Raggiemom

I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time with your first quilt. The people on this board have already offered some terrific advice. By the way, welcome to the board!

Gerbie

Sorry for your frustation on your first quilt, but all is not lost. Hopefully none of the squares were cut again by your Aunt. Do show pictures. I am by no means an expert but there are many on this board that can offer great advice and have shown beautiful quilts they have made. To me all quilts I make are like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. I love that process. I thoroughly enjoy sewing the block pieces together then arranging them, not particularly fond of cutting them all but that is part of the process.
I agree with others, you might want to put it all aside for now and start a new quilt with instructions, then get back to this one later. There are tons of patterns of any type you want on You Tube, from books at quilt stores or on line and just about anywhere. The 10 minute block might be a choice- find that on You Tube. I also have a very easy and quick block pattern I have used, and if you PM me I will gladly share the directions. Just don't give up, you can do this. After all quilting should be fun and not a chore, so relax and get someone else to give you pointers on what you have. Good luck and welcome to the board.

cjsews

If your Aunt did not pull all of your niners apart, can you resew them? Then you can put them together with a small sashing between them if you need to separate them for visual effect. We would love to see what you have and what you come up with in the end.

sewNso

sorry, this happened to you.
my advice to anyone making a 'first' quilt is just to 'git er' done'. the first one is never the 'most', the 'prettiest' , the 'best'.
it's the satisfaction of having a completed project done. as you improve, you will realize what a great thing you did, by just getting it done.

IF I WERE YOU. at this pt in time. I would lock the door. and sew it ALL back together, the way you want to, to get it done. then find someone that will quilt it and layer it for you for $40. and be done, and enjoy it
the next one will be easier and better. but you will always love and cherish this first quilt

sewNso

somebody said something about sashings. I have seen say like 9 blocks (3 x 3) sashed together with amazing results. or something like that. but just 13 blocks by 15 blocks will give you a 78 x 90 in quilt plus boarders will make it even bigger.

LOCK THE DOOR AND GET IT DONE.

orangeroom

I'm sorry that you are in tears and so frustrated about the situation surrounding your first quilt. My first quilts (2) were simple 4" squares. I used pencil, a yard stick and scissors. Half way through it dh said "You need professional help" and encouraged me to take a quilting 101 class at a lqs. Needless to say both of those quilts look really odd. Half of each have poorly butted seams and the other half are pretty decent.

There has been one quilt that I've been working on for years. Whenever it got beyond my skill set, I put it in a storage zip lock bag. I'm close to being done. I've got the whole top done. Just need to figure out when to sew on the prairie points; wether before or after I quilt it! Might just take it to the professionals for that! The odd thing is, I don't even like it anymore. How our tastes change!!!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do dear.

Quilter 65

So sorry that your aunt intruded in this way. I think the suggestion to make a scrappy 9-patch block or even larger, set together with sashing is a good one. Please share pictures. To sew that much and then have it ripped out would be discouraging, but that is sure how we learn about quilting/relationships and a lot of other things. Good luck to you and let us see what you come up with. You CAN salvage this!

irishrose

My first thought was to put the nine patches back together and put a narrow black sashing between them. I see other have the same idea. Let the colors fall where they may and enjoy the scrappiness. Sashing is just a narrow strip separating the blocks. There are several easy ways to do it. Ask here if you are interested. You could do the same thing with four patches, but it's your quilt and you wanted nines.

I'm sorry your aunt wasn't more supportive and didn't keep in mind that this is your first quilt. A scrappy TATW isn't as easy as it sounds. If you like the TATW quilt, save it for your next quilt and look up Eleanor Burns directions. It's an easy quilt but only if you start out making that one.

Welcome to the world of quilting.

BellaBoo

Put the quilt pieces away. Start over with a beginner baby quilt pattern and go from there. In time you will pull out the mess and have a good laugh over your first attempt. Here is a simple quilt pattern to start with: http://www.quiltmaker.com/patterns_d...er/patt230.pdf

I use the pattern for pieced backings for my quilts.

Neesie

If she took it apart without your permission, I'd ask HER to put it back together, the way she found it.