allie1448

Please don't give up!!! you do not need perfection as you make a quilt you look at each little joint and seam and butting point and you look at them close and in detail but once you make a quilt and stand back and look at the whole all of those small imperfections just blend and fade together! I really want to see your finished project and just know that it will be lovely and will have been made with love!

tupoms

Don't give up. If you enjoy quilting and want to do it, you will find the methods and tips that work for you. This discussion has lots of good tips already. Try some of them.You might try some methods that use square & rectangles to achieve almost every design. I found this is something that gives me satisfactory results. Then on some days I try a block of the month using some traditional method just to test my frustration levels, I guess. I say, stitch on, sister.
ava

Rettie V. Grama

You are not alone in your crisis. I've been struggling with my Block of the Month block for 20 days now. First, I searched the web, all the books I could find and couldn't find a pattern for my project. Could find pictures, but no pattern. So----to the drawing board I go. After many attempts over a weeks period, I finally came up with a workable pattern. It is almost done----until my sewing machine started giving my problems. Went to another machine. This is a new one and havn't mastered it's automatic techniques yet, but have a little bit more to go, the ready for the mail. "Please, God help me get this block done."

mpspeedy

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I have been making quilts for more than 40 years and I am still only an iffy piecer. I don't participate in block exchanges because it is to stressfull to follow someone else's directions and I don't want to win a set of blocks that will be a nightmare for me to try and put together. I can handquilt anyone's top in record time but don't ask me to piece. I have received blocks as gifts several times in my life and always had a horrific time making them into a quilt. It is hard enough to make your own pieces consistant enough to go together well without stuggling with other people's even tiny mistakes. Give me a wholecloth or a preprinted panel and I am thrilled.

OmaForFour

Everyone has an ability crisis at one time or another. Don't give up. I have been quilting for quite a while now and the other day I cut out pieces for a Paper Piecing pattern.
After I got them all done I realized that I had cut the same 1/2 of the pattern sections TWICE instead of one each of Page 1 and 2. I now had two sets of Page 1.
Thinking I had done Page 2 first, I merrily cut out a set of Page1 only to find I now had 3 sets of Page 1!!!!!
I had to go to the LQS to get more fabric! Luckily she still had it.
KEEP ON TRYING! Today I will cut out pieces for PAGE 2 and this time I KNOW it is Page 2 ! LOL

mmb195152

Please don't quit! Anyone who has accomplished so much can be a successful quilter.

I am a self taught sewer. I also was biologically left handed, but was forced to become right handed because that was the trend at the time. As a result, I think left handed when I am cutting, but cut right handed. I can't "see" what is so obvious to others, especially when doing any kind of sewing, cutting, or other crafts.

I have taken a couple quilt classes, but was always embarrassed because I was the slowest, and couldn't socialize much because I had to concentrate too hard.

So now I sew in the privacy of my own home. I can go at my own pace, rip out as many times as I need to, and really try to be less of a perfectionist.

Half of the fun of quilting is the dreaming, chosing the fabrics, and the planning. If you love it, Keep going!!!!!!

When my kids were struggling to learn something, I would tell them, "It takes some people longer to climb the mountain, but the view from the top is the same". If you love doing it, have fun doing the process. Also, stretching your brain is healthy.

Keep going Sharon!!!!!!

Mkotch

You sounds like a perfectionist, and as I learned making a Dear Jane quilt, Finished is Better then Perfect. If the blocks aren't good enough to swap, make yourself a quilt or a bunch of potholders instead. Then move on to something else. Work on small projects without a deadline. This is supposed to be a Hobby!

Mkotch

You sound like a perfectionist, and as I learned making a Dear Jane quilt, Finished is Better then Perfect. If the blocks aren't good enough to swap, make yourself a quilt or a bunch of potholders instead. Then move on to something else. Work on small projects without a deadline. This is supposed to be a Hobby!

Buttons922

Don't quit just yet. When I was new and had close to the same experience, my grandson, age 6, said, "But Grandma you taught me that I could not draw really well and all it takes is to try and try and try and then you will get it. I know Grandma you can do it, just keep trying!"

I hated eating my words as a mom, It is even harder as a grandma. But it is good advice and my suggestion to you. I have never regreted his words, past the first month.

Roberta

Please don't give up. I'm a terrible quilter, never will be good at it no matter how hard I try, but I'm having fun, de-stressing, I really enjoy the hobby. Will I ever get proficient, heck no, am I having fun, you bet. Quilt to enjoy, nothing is perfect in life.