When you do decide you are not a newbie?
 

I first started quilting in 1992 and then started making rag dolls and sold them in quilt shops along with the patterns. I did that for years. Then I started doing other hobbies. About 3 years ago I got back into quilting and 2 years ago I quit my job and I quilt about 3-4 days a week. I have made over 20 quilts, but I've never made a Y seam (don't even want to try) and shy away from hard blocks. I still fumble over flying geese. I finally had to make them using the one seam method. I see all the beautiful quilts everyone makes here and some of the newbie ones and I still can't figure out if I am a newbie or not. I have a LOT to learn. I don't quilt my quilts. I take them to the LAQ. I applique a lot. I'm learning paper piecing now. I'm doing the free BOM at www.craftsy.com and have been able to make every block easily, but they are easy blocks, which is what I do. But when I look at all the pictures of everyone's quilts, I think I belong in the "newbie" section. So should I consider myself a newbie, which is fine by me because then I don't feel so guilty that I don't try advanced blocks.

I don't worry about titles. If you've made 20 quilts, you are a quilter, period.

The only thing that really needs a label for identification is a tin can...is it peaches, pasta or paint. As far as quilting 'ranks', it's your skill level that determines that, not quantity or longevity. Some people are beginners after 30 years, others are advanced after a single quilt. The higher you aim, the higher you'll get, but only you can decide where to set your goals. Call yourself a quilter, for that is what you are.

I think you are not a newbie. We all choose which patterns we want to use, so what if you like easy ones, so do I and I've been at this around 50 years.

there is no reason to label yourself according to skill- there are quilters who have been doing it for 20+ years and then a new technique comes along and they are again a 'newbe'
the classification should only be considered when choosing a new pattern to try- if it says it's for an advanced quilter you may still find it easy---or it may contain some new techniques that you be beyond your abilities- until you learn the technique-
but truely- don't 'label' yourself- just accept you are a quilter- that's label enough.

see me

I like the way you think! I've been quilting for 30 years now (I started when I was 2 years old... LOL!). I still consider myself a newbie. But that's just how I see me. I could care less how everybody rates my quilting ability. 20 quilts is nothing to sneeze out!

This!

Alison

Nice Thought! I don't think it matters whether you have done Y seams, paper piecing, applique, or a thousand of other techniques that are out there. If you make quilts, you are a quilter!

Your not a newbie, many quilters have shyed away from hard blocks, I have been quilting about 14 years and have not done a y seam. My new policy to get over my fear though is to try one new technique a year that I am interested in but scared to try, two if I have time among my UFO's. It never hurts to try, and if you don't like it donate it or give it to someone here who does. If you don't try you will never know if your any good at it or if you will really love that area of quilting.

My sentiments exactly.

My sentiments exactly!!

I wouldn't worry about it. Just have fun. Many people find it more relaxing to make easier quilts. I also prefer quilts that are used as in slept under and dragged along.

I agree with ckcowl and ghostrider!!!!!!!!!

If you are a newbie, then so am I. I learn something new every day!!

It is okay not to want to make advanced blocks...or I sure hope it is!! I admire those who enjoy the challenge, but I am not interested in them. That could change someday or not....either way is okay with me. So I am one of you. :) As my best friend says, we are made of the same cookie dough!

Dina

Well, I don't even make quilt tops! I only Quilt them, so I truly am a "Quilter", but you certainly have more experience than I do! I have tried doing the things you love and it's too advanced for me! I only like the part where I've got something in the sewing machine; you can keep the fabric shopping, the cutting, and the seams! Give me a cone full of thread and a comfy chair! There are some people who enjoy the entire process and are very good at it. Then there are people like us :)

I think if it's something you're actively doing, you can consider yourself a quilter (or knitter, or baker, or soap-maker, or painter, etc). When I took my 10-year break from quilting, I would mention that I used to quilt. I started up again late last year and now I say, "I quilt!"

Who cares? If you are doing this because it's something you enjoy, what difference does a title make? Just enjoy the whole process.

The wonderful thing about quilting is that we can advance at our own pace and take challenges if and when we feel like it. My advancement has been slow and enjoyable. Although I don't do the difficult techniques, my seams match, my binding has square mitered corners, and my quilts are attractive (in my opinion) and sturdy. Most importantly, I love what I am doing!

Dayle

I agree with everyone. I still consider myself a beginner/intermediate even with about 20 quilts under my belt. I might have done one Y seam just to see if I could do it, but it isn't in a quilt. I get dizzy when a pattern says "cut 24 strips of the white fabric 2 x4; 58 half square something or other and on and on". I just can't manage all of that without swooning. so I keep my projects to manageable for me and since I quilt for my own pleasure things are fine right now.

I bet the people that have been honored with a gift of one of your quilts SURE call you a quilter!!

I really feel growth when I can "read" a quilt! Understanding how it is put together when I look at it. I feel growth when I do not allow a non meeting seam to linger, but go back in and correct it. I feel growth when I do a quilt 2-3 three times trying different colorways, and on the third time I find ways to make the work easier. It is wonderful to feel growth. I am afraid when I know it all I will be bored!

I become a newbie every time I start a new quilt. I never know what lies ahead or how I'n going to do it! I have made mistakes that a newbie would catch in a second. But I keep on truckin'.

After you have made a quilt you are a quilter.
Labels are never a good thing unless you are trying to get Federal Funding!

I guess I never thought about this before. I have been sewing since I was a child. I did some quilting for store displays but all from kits. After some life events I was given my sister-in-law's stash and began quilting in earnest. I considered myself new to quilting but I was an experienced "sewer". I think I passed from newbie to intermediate when I started reading the board posting and saying to myself, I know that and I do that or I know that, tried it and it did not work for me. No very scientific but that is how I defined my passage from newbie to intermediate.

Who needs the label in the long run. Quilt for the joy of it. There is no need to replicate what you see on the board unless you wish to choose to challenge yourself. Enjoy the beauty of the quilts of others and if a technique catches your interest, give it a try, ask questions here or of any quilting friends that you may have. It is not a contest, it is a journey. Some of use only go a little way from home on journeys but we love the trip. Others travel long distances and others just go to the far regions of the galaxy. What fun for us to have peeks of our member's travels!

Oh, for crying out loud! I've been quilting for 40 years and I am not going to do complicated blocks or any pattern with super small pieces. My motto is keep it simple and large because I like simple and large. People who want to do flying geese, etc. are wonderful and more power to them. But I don't think anybody is a legitimate "newbie" after the first quilt is finished unless you consider that we are all "newbies" bcause we are always learning something new.
I hope you aren't one of those people who isn't happy unless they are feeling guilty over something! For example, I could be feeling guilty right now because I can't decide whether the verb that follows "who"in the last sentence should be singular or plural because I can't decide whether its subject is "one" or "people" or "who."If the subject is "people," is it a collective noun that takes a singular verb? Fiddlesticks! As Winston Churchill once said about dangling prepositions, "This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put." Same thing with whether you want to call yourself a "newbie." froggyintexas

I like to call myself a quiltmaker, not a quilter. I've been quilting since 1989. I love to make the tops, but I don't care much to do the quilting. I have hand-quilted a few of my larger ones, and I have machine quilted some, but I do not enjoy the process as much as the creativity and design of the tops. I also teach quiltmaking and sewing, but I don't teach the quilting phase. Right now I have a large quilt that has been in a bag waiting to be quilted since 2006. It is all pinbasted and ready, but I just haven't done it. And now the girl it is for is courting, and there probably will be a wedding next year. So I need to do something about it.

After you have made one quilt.....you are no longer a newbie.....you are hooked!!!!!
I think most of us find a place in the quilting world where we are comfortable....if that is only doing a 9 patch, but doing it as perfect as humanly possible, that is a quilter.....or there are those who are looking for the next challenge, try it, decide if it is to be added to the list of accomplishments or not mention it again. I look at my quilting time as a time of reflection, relaxation and sense of accomplishment...if it ends up frustration and work, I want no part of it, that is what my quilting allows me to escape from....not just add to.........there, enough phsychology for today, back to quilting..........

Take yourself off the 'newbie' list.

You are definitely not a newbie! You could maybe classify yourself as "advanced beginner" if you want.
I have been quilting for over 30 years and there are still patterns I wouldn't attempt...I would call myself an experienced quilter...but not a master quilter.

Really, as long as you enjoy the quilting you are doing there is no reason you need to give yourself a title...
you are a quilter just like the rest of us that make quilts.

You are not a "newbie" when you can help a fellow quilter with any part of quilting. :o

Does it prove I am a newbie by telling you I dont even know what a Y seam is? I am also doing the Craftsy BOM and I did learn that I HATE paper piecing! I havent even finished the April blocks because I am hating it! However, I will move on and the point of doing it at all is because I shy away from stuff as well and am hoping to learn some new skills so I will advance past the standard square or HST stuff.

Don't worry about labels! Do what you love and enjoy the process. Who cares if the blocks are easy! It's the end result that counts and some "easy" blocks look phenomenal when finished. So ready,get set, and GO do the things you enjoy.

I don't know about the label, "quilter". I just know when I was 4, my great grandmother set me up in the middle of her feather bed, gave me some scrap material and a needle and thread. She let me "sew" them together. I had fun and that's all that mattered then and that's all that matters to me now. :o

I think I will be a "newbie" forever. lol. I won't live long enough to be experienced enough to make quilts as beautiful as those shown on this board. But I am happy just doing the simple things.