If you are really done with spending anymore time on it and nobody wants it (how can that be?), you can give it to charity, as you mentioned.

What you may not know is that you can donate a quilt without finishing it !

When I was able to, I used to go for a day of quilting at a local quilt shop's monthly project for making quilts for the local shelters group called COTS. We would have stacks of already made, donated, quilt tops and we put the 3 layers together with a simple quilting pattern of our choosing. The first time I did it, I got all weepy. So call around to either quilt shops or the shelters and find a place who uses tops for this purpose. This will put a positive "spin" on the quilt for you. It's very rewarding. And believe me, whoever gets it will be more than thrilled. The shelters let the homeless people choose and keep their quilts. If their circumstances go bad again and they must return, often, the quilt is their only possession. Your feeling of this frustrating quilt will be changed to a humbling and warm,fuzzy,good one.

It's gorgeous! I just finished one recently that I got so I hated to work on, but I finished it and gave it to my little grandson and now when I look at it, I think - it doesn't look so bad after all! In fact, my DD never said too much about it when I was making it, but now she uses it all the time! I'd say put it away for a while, then come back to it!

I applaud your decision to donate it. As Patrice said, if you are already at the binding stage and you don't like it, you most likely never will!

By donating it, just think that everytime one of the flood victims looks at that quilt, they will remember the kindness of a stranger and through your gift, they will feel hope.

it is a beautiful quilt!!!

OH MY GOODNESS, WEEZIE, I am sorry, but this is beautiful...I know what to do with it, if you don't want to finish it...send it to moi!!!!
I'll give it all the love and cherishing it needs!
That is fabulous. It looks like you put a lot of work into it, but just look at that picture????
What mother wouldn't love a quiltface like that?
Sorry if I am not commiserating...I just can't.
I'm really curious now, to see what is pretty to you, bc this is wonderful.
:D
EDIT: I sometimes post my reply, before reading more.
I understand more about what your feeling now, and I think quiltswithdogs, idea is excellent, about going ahead and donating, even though it is not finished.
I have a quilt I was making for DGD and I don't like the ribbon I put on it, to cover some bad quilting. I have considered taking it back off, but then I would need to 'cover' again, so, this has opened up my thinking.
She is 5. She is going to use it, and love it, anyway, so I need to go ahead and just finish it, and realize while I am doing it, my quilting has come aways this year.
Mistakes or not, this really is a very nice quilt, and some cold person out there, would love to have it, I promise :D

I know exactly what you mean weezie.. My first "big" quilt top was a Queen sized spread.. meaning that it was bigger than a queen sized quilt. Loved the materials when I bought it, but when I finished the top, I decided that the colors just depressed me and I wanted nothing more to do with it. Fortunately a guy I worked with saw it and offered to buy it and I said "SOLD"
he and his partner had it finished for their new house and loved it.
Personally I love your quilt.. and I agree it would make someone who has lost much very happy ... and grateful for a thoughtful person like yourself.

Update: I'm plodding along on this quilt and am not doing too badly. I've even come up with an idea to "fix" the icky star flowers where the points meet, but that would be a lot of work, so may not do it.

What I dislike most about this quilt: it is monotonous, too repetitive, I guess. I'm not sure that I know exactly. I'm almost finished a quilt top that I really like. I "borrowed" it from a 3" x 3" catalog picture and it is very traditional; only has 4 fabrics in it. I really like my kid quilt (she said modestly) -- photos posted Oct 14 under "Pics & Whine". I mailed it at mid-day on Friday and that's all the tracking report shows so far and that's really creeping me out.

I will attach 3 pics to this (2 finished and 1 top) that I like. The small tropical floral one is made mostly of leftovers from the Hawaiian shirt phase my girls went through when they were in high school in the '80's. The Looney Tunes character fabric was also a leftover from pants I made one of my daughters; she's worn the pants for years and they never fade, so I took all the Bugs, Daffy, and Taz and kept adding strips of color until I ended up with the quilt top. The paper piecing one started as an experiment in paper piecing, but I really can't do it well as I'm directionally challenged?? and so I made just a few PP blocks and decided to just "wing" the rest of the quilt.

YAHOOOO! I just checked the kid quilt tracking report again and it's reached it's destination (the post office there anyway!). Happy dance! Happy dance!

My gf lost everything a couple of yrs ago due to a hurricane. She was SOOOOO thankful to recieve not one, but 3 quilts!!! She is also a quilter, so they meant even more to her, knowing how much work and love went into them.

My solution--you could put that into a box and send it to me. I think it is beautiful!
My suggestion is that you might use a skinny light/medium for the first border. It may be that the quilt has become "too dark" with the fabrics you have chosen. I think its saving will be in the border and the quilting.

Hiya! Thank you. It has no borders ... just a narrow binding which is already sewn onto the front; now I am hand stitching it down on the back and it's looking pretty good. I think once I finish that and put the design in each block center (I'm leaning toward using a cherry red colored thread for the design), it will look better.

So many good reponses but.......it just flashed into my head that you may want to cut it into a few smaller quilts! When smaller, you might bind each one in a different color that is already in the quilt. It may just be "TOO MUCH" at one time! It really is beautiful but some patterns in dark colors can sometimes overwhelm you. You might even keep a part of it as a small medallion in the middle and put on some straight borders, then some rows of it, then some straight bordering again. Bind it in the red and voila! I think you will love each piece of it. Can you imagine? You could make the smaller pieces and love it in so many new ways! Good luck to you with it.(If your response to reading this was, "OMG! NO", then put it away and get it out of your mind! Then it will never please you and life is too short to torture yourself with "I HAVE to finish it." Don't let it finish you! :lol: :roll:

I honestly like your quilt! It looks very close to being done. I have had the same experience. What I did was to put it away for awhile, get something else to work on, then after several monts, get it out and work on it again.
Our Guild stresses that when we get to certain points on our work, just to put it away and leave it. It has worked for me.
Good luck, and don't be too hard on yourself. I really like it! If it is borders you need, I would use some lighter colors to tone it down some, then end with a dark again. I have been told to use darker colors on ending borders, as our eye can see the end then, moreso than with a lighter color.
I made a Patriotic Wall Haning before I knew much about quilting, and didn't know that last fact. I ended it with White, and wished later I had done the dark. So, I took it apart and improved the borders with a dark and some tying, and like it really well.
It is easy to get "stressed out" with Quilting.
Martha Tompkins
[email protected]

I have a king size quilt top that I made in the bow tie pattern with real silk neckties and white silk in the alternating blocks. I think it's 215 blocks and no two are the same tie. I can't decide how to quilt it. Every time I think I have a good idea I change my mind.

I've donated quilts I don't "love" to charity organizations, and I've also sold quilt tops on ebay.

I think your quilt is beautiful, but I understand how you feel. I will find every excuse imaginable not to work on a quilt or project if I don't like it or if I'm unhappy with it for some reason.

Someone will love it. Aren't you glad we're all so different?

I think it is beautiful. The problem is you have worked on it so long and so hard that you can't stand it now. Put it in a box and put the box on a shelf. Leave it there for 6months to a year. Then take it out and look at it again. I think you will see the beautiful quilt you have created and be anxious to finish it. When I have been frustated with a project that is what I do and 9 times out 10 I finish it. Only a begger man's quilt of hexagons have defeated me.

I agree its beautiful, What about having a raffle at your church or local disabled vet, or fire hall, they could use the money and people that really like it will buy tickets, so it will go home with someone who really loves the quillt and you are helping out a group, I know most fire depts around her are volunteer and could relly use the donation.

I really like it. However, put it away for awhile.

I have a friend who was working on a quilt, which had a million and one pieces and she grew to hate it. She put it away and about one year later she took it out and finished it. She entered it in a quilt show and dadgum didn't she win third place :!: :!: :!: Needless to say, its one of her favourite quilts.

So, I agree with all that you all have written. Finish it and give it away. Go make a wonderful something you can love. We've all been there.

I made a quilt that I absolutely hated, and still do. It was made from the Blooming Nine Patch pattern. I had it quilted but I still didn't like it. After much encouragement from my quilt guild, I entered it in our annual St. Patrick's quilt show. It won Best of Show. Just goes to show that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. That still didn't make me like it but maybe one day when it is passed on down, whomever gets it will like it. Enter it in a quilt show - who knows - it might win.

:mrgreen: It's beautiful.If I were you I would try to find another means to recycle it somehow.
You did an awesome job.It looks so happy and vibrant.Can you make it into a single maybe?quilt-n-frenz :?

Your quilt is beautiful. By putting the black background your design stands out. If it was me I would finish it. Give it to someone you love. You put a lot of work into it. God Bless and have a great day.
Fran Carter

I can't see why you hate it so much. It is PRETTY! I had a quilt thaI was so frustrated with that I could have died. I had worked hard on it and was going to have to go to the hospital. A friend of mine offered to finish it for me. So, reluctantly, I gave it to her to finish. When I got it back it was a t-total mess. I paid her 20 dollars for the work she had done. And I went home crying. I worked with it for several days. There was no way I could fix it without taking it all apart. But then when I tried to do that, the stitches were so tight I couldn't get the seam ripper inbetween. Another friend came along and thought she could fix it so I just gave it to her. So............ Do you need a friend? I'll gladly take it!!!!!!! :lol: Just feel free to PM me for my address. But seriously. It is really pretty and I think you could grow to love it. After all you have put a lot of work into it.

I'm very sorry for your above mentioned icky quilt experience. Thank you for saying mine is pretty. I am working to finish it. As a matter of fact, I fell down yesterday and bruised my left rib cage area. When I don't move at all, there is no pain, so I've been sitting very still with this quilt and repairing the very outside edge star flower points and then stitching down the binding backside. It's looking o.k. When that's done, I need to make room on my cutting table to lay the quilt out to mark the design that's going in each block. For that, I'm planning to use a cherry red thread, hoping to add a little pizzazz (sp?) to the black centers. If red doesn't look good, I also have a blue solid and one variegated spool each of blue and red. After I've hand quilted the design in each block center, I still have some minor repairs to do to completely finish it the quilt. If I still don't like it, somebody who needs a warm bed cover will be getting this one as a gift.

I know how you feel. I started one once, actually with enough pieces for two queen-sized quilts. Took over two years to complete one (all hand pieced, hand-quilted) and ended up LOVING it. Not only that, but both my kids loved it so much its the only thing they ever argued about as to inheiritance. I have now been working on the second one for about 10 years, and at this rate will only take another 3 to finish piecing the top; not telling how long to hand quilt the dang thing. But, since these are the only things I'm leaving to the kids (not really, that's just what I told THEM) I do work on it once in a while.

The other alternative is to donate it to a quilt guild/club for the purpose of a raffle or some sort of fund raiser that you and the quilt quild both like.

If you decide not to finish it, find a quilt guild or women's church group that quilts and donate it. They would be happy to have as much work done on it as you have already done, they can finish it and then use it as a fund raiser. Neither your work, nor the quilt materials, will go to waste and in fact, they will do some good! By the way, I kind of like it and my daughter would love it...

I think your quilt is gorgeous! But I know what you mean. The 1st quilt I made was an Amish style 9-patch; black with beautiful scarlets, royal blues, and emerald greens - all quilted with crimson thread. I finished it, put it on my bed, and never wanted to lay eyes on it again. I found it darkened the room too much, and so my brother had a gift stitched with love for his Christmas present that year! Which meant my sister wanted one the following year.... I chose another pattern.
:D

Well, with all the offers to take your quilt -

How about putting a price tag on it and see what happens?

Weezie, I can see that this pattern must have been really difficult to put together, but WOW I love it! It shows true skill to be able to do all those curves and points which I don't think look bad at all). We are always so critical of our own work....I am that way too. Just keep telling yourself, "Done is better than perfect." I admire you for continuing on with your work of art, and hope your ribs and side are doing better.

Dontate the quilt top to a charity organization. They will love it, love to get it and will finish it and give it to someone that will love it.