This is the best place to be. Being pretty new myself, I have found this board to be very encouraging. You really learn whick LQS stores are there to help and which ones just want your money. Don't give up. :)

Shoot the quilt police around here make fun of my colors all the time and like I care..............NOT! I simply say different strokes for different folk and I keep doing what I want.

I had a quilt member tell me recently that I'm not qualified to teach them how to use the Accuquilt Go because she could not understand how the machine works. She claims to have been a teacher and only those educated in teaching are qualified to teach. Yet I'm the only one in this guild that is very knowledgeable regarding die-cutting machines.

I had to chuckle when some of us met this week to sew. She was there and announced that on my advice she purchased the AccuQuilt and when it comes in she wants me to teach her and others how to use it.

My point being that as a new quilter myself and as new quilters we all have talents that others don't have even in a quilt guild so many of us do not get discouraged. We just keep plucking away until we click with someone in the group that can teach us what we need to learn regarding quilting.

I have experienced things that have been a waste of time and money but I take it as a lesson I needed to learn and I'm sure the OP will find someone in her area to help her out even if it isn't this LQS.

I agree wholeheartedly with this.

I've learned a lot on this board and still learning.

One daughter of mine hates green, loves red. I make her a quilt, I put in red. If I make me a quilt, I put in lots of green, like lime green, purple and orange. It is all in the eye of the beholder. I don't put down her choice just because mine are different.

All shops are not like this, just shop around for a quilt shop until you find one that is open and friendly and really want to help new quilters. I am with you --I would not go back either. We have two shops in our town and one bends over backwards to help the customers, the other -well the owner cannot tear herself away from her cell phone to actually wait on customers. No one would mind if she was doing an order or helping a customer, but its chit chat with friends. You can tell its that by her side of the conversations. So glad it didn't turn you off of quilting, we old timers welcome the new comers to quilting.
If you have a quilt guild in the area, you might try joining that.

Sad to hear another bad LQS experience. Most of the quilt shops I have gone to are VERY helpful. One LQS let me sit in on a class to refresh how to make quilt from a class that I had taken year ago- at no charge. If you like the fabric at that LQS then go back. Maybe the staff was having a bad day or that staff person is not longer there.

IMHO I think that the worst thing for a first time quilter to be encouraged to do is to use a kit. The best kits are well thought out and carefully cut with good directions. The worst can have slightly off pre-cuts or not quite enough fabric and the this brand new quilter has to cope with how to work this out after the fact. I've seen experienced quilters frustrated with things like that but at least they have an arsenal of tools and experience at their disposal to diagnose the underlying error or essentially throw out the original pattern and turn what is left into something else. And a person who wants to try their hand at quilting is already a creative person who will have a critical eye and want to have the final result look at least good if not perfect.

All it takes is one lap quilt with all square lines to get the basics. An all squares quilt needn't be boring. The squares can be different sizes for some variety like alternating plain and 9 patch. By starting from scratch a new quilter can see the importance of accurate initial cutting, what a 1/4" seam really is, how to match those pesky lines and at the end, the easiest machine quilting to start with is plain stitch in the ditch and straight lines are easy to follow. Now if the next project is a kit, at least a new quilter can then remember to check the sizes of the pre-cuts because they will know this is important to the final product, they will know that if the sizes are correct then the problem is somewhere else. They will also know to look at the pattern and think about seam allowances and whether they add up correctly in the block before they start to sew them together. I can not count the number of times with patterns that I've found errors like this. It often seems like the pattern drafter wanted to re-size the block and forgot to resize one of the pieces. And don't even get me started on paper piecing patterns. Except to say, that my guild, with some long time experienced quilters, held a workshop on a curved block with a "name" quilter. When the blocks were assembled, the curved lines weren't lining up unless the block was stretched a wee bit, which in quilting is a no-no. The printer paper size paper piecing pattern that was to be copied was 1/8" of an inch wrong in one dimension. How is a new quilter going to know to check everything and twice when that pretty quilt picture is so inviting?

I don't necessarily think that the LQS was being deliberately unhelpful for monetary reasons. There is the underlying assumption that if a kit is put together by someone else then it is that person's problem. If the kit was put together by the LQS, it probably wasn't done by the sales person. When you asked for help with the machine quilting, the person you spoke to probably doesn't even know how to machine quilt. Often people will be dismissive when they in fact don't know the answer. In any event I believe it is important that a sales person for something like this not hard sell the kit if she knows a person is totally new. She should first find out if you have a sewing buddy or have any basic experience and suggest that it might be better to get some experience with basics first.

This is a personal hobby horse of mine. Sorry for the long post. I hope you hang in there with quilting and have much better luck with your next quilt!

Diana

"I'll be driving over to Kaufman instead....." said by quiltergrrl

With your location in hiding, I am unsure if you are in Texas or not...but I was wondering if you would PM me and let me know what store this was. If you are in Texas, I am not that far from Kaufman, and want to avoid said store....no need in me throwing away my money at a store that would treat a customer the way you were.

I would offer to help you, but seems you have had some offers from some others already....

don't give up.....I am sure in time you will figure out what to do with all those squares.

Terrible starts mean great endings. Keep the faith. Remember that it is your quilt and you can do as you please.

Don't get discouraged. I think it is important in your first few quilts to do it all yourself. That way you learn the whole process. From choosing the fabric, choosing the pattern, cutting the fabric and sewing it together. There is a lot to learn. I took a class when I was first starting. 6 week beginning quilting. The teacher was a bit arogant but she knew her stuff and I learned alot. Find another quilt store and keep trying. This is a wonderful hobby and there are a lot of ladies on this board to help you out.