UGLY quilt - can you relate?
 

I'm wondering if any of you have ever worked on a quilt that you thought was so ugly you were just tempted to throw it out so you could move on to something else. I pulled a UFO out of my box to work on. I had a picture of the quilt, but no instructions. The fabrics were mostly cut so I could figure it out. Using scraps of yellow, green, purple and pink. I put it up on the design wall to prepare to sew together the blocks, and WOW, this quilt is UGLY!!! It's actually kept me from working on anything else, I just look at it and think that maybe I should just jettison the whole thing, but then I think about the waste. So, I've got the blocks organized and ready to sew together. I'm thinking I'll just power through, turn off my brain, finish the quilt and donate it. Hopefully someone won't think it's as ugly as I do!!!

If this has happened to you, what did you do?

One day when fabric shopping a few years ago, hubby picked out a kit that looked pretty in the pkg, but when assembled, is really blah. Several fabrics in the same print or same scale, but in different colors. I assembled the center of the top back then and hated it. Pulled it out a year or so ago and added borders. It's still blah to me, so I put it away again. Someday when I have nothing better to do, I'll add some applique. Maybe then I won't mind it so much. It will be probably be gifted to someone who appreciates it more than I do. :)

Moral of the story - pay more attention when hubby picks something out for me. A variety of different scaled prints usually catches my interest more.

My ugly quilts are my UFO's. I have a variety of ziplock bags that contain templates, pieces I've cut out and the first and only block made before I decided I didn't want to look at that any more!

Post a picture and see what others are saying. What is one person's ugly is another person's purdy. If the group agrees with you, then you'll know. lol

I've finished some projects YEARS after I started and found I no longer like the colors or patterns but I still finished them and found a happy new owner.

Oh yes, I've been there! A guild member offered a OBW class a couple of years ago, which is outside of my comfort zone to begin with - I lean towards traditional. Combined with a poor fabric choice, and I really hated it. After getting 3/4's of the way through, I put it aside. After almost a year, I pitched it. Having it hang around weighed me down in a way that most UFO's don't. Usually, if I set something aside, I'll eventually get back to it, but this just seemed like it was wasting space, there was nothing I could do to make myself like it. So I decided to cut my loss and get rid of it. Didn't bother me a bit.

I have made quilts I don't like at all, when using colors/designs that DD asked for. I literally had to force myself to work on it. If I'm not feeling the love, I don't want to touch it. Eventually, it got finished (my avatar) and she loved it so much it was worth it a hundred times over - but hopefully I won't have anything that I drag my feet over that much again. Better to either let it go, as I did in the first case, or if it's for somebody special, to bite the bullet and get it over with.

Yes many times! Once it finished though you still have bragging rights no matter how ugly, it'll be a finish! I'll show you mine if you show me yours!.....lOL

oh YES! I made my son an orange quilt (aHEM..orange is NOT my color!). But when it was done, it was so striking, I entered it in our quilt show! if I have a UFO that I just canNOT stand, I try to pass it off to a quilter who DOES like it. The weight lifted off of my shoulders is AWESOME..and one less UFO cluttering up my sewing space!

throw it away and move on

I "inherited" a quilt top from my SIL who is now suffering with alzheimers. It was ugly. She pieced it and I finished quilting it, just last month. I labeled it and gave it to my son in law. He loves it! So, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

I have started a couple in classes that I didn't care for. I eventually packaged up the cut pieces with the blocks I'd made then took them to a quilt guild meeting and dropped them on the free table. They always went home with someone. I've also packaged up a kid quilt into a kit and gave it to the comfort quilt program. That way my UFO gets finished and does some good. If you don't have a guild, there are always senior centers or church groups that have quilt groups that would take it ... maybe even get a deduction for the donation.

My "ugly" quilt top is one I made taking classes at Joann fabrics for a "Stack N Whack" quilt. I bought fabric at the last minute and they didn't have much to choose from and I disliked what I bought as I began cutting it out. It's mostly greens and yellows. I finished it all in three days and its been waiting to be quilting for about six years! You can view it in my profile under "my quilts". Can't miss it. lol

I have a few UFO's that qualify for the ugly to so so quilt. I will be using them for fmq, then donate them (when I get the time).

I have a OBW that I've decided I'm going to transform into a regular kaleidoscope quilt. It has some problems that I just can't seem to fix as it is now so I'm hoping adding the navy triangles between the hexes will take care of that. Plus I really prefer being able to see the different designs of the individual hexes. Will see how soon I actually do something with it. But it has been very freeing just coming to the decision to change it rather than continue fighting with it. So maybe you could change something on yours that would make you like it better.

Post a pic when finished I bet you it will not be ugly at all!!!

Oh yes, the first quilt I started was a UFO for over 5 years because it was SO UGLY. Finally I finished it - and maybe my tastes changed over the years, but I like it. http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...s-t174293.html

Oh yes! that would be the one block wonder I started. The fabric has purple and red roses on a black background and mint green leaves, no idea where the fabric came from but I know I didn't buy it. When I went to set up a layout the blocks were so busy they made me physicaly sick to my stomach. Ended up setting it with black triangles. Then I still hated it. Hung it out in small folded portions to try to get use to the look. Took over a year to get it on the frames and quilted. Used a purple fabric for the back, did I mention I don't like purple? Also used a purple varigated thread. As they were triangle blocks I free motioned a squiggle from the base to the tip. Added a goofy looking butterfly at one end of the quilt and called it 'Fluttery By'
Still not sure about it,
BUT its the one everyone who sees it loves! Go figure!

I actually "sold" one of my unfinished uglies on this board for $20. It saved it from the trash and the new owner was thrilled

my ugly quilt was a hand me down ....small and could not find the same fabric to make it bigger ...and it was one of those fabrics that nothing went with it ...not even the solids ...when i got it quilted it was awesome ...a little small but not so ugly any more ...so it just lives on the back of the couch

I have one I'm working on. I did not come up with the pattern but they like it. They told me to keep it under budget. I told them to go get the material and purchase the pattern. Then I would work it. it's ugly but they like how it's turning out. They want it tied (Thank You Jesus). It's full size. I didn't know the colors were picked by their son who has cancer. he's donating it for a fundraiser for the cancer society. So am I! it's much prettier than I realized!

This is what I do. I feel so much better with the unloved blocks gone, and the quilts get shown at Show and Tell and passed on to charities. (I have yet to like one of the quilts when I saw them finished, but I always like knowing they might be pleasing someone somewhere.)

Dina

Not me. All my quilts are gorgeous. JUST KIDDING!

Yep, I did one last month. The blocks are sitting on my cutting table

I have a box with some disappearing 9 patch blocks I was making out of some super cheap 4" squares I bought. I have a lot of them made but they are so disappointing that I don't want to do anything with them. Maybe someday. I have seen a lot of quilts that don't do anything for me and when I do I admire the time and dedication someone put into the quilt instead of enjoy what I think is beautiful. I have seen a lot I wouldn't attempt just because I think they are - undesirable?

I think most of us have been where you are.

I have the same problem with a Saturday Sampler I'm doing but it's the way the quilt is finished that's got my goat. The blocks finish at 9" then have a 2 1/2" border that makes them 14". They are set with alternating 14" squares of prints that just don't look right. I think the borders are too big for a 9" block so I'm not adding them and I'm waiting until all of the blocks are done before deciding what I will do to finish it for the scale to look right. Right now the quilt looks like someone made some little blocks that they wanted to try and make larger to fit into a larger quilt and were too lazy to make more blocks.

I am just finishing one that I've been calling The Ugly Quilt...BUT I've giving it to someone for Christmas so my husband says I better quit calling it the ugly quilt. It's not really ugly, I just don't like it and that's the first time I've said that about a quilt I made!!

I see a lot of posts where quilters think the quilt is ugly and a whole lot of people say " Please send it to me - I think it's beautiful!" My dad used to say " there's no accounting for taste!" So if you feel so inclined, finish it, but I wouldn't spend a lot of time and emotion worrying about the waste. I always equate it to dinner and a movie. Not a cheap proposition, and it's over in a night. But we fuss and fuss about that same money if it was in fabric, and often let it keep us from moving on.

I had a quilt top from my late grandmother who did every stitch by hand...did ot care for the colors, but when LQS put it thru the long arm, it became beautiful! If you have a quilt club, take it there, someone may see its beauty and finish it, and you can feel a bit better. Giving helps. Best wishes and good stitching!

I finally after more than 45 years of sewing .. gave my self permission to use the trash can for uglies! I am also finally learning to catch them early enough as to not waste fabric and time. Very Very Liberating!

I never worked on an ugly quilt. I would probably not finish it if I did not think it was pretty.

I use the ugly quilt as a donation quilt...One of mine thrilled a child in Alabama after the tornados last year.

I have an "ugly" quilt on my longarm table right now. I make it for QFK out of some scrap fabric they had - not enough yardage to really do anything with but I was determined. I made it stripes and it was hideous! After looking and looking at it and thinking it was just too ugly, I decided to do what every quilter does with ugly fabric - I cut it apart. I ended up just cutting it down the length and sewing it back together with offset rows. I still don't like it but it did turn out to be a presentable quilt top that I think, once I add borders, some kid will be pleased with! Good luck!!

I made a top I thought would be beautiful. I loved the pattern, I carefully picked out the fabrics to be similar to the photograph of the quit, and cut it out and put it together. When I put the squares on my fabric wall, I thought it was ugly! I did put it together, hoping that once the square were put together properly they would "come together". It was still UGLY! (I even called it my Ugly Quilt!) I really, really tried to like it and tell myself that it would be beautiful when it was quilted. I hate to waste money or fabric, so I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, but couldn't move on until it was off the wall. I finally wrote about it on this Board and somone very kindly took it off my hands. I sent it to her with my blessing and good wishes (and ALL the scraps and leftovers). I am now so much more careful about what I decide to make and what fabrics I purchase. I'm so glad my UGLY was someone else's beautiful, and that I dont' have to feel guilty about not finishing something I really didn't like. :)

There is almost always someone willing to take an 'ugly' off one's hands - if one is willing to let it go.

What is worse is being shown a quilt someone is making and it is ugly. Horrible colors, no contrast, cheap fabric. I want to be honest when they ask my opinion but I'd never hurt someone's feelings over a quilt.

They land in my RV as utility quilts. So far I have 2 packed in there... with a third on its way. I also fold and stack them on a bench in my house for decoration around the holidays. Can't tell how ugly they are unless you unfold them.

I don't think it is ugly at all. Quilted and bound it will be beautiful.

My ugly quilts are my UFO's. This year I am trying to finish all of them, fourteen. My biggest problem is my skill level has improved greatly and some of these tops were clearly done by a rank amateur. I'm wading through but they just don't excite me. Good news is it gives me a lot of practice in FM.

Absolutely! Go here for my ugly quilt story
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...rm-t77776.html

Moral of the story, Beauty is most definitely in the eyes of the beholder. So don't toss it, give the uncompleted top and any fabrics you have for it to someone who will finish it. They can gift it to charity or you may even have a friend who thinks it is beautiful, like I did. So you can finish it and gift it to them. Just because you think it is ugly doesn't mean everyone else will.