I also soak new fabric in HOT (not boiling) water for several hours.

Kind of funny - what horrifies some, is a mandatory step for others!

this thread still makes me laugh. i have read and re-read the comments and i am still laughing and saying to myself "yep, i do that" or "oh good idea" love the hammering trick to get the bumps out and I find myself saying to my perfect quilting friends "if you can't see it from a galloping horse, who cares" and they ignore me and then mull the thought in their head and we laugh and laugh and they admit "you know, you are right".

I don't clean my sewing room much. It's a mess with thread, little bits of fabric and tons of lint and dust. Piles of fabric leftovers. And everything the other s said.

Too funny on this thread! I made 3 quilts in a row with lots of points--or at least there were suppose to be! I called them my "no points" series--one if officially labeled "Points?! Points!? We don't need no stinking points!" Steam is my friend--to get blocks into shape and also to get rid of excess on the quilting frame. And just bought a new, neon orange, plastic 3lb mallet to get those seam bumps that just did not get "nested" right flatter.
Since I don't do big quilt shows, I want to spend my time on exploring all the types of quilts I'm curious about instead of just sewing,ripping, sewing, ripping on the same quilt!
Also--check out some of the improvised piecing in modern quilts--they even want you to ignore the rulers! How fun is that!

Sharpie Marker when seams don't match up??? Nope, I have never done that...., but I have used a Pigma Micron....
and agressive ironing on starch soaked fabric for blocks that came out too small, or out of square:p

Rob<object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>

Oh this is an old thread, but as it has come up again here goes.

I am making a 60 degree triangle quilt for a very good friend's baby. Lots and lots of points. Do they match? Maybe a couple... There also is one seam that the fabric was short on one side, so the seam is barely catching a thread on one side. Time for an applique!

I will be using the machine for the binding, this quilt should gets lots of washing, it will need to be as secure as possible. My hand stitching would not stand up to weekly washing.

ACK! This thread is making me twitch! I must be a quilt police. :D

This thread reads like "True Confessions: Quilter's Edition".

PLEASE, don't use a Sharpie. I have done this for decades using Micron Pigma pens. I occasional use a rotary cutter towards me but I am very careful and use a 28mm blade. I don't always iron my fabric because I don't wash it but I don't end up with bowed strips. And yes, I am trying to get better at changing a needle when it is dull. Breaking a needle is hard on your machine. :)

Oh, I too cringed reading all these "old" posts......I'm sorry, I may be insulting some with what I'm going to post now but...in my mind I cannot justify doing this by just eyeball cutting, skimping on seam allowances, covering a mistake with an appliqué, or whatever....just to get it done.....I feel I have invested too much time, $$$, know-how to just slap something together and give it to someone or keep, and if it's not the best I can do, oh well! I am not a perfectionist by any means, but I do have limits in what I let slide. Ah, having said all that....I don't pre wash...if I think there might be a bleed, I'll do the hot water in cup test....and no starch..not a spit of it or soak til cardboard....and I do not wash/dry anything after I finish it.....as it is being worked on it is not being dragged around a dirty place with grimmy hands, so no need...so now I leave the confessional! .....and ducking the slings and arrows!

This one made me laugh out loud! I don't know you, but I can "hear" you. A kindred rebel. "hmm? really?" Then bought what I wanted. :)

I wonder how many of us rebels are second born?

I don't wash new fabric, sew bindings by machine, don't worry about bias when cutting.

I always leave a little mistake here and there -- only a couple because I'm well...too darn determined to get it right, but realize we strive for perfection in our work, and it should be accepted that nothing ever will be...

There's always one heart in my free motion -- it may take a while to find it! and it is on purpose!

I don't care what color thread I use for piecing seams, they get pressed anyway so aren't seen.
I don't care if I have to piece a section that really shouldn't be pieced but I cut something wrong.
I don't mind using pigma pens to fix a quilting bobble.
I don't always do everything perfect and when I discover a small mistake I just say oh well and continue.
I don't see why we need quilt police at all.

The last time the quilt police wrote me up was at a county fair. The binding on my quilt wasn't full enough.

I think how you quilt is a reflexion of how you live life in general. If you are Type A then you will be precise. If you are laid back then that is how you will quilt. Boils down to this, do you want to do exacting work or do you want to enjoy yourself? Quilting should not make you cry and be upset. Myself, I am some what of a mixture. I do tend to go toward doing my very best but also have been known to use the Pigma.:D

My tag-line is because of the quilt police. Who cares if you're having fun. With time or physical distance, it all looks perfect.

I do some of these things, sew over pins sometimes, never change the needle unless it breaks, but I like my seams to join and my points to be pretty. To those of you who have concerns about posting pictures. This is a baby quilt I finished last week. I posted this pic in the pictures thread here on the QB. Everyone has complimented me on the points, which is hilarious because while they look spot on in the photo, I promise you they are not nearly as perfect as they appear. So, post those pictures ladies and gents, we love looking at them - perfect or not. (The quilt police are not allowed to comment on pictures)

Is it wrong that I'm getting "naughty" quilting tips from this thread? :D

If it's not a customer quilt, I've been known to adjust the math for the rest of the quilt rather than buy more fabric to re-make strip sets that were cut too small. Or, if it was close, I'd just make the seam slightly less than 1/4". I've also appliqued over holes & thread painted over weak seams.

OMG - do you think they are monitoring this thread? Are they onto me now? Help! Where can I hide?

To numerous to mention Lol :)

For thirty pages full of info, there must be a lot of us who do things an alternative way. I never sew ends in on quilting I do a few back stitches beginning and end of each run. I don't change my rotary blade often enough.

I love your heart idea!

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*** Everything, cause I do it my way.
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*** They will probably take up permanent residence soon.
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I hereby confess to the following quilting felonies:

* I use steam.

* I sew over pins. At top speed.

* I hold pins in my teeth.

* I put loose threads in my mouth, make a thread ball, and then spit the wad into the garbage can.

I have been known to look at a mistake on a quilt and ask myself the following question "can I live with this?".....and guess what 9 times out of 10 I can live with it. If I can't, I'll take the seam ripper to the quilt.

I won't use synthropol, color catchers, or retayne

LOL Bree, I've done all of the above as well. I'm still expecting the quilt police to come get me for the scorch mark that I covered up with white fabric paint :p

Rob<object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>

I put pins in my mouth, and stitch over them. My room is a mess and what's really bad, is there's no door on the room. I never change my rotary blade enough, nor my sewing needle. I use old, not pointy needles at times.I've been know to applique small motifs or heardt over bo-bos. and everything everyone else has said.

What? I am supposed to try and make it perfect? OMG!!!

The image of you putting pins in your mouth and stitching over them has me alternately laughing hysterically and gasping thinking of the pain. lOL

Lynnnie - please - no pins in the mouth!

Ok I can't stand it any longer:

What do you guys do exactly with pigma pen?

If your seams don't match up, you use the pin to color the part that doesn't match up properly. You can get the pens in a bunch of colors and there's almost always one that is close enough to your fabric color to "fix" the problem. You do need to iron over them to set the color before washing.

Rob<object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>

Okay, I am less than half-way through this thread and I'm having a lot of fun reading it. My quilts are far from perfect, I don't make that many because I've worked full-time and been involved with professional associations, volunteer emergency radio backup communications in times of disaster, and, sometimes I'm just too tired. There was only one man who ever walked the face of the earth that was perfect, and they nailed him to a tree. I think, as quilters, it's important to "strive" for excellence, realizing that perfection is out of our reach, but doing the very best job that we can. Other than that, the Quilt Police can take a long walk off a short pier. I don't need them in my life or in my house! One thing I agree with the "QP" on -- simply because of respiratory problems (adult onset asthma), NO SMOKING ALLOWED in my house. I'm not being critical of anyone, but the smoke puts me in respiratory distress.

Okay, I'm not the quilt police, but there are a few things I will ALWAYS do. I always wash the fabric before I cut, because I don't want the fabric to shrink, AFTER the quilt is finished and washed. If there are vibrant colors, reds, oranges, blues, whatever, I will dye-set the fabric -- better to do that than ruin a quilt with "bleeding". My quilts will NEVER be PERFECT. I try to do my best and that's all I can do. I am NOT PERFECT, NEVER WILL BE! But, my quilts are made with love, and that's the most important ingredient or fabric in any quilt!

I piece and quilt with love, I could care less what a quilt police would say. Yes, I do try very hard to do things that line up and not cut off points, but I am not perfect, only GOD is perfect

My quilts are not square...plus all of the above.

My newest "sin" is appliqueing hexagons over joins that will never match up........ on a tumbler quilt. The recipient has seen a progress pic and loves my variation!