What Was I Thinking!!!!
 

Was cleaning my sewing room when I came across some rulers I had tucked away. When I first saw the rulers I had to have them, I knew they would be a very wise investment. Boy was I wrong! Those rulers were a real waste of money, makes me cringe to think of the fabric I could have bought instead of those dumb rulers. What quilt related item/tools do you regret wasting money on?

Simplicity cutter!!!!!!!

Yup..got a few of those myself!!

the fabric calculator...I never use it.

Yep, it's rulers. I have some that not only "why did I buy it, but what the heck is it for?"

I have some quiting stensils .. had great hopes that I would use them..the type I bought are sooo not user friendly.

those little things you put on the end of your pins. Now I find out that pencil erasers work just as well! oh well...

I have lots of quilting items I have never used but I don't regret buying them. I can buy fabric anytime but the tools may be discontinued or go higher in price by the time I do want to use them.

The erasers working as good as the Pinmoors? They don't for me, they fall off the pin with any handling of the quilt at all. The Pinmoors stay on until I pull them off. I learned not to waste money buying things that work just as good, the real items work as they are suppose to and last longer.

Quilt calculator, stencils, rayon threads (before I knew better), the tool for cutting bias strips, took that one back because the strip kept moving around and it came out unevern.....

I have just about every ruler out there and I only use 3 or 4 of them. I do use the Dresdyn plate one once in a while, so it was a good buy, but I bought so many Fon's and Porter rulers and have never had a use for them. I once organized my rulers and was amazed at how many doubles I had. I gave the second ones away when I shipped some fabric to a gal. I found a ruler I was just about to order. But I think I inherited that one from my deceased sister. So, maybe some of my doubles are from her. But if someone snuck into my house during the night and stole 3/4 of my rulers, I wouldn't miss them ever.

Really I love mine, comes in real handy

I personally would not want to quilt without my Tucker Rules from 180 design.

All of us have probably purchased a "what was I thinking" tool, book or fabric. Once a year, our quilt group has an exchange of these items which is a lot of fun.

What really bothers me is when I'm signed up for a class and there is a list of items that are required. I have the stupid "add-a-quarter" and the "purple thang" purchased for a paper-piecing class and they weren't even used in the class!

They didn't show you how to use the "add a quarter" in the PP class? It makes trimming so much easier for PP. There must be a tute out there for that. Sometimes teachers forget about teaching the basics. Not on purpose. It just happens.

My long arm table with a 9 in throat machine. It is useless and takes up all the room in my sewing room. Now I have to wait forever to afford at least an 18 in machine.

I've spend a chunk of money on magazines and books that I will probably never use for patterns, but I can't say they were a waste of money. I've gotten hours of pleasure looking thru them time and again.

Have to laugh! I use my purple thang all the time. Once I couldln't find it and, as my husband was going out to do something I ask him to stop at Beverly's and get me a purple thang. He asked what a "purple thing" was, but I was in the middle of something intense and told him just to ask for it, they'd get it for him. I did tell him not "thing", but "thang". He came back laughing with it. Of course later I found the other one, and happily have two, which I seem to need all the time because they are easy to misplace!

I googled add-a-quarter and still have no clue what it does.....

And so does deposable ear plugs.

rulers, books, pounce

By the way I love my add a quarter ruler and do not like to paper piece without it. I have the purple thang too some where and agree what a waste.

Ouch!
A friend and I almost made the same mistake by buying a set up like that. We had already signed at a quilt show, when later on in the day some one educated us about throat space, but the lady let us out.

Various Triangle rulers. Whenever I didn't get my HSTs finishing the rigth size I'd try a different ruler to cut the triangles. NOW I know the problem always was my 1/4 seam allowance and not the cutting. Well, now if I get bored with one I can use another. I get my seam allowances accurate nowadays.

Thanks to every one here on QB I have not wasted my money on fancy rulers and quite a few other tools and notions. My favorite rulers are from my own tool bag from the good old days of pre-retirement

I have too many to tell. Some have never been opened.

I can't think of anything right now I thing I will never regret is buying is my two 9" throat machines. I use them all the time and can quilt any size quilt I need to on them.

Last year my DH gave me EQ7 for Christmas, and I feel so guilty that I have only used it a few times - mostly just playing around. I haven't disciplined myself to sit down and spend some quality learning time with the program.

It really does happen to all of us - many of the rulers I have I did get when a lady left them at the rec center where my husband worked, she didn't want them anymore and the LQS wouldn't take them. But then a few rulers were bought when they were on sale at quilt shows and before I buy another one I check to see if I already have it. And I also share, when someone wants to try something, I figure if they like mine, then they can buy it. If it turns out to be more trouble than it is worth they know without the investment.

My little clover iron is one such tool - when I saw it demonstrated it looked like the best thing since the sewing machine. But it was just not the way the it was for the demonstrator.

Also, many people never make the same pattern twice, so if I have to tool and they will only need it for one quilt, why not use mine and save a few dollars?

I have bought entirely too many books.

I once won $200 in a contest & used it to buy a Martelli cutting board & cutter. Both were big mistakes. Didn't like the cutter so gave it away. Use the cutting board under my Olfa mat bec it is slightly larger & the numbers show better when I'm cutting yardage.

One woman's mistake is another woman's "can't live without". I think the only ruler I have regretted buying was the Eleanor Burns flying geese before I discovered the no waste method. But, I have used it and I am sure I will again.

My aunt died this fall and my uncle brought us a bunch of her stuff. My sister actually took some of the rulers and handed to me and said,"I don't have room for this at my house. You take it and I will know where to borrow it." So, now I have a 20" square and the biggest triangle I have ever seen.

Right now my biggest regrets are pre-cuts. They stump me and just lay around looking pretty.

I buy a lot of books, but do enjoy looking thru them. I bought an Easy Quilter 3.1 and Track System a few years ago at a Quilt Show. It looked so smooth at her demonstration. I didn't like all the set up, needing so much extra fabric for the backing. I used it once. I've gotten much better at fmq on my Viking Sapphire that I don't need it. If I ever do make the jump up, I'd probably get a Handi Quilter. I also got The Binding Tool, which I always have to look up the video on how to use it. I've since found an easier way to do it and no longer need than tool.

I agree with you about the pinmoors! There's no comparison between them and pencil erasers...the erasers are hard to push onto the pin and they fall off as you handle the quilt. I'm a big pinmoor fan!

"But if someone snuck into my house during the night and stole 3/4 of my rulers, I wouldn't miss them ever."

Hmmm, what small town in Oregon was that again? Just askin'. ;)

I'm not sure what the name was, but about a year after I started quilting, I invested in the AccuQuilt or AccuCut or something for my birthday. It was basically a cutting board and that's all I used it for. A $180 dollar cutting mat. I'm sure it had some wonderful uses, but I never learned them. I sold it for maybe $20 at a quilter's yardsale and the woman who bought it was so tickled to get it. She knew how much a new one would cost. Also, the bobbin winder. It's supposed to save you from having to unthread your machine to fill a bobbin, but I always needed the thread that was on the machine to fill the bobbin, so ended up unthreading it anyway.

miniature iron,I bought it to iron butcher paper to fabric for my applique, doesn't get hot enough to iron anything, total waste, but it's so cute!

One more thing, my daughter gave me a pair of scissor with a laser to cut a straight line. never use, I rather use a rotary cutter and a ruler, but I appreciate the thought!

I bought a machine foot for curved piecing and book at a quilt show (did that make sense? It's a fancy foot that's supposed to make curved piecing a breeze.) The demo made it look terrific. I'm not actually sure it was a waste of money. I've just never taken the time to learn to use it. Despite the great demo, curved piecing has always scared me off.

I never use mine either..grrrrrrrrrrrr