I like cutting and piecing the tops. Quilting is new to me. I did it years ago but after two head injuries I am starting over.

I have convinced myself that the seam ripper is my only true friend, and thus greatly appreciated! We meet every morning for our morning session: there's always a pile to work on, left over strips sewn together to separate if nothing else. If I can gather enough patience to do that I*ll probably start s-g new as well. Love sewing, and living alone it seems I have 25 hours a day to spend. I don't care about perfect, good enough will do, perfect would be just too boring and what will you do if you have nothing to learn?

Think I just enjoy the process, here could be the reason:

1. Something I Enjoy
2. Get to work with pretty things (I get to choose)
3. If it decides to argue, get to take a seam ripper to it, but no one gets hurt:) and If not going well can put it away till later.
4. Can add as much pressure to myself or none on a project.
5. A person can get better at it as you go.
6. If you compare the good stitches with the bad, guarantee will find many more good than bad.
7. Nice to have something for your efforts.
8. Not a lot of fancy equipment needed to make something usefull/pretty, not that the toys aren't cool :)
9. Can go many different directions an all called Quilting.
10. Can be enjoyed by any and all ages, cultures, genders, boarders.
As described by a DB my head just works from a different direction, and knowing many people, what a compliment !! :)

I know what you mean. You might get almost done with your quilt, it looks great, then you go to quilt it and there is a wrinkle. You feel that you are not any good at quilting. Then you finish it (with the wrinkle) give it away, and it is absolutely beautiful to the person you gave it to.

I have a tendency to do the same thing. I keep trying to do better.

Quilting is a craft the more u do it tje better u get. I lookbnack at some of my first quilts and where I am now and whow myself. Don't ever guve up on u. Have a happy and better quiltimg mew year

Is your name "Pat"? Sometimes I feel the same way. I have a ton of UFO's in the closet and continually start something new because I don't like what I'm doing or have done. Maybe I should find a new hobby!!!

I think all quilters think their work isn't good enough. That's probably why we make so many quilts. Practice makes perfect. I thought I really wasn't that good until I had just washed a couple of my quilts and was hanging them on the line and my neighbor came over and couldn't stop complimenting me. She hadn't seen any of my quilts in a while and she said how much I had improved. Sometimes we just don't see our own progress. Keep quilting and pretty soon you'll realize your getting good at it

i think i have ADD, i usually have a few(4 or 5!) things going at once! i get tired of looking at the colors or the pattern easily!

if your doing your best..then it is good enough, no matter wht stage of knowledge your at in quilting..IMHO

I think that ALL the time! With every project. I get on this board & look at the beautiful quilts with such great quilting and it gives me inspiration to keep on trying to get better. Plus, it's great to have a place to ask questions as nobody in my family or circle of friends quilt.

Keep on stitching---I've been at this for 44 years and I still feel that way at times. I went to a national show and saw all the outstanding pieces hung there and thought "why do I even try". But then I come back down to earth and realize I do this for ME. Not for what someone else will think of my work. My points still do not always meet, I sometimes get a wavy border and then realize I just can correct it, or leave it. Somehow the grandkids never seem to notice the not matched point. I'm sure your hubby will be wrapped in the love you put into that quilt. He sounds like a real keeper.

I'm new to all of this, I've been sewing/quilting since September. I am no where near perfect but in the eyes of the receiver I am "AWESOME". As "dunster" said, practice makes perfect" When it's made with love, it's more than perfect! It's UNIQUE!

It has only been a few other people who said they didn't like my quilts because they were "too scrappy"...however, it didn't work on me because I don't care. I do it because I enjoy it. Those people stopped even commenting when they found they had no effect. I never consider it a chore - it is my relaxation.

I keep trying new things....some stuff is less important to me. i hated my bindings i the begining so I kept at it and each time got a little better and now i like to do bindings .Now I'm tackling points.. i have to practice the precise1/4" seam to get this one worked out. I don't unsew so much as keep on going and when finish identify an area to focus on for the next time. I spent a lot of time ripping seams when i sewed garments, ugh! Quilting is like therapy for me -very calming and when finished there is a good feeling of accomplishment. Each quilt I do shows improvement in so I know I am growing and learning all the time.

I too look at quilt shows and think what am I doing? But, I'm not entering shows, just having fun. That's what matters. My husband loves my quilts and that is good enough for me!! :)

Practice makes perfect. Just keep at it and it will get better. Don't beat yourself up!

Like most of you I am my own worst critic. I have been at this since 1966. I had been quilting for at least ten years before I saw other people's work and was blown away. I had the nerve to enter a quilt in the Great American Quilt Contest that was held in New York to celebrate the anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. My husband took me to see the show when it was hung. I walked around with my mouth hanging open. I had never imagined such work actually existed.
I still don't like piecing and my points etc don't always match. I keep telling myself that fabric is not a stable medium. My husband is a machinist and he says even metal swells and contracts. I don't have a lot of UFOs because I rarely start something I don't finish. My favorite part is the actual quilting, usually by hand. I have taught myself to do the other parts with a lot of help from lectures and a few workshops. I usually manage to make about 6 or 7 Linus quilts a month usually by machine or by crocheting edges on fleece throws etc. I spent yesterday afternoon packing up 12 wallhanging I made for members of my family that I will see tomorrow. They are all done by machine including the embroidery. I do some garment sewing from scratch but mostly altering my husband's pants etc. or mending things. I am currently handquilting the raffle quilt for this year's Linus Chapter raffle. I have done one for them the last two years. Someone else provides the top. In the long run we really only have to please ourselves. I get pleasure and satisfaction out of creating something from the fabrics I love to see, touch and work with.

Ithink that way a lot, & get frustrated. I do try to keep at it, but there are more days I run out of time & I don't work outside of the home nor do we have children ( only fur kids ). Still not enough hours in the day to get it all done. I don't know how a lot of you get time. :-)

As long as you keep trying, that's the main thing. Don't give up, seems like you like because you keep on quilting, so go for it and don't worry about the quality. You are probably doing better than you think!

Oh, I thought I was reading my own post! I feel exactly the same way! But then I make a quilt, give it to someone (who doesn't quilt) and when they oooh and aaah over it, I feel pretty encouraged again. I can see some progress in my skills and this is such an addictive hobby, so I keep on going.

I have just started quilting recently , convinced I'm the queen in ripping out seams still have crooked seams but just keep plugging along , figure I have to improve cause it couldn't get worse, but having fun so I guess thats what counts but envy so many on the board when I see all the beautiful quilts.

Quilting is my entertainment, I enjoy working on fabric. Mistakes? Sure but I deal with it. I have burned a pie, spilled food in the fridge, dropped dishes that broke, pulled a weed that turned out to be the plant I put in last year. It goes on and on. My family sleep very well under my quilts, mistakes and all.

Most definitely! However, I just keep doing it because each day I get better at some little thing that encourages me to continue. I am confident that one day the little things will all come together and I will, at least, be better at it. One step at a time.

Working on my 7th quilt. I can see improvements but I doubt I will ever make a quilt that I feel is perfect, that's just my personality. As long as I enjoy it I'll keep on doing it.

I had to redo my mom's cheater quilt that I made her two times. The backing never fit right still doesn't but, she is happy with it and that is what counts.

I feel like I am not good at quilting--know where all my mistakes are, know what measurements aren't quite right, know what points aren't right and what seams don't meet. But then I think well, I will try harder next time--and then I have found out there are some secrets to doing certains things (thanks to this Quilting Board!). But it all reminds me of life, how there are many pieces to the quilt of life--some dark times and some light, happy, cheery times. But God can bring them all together into a beautiful quilt--and it takes the dark to make the light brighter. Only God knows the mistakes and He has a plan for bringing it all together. Well... (Can you tell I am a pastor's wife!:)

Yes, all of the time. With that said, every quilt that I make ends up being more complex than the previous one, so I must be making some kind of progress :-).

A few years ago, my DSIL, who was a quilting instructor, was very ill. I had just started sewing and quilting so, to say the least, I did a poor job of almost everything. I had joined an on-line quilting group, whose members encouraged me to make a quilt for her. It was only the 2nd quilt that I had ever made and there was scarcely a point that matched and the quilting was uneven and too far apart for the thread, which I later found out was a rather poor choice for quilting. I did manage to select some beautiful colors :-). That quilt made her cry for joy, because someone had made such a "beautiful quilt" for her. I'm happy to say that she recovered from her illness, and I like to think that my gift encouraged her in her battle against that illness.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I just can't believe the stupid mistakes I make all the time.Some times I think I should just give up. :oops:

wow! So there is someone out there that thinks like me!!! I go to the guild meeting and take some classes at local quilt shop and feel so dumb. At the guild, I mostly just take it all in, (don't do it myself). When I see the ideas and skills others have I know I am never going to be at that level (I don't have many years left to practice) so I don't even want to try... I have the machine, the notions and the time but not the confidence. So I check this board and see what everyone is doing and am glad that you all enjoy it......

I think for a lot of us, the fun is in the process, and we end up with a quilt as a bonus! And you'll get better as you go along. Sometimes inperceptively, but when you compare earlier quilts to later ones, you'll see the progression.

I am almost always ready for a project to be done with. With that said, I think it is mostly because I am so anxious to start on the next one. I am definitely not perfect at quilting but I am a perfectionist by nature. I have had to really have a long talk with myself on the merits of just enjoying the process. Most all of my quilt recipients are not quilters and would not know an unmatched seam if it smacked them in the face! Enjoy your creativity.

Quiltmom04.....I love your avatar. The colors are amazing!

I agree. I think it is the largeness of a finished quilt. I find I prefer small projects.

No one is prefect - so I take my friend's motto - "Finished is better than perfect"

Do your best, learn from mistakes, and enjoy the process.

I'd much rather have a less-than-perfect handmade item than a perfect factory produced item. If you are making something as a gift, and have taken the recipient's tastes into account, I'm sure they will feel the same way.

If you are doing something for yourself, let it be a learning experience and some day you'll be able to look back and realize how much you've improved.

Can we see it??? I feel such a sense of accomplishment when I complete a quilt-especially if it is a large one that I have spent months working on-I am the type of person who can't work on more than one at a time, so I can spend months working on the same project-then, I want to show it off!!! The best part is then I can start another one!!

I think that every time I sit down to make a quilt but I really don't care, I'm having fun. You should as well.

i guess we are all kind of like that. I would love to be able to make something someday that i would call beautiful.I also crochet, so i try everything. But i still love to sew\.

I decided a long time ago not to be perfect but just to try to get better.

If it is something I like to do I do it no matter how bad it may turn out. I like to watercolor paint and it's not good, I know that but I have fun doing it and that's all that matters. I like to sing and I know for a fact I can't sing but I still sing because I like to, but not in public.

Hi, I am Crogers (Carla Rogers) I have wanted to learn how to Quilt forever???? I think I am scared that I won't be able to Quilt! I used to sew clothes for my daughter and myself when we were both a lot younger! However, when I look at all the different quilting newsletters, I cannot figure out where to start? Can anyone help me?