At least he gave it his best shot. And he is showing an interest. I think it would be nice to be encouraging and suggest how much fun he would have if he took a quilt class.

He might use the rotary cutter as a pizza cutter as a babysitter did one time with my rotary cutter! I was not happy!

Ooooer Donna. Did you use the rotary cutter on her?

Hee, hee, hee, I was once one of those that figured that since I could sew a straight line I could quilt. What an eye opening experience for me! I now have such respect for quilters and piecers and all those people who can do both and those who can FMQ!

This is an art!

I guess he just does not understand the fine points.

I sometimes see quilts that are terribly pieced, quilted and put together and then the person says "I only put this together in my spare time." "I don't really quilt." They are right, they don't, go do something else. Get on with your other business.

We all got bitten by the bug in one way or another. Maybe this is the start of a lifelong learning experience like the rest of us are sharing. I agree, Mom should get him a very basic beginning quilting book.

Oh, the travails of youth!! I am 89 years old, heading for the big nine-0, and I still call myself a novice!

When I hear these put downs of this young man, I can't help but think somebody feels their sacred domain (quilting) is being threatened. So what if he doesn't know everything yet? At least he got an ancient machine out of the closet and figured out how to work it! That's quite an accomplishment for someone who's never touched a sewing machine before.

And he's right... quilting isn't much more than sewing a straight line! You can make tons of great quilts with just sewing straight lines. The majority of the "art" of quilting is in design and fabric selection, not so much sewing prowess....

And for the lady who said:
I sometimes see quilts that are terribly pieced, quilted and put together and then the person says "I only put this together in my spare time." "I don't really quilt." They are right, they don't, go do something else. Get on with your other business.

This comment is really mean. Do all quilts have to pass some high standard? If someone sews poorly and they are happy with their creation, why not be happy for them? They still have a warm cuddly blanket. And how do you get "good" if you don't start somewhere and keep trying?

I'm just surprised at some of these comments!

My Dad did basically the same thing as the young man in the OP. He had bought my mother a sewing machine when they got married, but she just didn't take to sewing. It sat folded up in it's cabinet. Dad wanted to recover the couch and got the machine out, followed the book step by step, and figured out how to sew on that machine. He made some nice slipcovers and had a real sense of accomplishment.

When I was 11 I opened up that same dusty machine and started playing with it. I followed the same booklet to learn how to thread it up and operate it, and the rest is history!! I'm glad there were no sour old women around to disparage my efforts or I may have given up.

Well first he should read the manual for the trouble shooting. My Dh every once in a while will ask about something. I get the manual out and tell him to read it. If I fix his problem he'll never learn and break something.

I thought it would be easy until I made one. Whole new respect for quilting. That was 12 years ago.

I think his cockiness would get to me, also. I would find a quilt store by him and buy him beginning quilt lessons as a surprise. He'll lose his cockiness after his first lesson. I'd be excited that he thinks he can quilt. That means he's willing to try it. But he needs those lessons and they will be also lessons in humility.