.....and feel lucky if you don't have one. :!:

I had gotten some hand-me-down fabric from my MIL and the blue was perfect for the graduation present I was working on. I washed the fabric and used it extensively throughout the quilt. When it came time to put on the binding, I noticed that my hands were a lovely shade of death-warmed-over blue. I washed my hands and went back to binding, only to find that it was MIL's fabric that caused the discoloration. I finished the binding and washed the quilt - allthewhile keeping an eye on the wash water: 3, 4,...7,8...12 washes later, and the *(&*)* quilt was still bleeding blue. Not only did the color change, but the feel of the fabric changed too.

We now have a picknick quilt.....and I had to get quick and creative for a replacement pattern to give as a gift.

Don't wear white pants and sit on your picnic quilt!!!! Sorry for your troubles!!

'
If I wore white pants, that would be an entirely different kind of horror. ROFLOL

My second quilt was a T shirt memory quilt for my youngest DD. I didn't have any idea what I was doing. Used too heavy bonding on the T shirts. It was horrible to quilt. Gummed up my needle. Had to clean it out sooooo often. The quilt weighs a ton. I call it the quilt from he##. My DD loves it. Shows it to every one.

I saw a quilt pattern on a once popular quilt show. I just HAD to make that quilt. After hours of searching on the Internet I bought the pattern. I shopped for HOURS picking out just the perfect fabrics.

I got all the blocks made, looked them over and suddenly got a very uneasy feeling about this quilt. I ignored it and started putting the quilt together.

Now are you ready for my final thoughts??????????????????


I HATE THE QUILT!!!!!!!!! I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!!!!!!!!! I AM ASHAMED TO PUT MY NAME TO IT! I HATE IT SO MUCH I REFUSE TO QUILT AND FINISH IT! I still love the fabrics! BUT I HATE THE QUILT!

My very first quilt was a queen extra long and wide, Trip Around the World filled with high loft poly, warm as toast, hand quilting that took months. When my Dane puppy was about 6 months old, my ex and I went out for groceries. Max had decided to nest on the bed, shredding the center of the quilt, the wool blanket and sheets underneath, and finally stopped at the mattress pad.

Ouch! Naughty puppy! :(

K x

Oh my... I just about cried at the thought of it!

My quilt horror story is that I chopped off the tip of my middle finger with my rotary cutter Sunday. :shock: OUCH :( Definitely need to buy a klutz glove as this is the third time I've done/

Ouch!!! :cry:

But if this is the third time, I was wondering, just HOW short is that finger now? :D

K x

k3n, I am laughing at your reply!! Thanks for the morning chuckle.

Key4, I hope you are ok and forgive my laughing. But I do agree with kn3 - OUCH!!! That is one thing I have never done.

My first quilt in 1983 was queen size sampler with sashing all HAND PIECED. I got it all put together and did not know I had to align every row with the next row, and since it had a long sashing strip between rows no matching seams for some reason I just sewed, sounds great. Except when I got it all together the blocks were no where close to being aligned with the rows below. I had to take the whole thing apart. Talk about feeling stupid. The one and only quilt I ever hand pieced. Then my dear husband got me a Bernina 930, that I have to this day and love.

Yeah, I'm sorry key4 - it was mean of me to have laugh at your expense. It must have really hurt - I've sliced myself once, trying to cut BACKWARDS instead of turning the mat. I won't do that again in a hurry! :?

K x

Ouch, sorry that this happened. I also took a chunck out of my finger about a year ago. I didn't think it would ever stop bleeding. I hope it heals fast.

Kyia

Isn't that all that really matters? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Gee, I guess you REALLY HATE THAT QUILT!!! lol Have you thought about donating it to a community service project? I had one like that and when I was finally tired of beating myself over the head for making this monstrosity, I gave it away and NEVER looked back.

I actually cringed when I got to that part of your story. This happened to a gal on a different forum - her puppy ate the first quilt she made. ...but what can you do at that point?!?!?!

When I put my quilts together, I can usually tell how "good" the quilt will be by how much "help" I get from Mr. Bean and Monty (my cats). The more they romp on the layout, the better they seem to like it. Only once did they revolt: they pulled apart my quilt top and shredded the batting...and yes, I hated the quilt too.

If you are like my girl friend (who did the exact same thing - but only once) you need to wear a substantial bandage and walk around with the finger held high, telling EVERYONE that you are a WOUNDED QUILTER (big sigh). She is a drama queen.

Hope you heal soon since blood stains are hard to get out of the fabric.

I have a gorgeous Irish chain that my mother pieced for me and my aunt hand-quilted. I fell asleep once while grading papers in bed and got ink stains all over it, which I have never been able to remove! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH! I toy with the idea of picking out the quilting and removing the worst pieces and trying to replace them, but I am too scared to try it!

It is kind of amazing to me that what I think will be cool actually turns out to be a dud. To me the real test is how tired I get of looking at it on my quilting frames.

I'm kind of there on the quilt I'm working on now. It gets more juvenile every time I look at it. I can't wait to get it finished and off of my frame, and in the hands of the recipient. She loves it.

I haven't cut my self yet, but one of my friends ended up with 10 stitches, so now I have attached a clear rotary guard on my omni 24". and have bought suction handles for my smaller rulers. The even have a tiny one. I feel so much safer.

Bet you never made that mistake again. I know all about "feeling stupid" and there's nothing like one of those "I can't believe I did that" moments to bring humility back to one's life.

THAT is truly a horror. How long has the stain been there? Is it part of the quilt's life story by now? If you still have some of the original fabric? If so, can you applique a piece over the offending stain and quilt over it? I bet nobody (but you) would notice.

I'm lucky because I can usually "see" the finished product in my mind's eye during the design process. So duds are rare - but they do happen at times.

Actually, I learned a trick for this. You know when you accidentally prick your finger and it gets a little spot of blood on your quilt?

Spit on it, and blot with a paper towel. It needs lots of spit, and it has to be YOUR spit to work. Remaining smudge will come right out when washed with COLD, not hot, water.

That's a great tip :!:

I think every quilt I do ends up with some little horror story attached to it. I'm good for a meltdown (usually silent beating up of myself as I don't want anyone to know I make mistakes) at least once a week. I'm still a bit of a novice, teaching myself as I go along. So there are some great scraps from cutting wrong and an assortment of blocks that are too weird for the quilt. Someday I will make a quilt of "not square" squares.

Luckily, no injuries for me.

My biggest horror story is the "quilt police"- remember I'm a novice. about 2 years ago I made a quilt for a family reunion and there were quilt police there. I almost grabbed my quilt and ran home. I was ready to cry and I felt sick to my stomach. But, it must not have been so bad as I get asked each year to make one and they sell a ton of tickets and fight over who will get it.

K4 and K3, thanks for the laughs! I was having a rough morning and this definitely helped! :lol: :lol: I too have done the cutting thing, dropped it and it cut my leg! No stitches, but still have scar! Ninnie in NC

I must not have been in enough quilt trouble to warrant the quilt police so I don't really know what that means?

I think I have an idea: I bought fabric for a quilt and the quiltzilla owner of the shop said to me: "Please tell me that you are not planning to use this fabric on the same quilt." (Which of course was EXACTLY what I had planned) She then said: "What will you name it? Nightmare on Elm Street?" I told her she would eat her words......and she did.

I've had this happen too... and it's gutting. Someone ran down a quilt I'd made as a gift, and then the very next day someone else told me how awesome it was. It made me realise how subjective and personal taste is. I try not to take the quilt police comments to heart. :-)

Well done dude! :-)
I love the term "quiltzilla". I had a woman in a shop give me a long and loud lecture while cutting my fabrics that the "true spirit" of quilting was using whatever you had lying around, not buying particular fabrics that matched. I didn't have the guts to tell her that what she was saying would actually do her out of business!

Something similar happened to my little girl. I keep my rotary cutters out of reach of children, but she threw something up and knocked it off or something, and it fell and hit her on the wrist. It was shut, but the impact from the fall made it shove in a little. It only barely broke the skin, but still scary. It could've been much worse. Now, I keep them up even higher (I'm short, so it seems like a mile) in a pretty painted planter that is heavy and won't tip.

:shock: Oh my..that is my nightmare. Especially since one of my boys has taken to dragging around a cheap throw blanket in his mouth when my husband is gone. It is his security blanket.

I have taken out a smallish chunk of my finger w/ my rotary cutter. Just being careless, I guess. I was so surprised I couldn't believe it, but as there was quite a bit of blood... Ugh, must stop before I get woozy again!

My horror story, though was in the making of a quilt for my only niece. My brother, her daddy, is a dairy farmer, and I was making Tammy Tadd's "Hey Cow." The top was finished, I'd sandwiched it and was trimming off the excess before quilting. And... somehow... I cut a hole in the top! I thought I was going to be sick.

My fix was to put a piece of fusible through the hole between the top & the batting (Warm & Natural), fused it, then quilted carefully over it to make sure it wouldn't come up. If anyone should look closely, they'd be able to see it.

I have heard of this, so I tried it with chocolate, lol. The stain did come out...maybe the formula makeup of my blood is the same. Does that mean I bleed chocolate? If so, don't tell me, I have been recently suspicioned to be a cannibal, after biting one of grandbabies fingers.
I don't want to eat myself, in my sleep, and wake up dead! :lol:

I was making a garden quilt. I had the great idea of making the floating blocks and turning the squares so it would look like the flowers were floating on different green fabrics. I spent time planning the quilt. I had already bought all the flower pieces I wanted. I cut up everything I had for it, as I wanted it to be scrappy and it was great.

Until I realized that I had not figured the squares right. And it wasn't going to work at all. So, I put it away. And just about cried. 6 months later, I decide to use all the fabric. I really need a summer garden to look at in January in MN. So, I sewed. And, although this is not what I intended, this turned out better than I hoped it would. :)

That quilt looks gorgeous! Bet you're glad it's done now. :-)

The thing with spit is right... it's the enzymes in the saliva that work on the stain. Part of the secret is getting the spit on the stain while it's still wet, before it can set. And anyone's spit will work, although it's probably more hygenic to stick with your own! lol

Sounds to me, like you have family that are "quilt police" bc they are envious. We all know, that even when our seams and points don't look perfect, that a lot of work and determination goes into these quilts.
I couldn't help but chuckle about the part, where you almost grabbed it, and ran home, but they were being mean. Shame on them! Just remember, even the best quilter in the world can 'flub' up, if not paying attention. It's that kind of craft. I'm a great flubber, but I'm also a great ripper. Can't keep a good dog down :P

OMGosh, Martina, that is a great,...and funny story!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
I had not heard of "quiltzilla", (shop owner), lmbo right now, but of course a superhero would. (You know my grandbaby believes in you, lol...see other post, um, somewhere :D).
That was extremely rude. Sounds like she had seen you before, so was taking liberties. It's rude, even when family does it, but we kind of expect it, from them once in a while. I love the way you handled it!
I'd love to see a pic of quilt. Bet if you had said, "well, I'll go home and think about it", and walked out, without buying fabric...HaHaHaHa...next time she would have bit her tongue off and chewed, before losing the money!
You probably did it in a very, nonchalant, superhero-ish way though, not really a confrontation. I've never been able to walk away from fabric...sigh,...but then, I've never been talked to that way...although, once after being in a Joann's for a couple hours, and had, oh, about six assorted size cuts...and was eyeballing a bolt on counter behind cutter...I had said, that I needed a certain color for a mystery quilt...(now if it was a mystery to me, what was it to these ppl?)...when I said, "let me look at that bolt over there, maybe that would work"...at least 3 of the ppl around me, (in unison), all shouted, "NO!".... now that was a truly, weird thing! I just shrugged it off, looked at it, and said, "nope, not right, shade." doo doo doo doo....(must have been police, gestapo :? )

WOW, purple7, that's a great scrappy quilt. Nice and bright and cheerful. Bet it brightened things for you as you worked on it, huh? :D

P.S. got quite a cutie there, in pic!!! :D :D :D