts. Don't be afraid to color outside the lines.

Try looking at/for some of these books...

Art + Quilt, Design Principles and Creativity Exercises by Lyric Kinard
Art Quilt Workbook, Exercises and Techniques to Ignite your Creativity by Jane Davila & Elin Waterson
Intuitive Color & Design, Adventures in Art Quilting by Jean Wells
Journey to Inspired Art Quilting, More Intuitive Color & Design by Jean Wells

They all teach the basic visual design principles (as applied to working with fabric), some simple techniques, and have exercises to practice what you have read. They are all adaptable to any style of quilting you want to try, but focus mainly on the abstract. They offer no patterns to follow, but instead show you how to forge your own path to the quilter that lives in your heart. :)

Also, found some online courses.
Linda and Laura Kemshall http://www.lindakemshall.com/DesignM...neCourses.html

And if you can't find more, try looking at the video titles offered By Quilting Arts Magazine.
http://www.interweavestore.com/quilt...ng-dvds-videos

You're right, btw, Quilt University closed last October after the founder died. :(

Of course you are creative. If you weren't you would be dead. It is your human heritage to be born creative, if you weren't you would not have been able to maneuver the day to day tasks needed to travel down your life's path. Your sister is creative, in her way. You are creative in your way. Comparing your self to her is like Picasso lamenting he wasn't creative like Rembrandt. We need all visions, yours is just as wonderful as anyone else's. Never tear down your own inspiration by comparisons with others. Be what you can only be, uniquely your self, only you can make a quilt in that way even if you follow a pattern or use a kit with fabric provided. If you draw inspiration from a source, don't feel guilty just remember this, All artist borrow, great artists steal. Someone very creative said that, I can't remember who exactly but it is true. We stand on the shoulders of the artists who came before us. Picasso would not have painted as he did if he had not been inspired by the way Rembrandt used light. Now aren't you tired of beating your self up? So stop already.

Don't let another idea rain on your parade. When I was in college. We were taught to make 3 designs. The first one, the second one and the best one. That works today in quilting. A speaker at a retreat said her way is to think of something to "kick it up a notch". But, all that being said. I think Kaffe's fabrics don't require extra pattern work. The beautiful colors and patterns are showcased in simple designs. Go with what YOU want. Not what someone else wants.

When I start a new pattern I take the pattern and lay out several colors and look at them; if they don't suit me; then I start all over again with other colors. When I ask others for suggestions-they are just that ! suggestions ..
Take her suggestion with a grain of salt; you have the ability to make it your own quilt even with her suggestion. Maybe on the next quilt use her idea and see if YOU like it .. if not then let it set a day or two come back to it and still if it doesn't then do it your way ..

I must be a lot like you. I am not very creative but my daughter sure is. I go to her for a lot of ideas. I have a really hard time with colors in a quilt and can't see to come up with my own that I like. So when I see quilt/pattern/colors that I really like, I will try to copy it as close as possible. I also find myself using a of kits because the colors go so well together. I can do others things well...like the actual sewing/quilting so I feel talented in that way. We all have our strengths & weaknesses. Enjoy what you do.

We all have creative ideas and yours are no less than hers. Look back at some of your finished projects and see how excited they can make you feel. Your ideas are as creative as hers or mine, or anyone elses. Don't let this slow you down, and we can't wait to see pics

Sister's ideas may be different, but not "better." Simple is good. Keep doing your own thing. It is ok to get feedback, but also ok not to use all of it. Get inspired by looking at quilts and patterns that speak to you and then quilt, quilt, quilt! If you do it, creativity will come! As a creative quilter, sometimes I get bogged down in the details. Then I take a breath, let go, and just sew!

her
Please don't feel miserable,you chose the fabric, the rest is down to YOU, not the idea of what she would like ! Go with Your ideas,I always told my class whatever they did with design and fabric,if they went with their imagination then it would be unique,it didn't matter if others were not of the same opinion You will never be content with what you make otherwise.Love Letty

Thank you Tartan!! You have just made my day with your reply.

I used to feel the same way. I think looking at all the quilts here on the board and on Pinterest has really helped me develop a style. Give yourself a break. If everyone only relied on god-given talent we would not need Art/Design colleges.

I have a artist sister of my heart, who has beautiful art work in many places around the country. I ask her for ideas all the time, some I use, some not, not a problem for me. her ideas are so great, and she helped me so much when I first started quilting, and I learned so much about color, that I am so glad I had her close by to help me. Remember this, you had the idea first and she may have given her idea to make it what more exciting, well from the get go it was your idea, not hers. I ask hubby all the time for his input, some of it is good, (what I want him to say) some not so good, (how dare he not like it) LOL The thing for me is my love to just make quilts, have this need to just do it! If some one gives me an idea to make them better, well I'm ahead of the game. I get to make an even better one than on just my own, isn't that why we all buy patterns? JMHO

First, this is YOUR quilt. I have trouble with creativity too, so I spend a lot of time on google images looking up various names for quilts until I find inspiration. I never copy anybody's quilt, just let the quilts suggest ideas for the colors I want to use, then go find a pattern that is similar.

I am not creative at all. I cannot come up with colors, ideas of my own. I have 2 friends who are extremely creative. I don't care. If I see something I like, I just copy the idea. Who cares if I didn't dream it up myself. I love making it, especially since I know how the finished product will look. There are other things that I can do that others like to copy.

Not to insult your sister, but there are no "Quilt Police" who have absolute say in what is or is not a good design, or a creative design. Simply because she has different ideas, DOES NOT mean that they are better, just different. If you have an idea in mind, JUST GO FOR IT GIRL, and I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised at the results. Put her comments aside and follow through on your original idea, then won't she be surprised when it becomes a beautiful quilt, all your own design? If this happens again, just thank your sister for her suggestions and tell her you will think about it, then do it your way - what comes from your heart. I'm sure your quilt will be beautiful.

I always seem to find everyone else's opinions to be the opposite of mine, but I often go ahead and like the result. I am imitative, not original, but still have a sense of what colors I like with what others.

If you had spotted this same "change/idea" on a board like Pinterest or here - and thought it was an improvement- would it bother you to use that idea?

Would you still consider this "your" quilt if you used it?

Thanks for the latest replies. Tonight I'm in a hotel and the wifi only works with my iPad on the floor, so I'll respond when I can do so more comfortably!

There are some things in life I am not interested in or very good at. I still struggle with some of my color choices, how I should put something together etc. I am willing to bet there are other areas that you shine in. I have had to swallow my pride a few times as I quilt with ladies who are so much better than myself. I have learned to be happy and my mistakes I chalk up to learning.