For newbies - and perhaps some not-so-new quilters, too
 

Are you reading about all the gadgets, rulers, mats, sewing machines, thread, templates, patterns, irons, books, videos, die-cutters, longarms, etc. available for quilt making? Are you finding this intimidating?

I still find it intimidating - and overwhelming -

I don't find it imtimidating, maybe because I absolutely hate change and I refuse to buy specialty rulers, mats, cutting machines, etc., although I would love to have a long arm.

I know what you mean but I don't feel overwhelmed or intimidated. I have my things that I like and ways of doing things that work for me. I'm not really into the latest gadgets but I love learning new things- tips, techniques etc.
I started my quilting journey the old fashioned way and still love to hand quilt best of all.

Not intimidating at all. I like hearing about the new products, and occasionally I buy one. When I was a new quilter I was a little too quick to buy things that I didn't need and still haven't used.

Not overwhelmed, but amazed at how someone figured out how to design some of these specialty rulers! I generally buy those things that I'll use more more than one quilt.

I often wonder how our quilting ancestors managed hundreds of years ago. Their tools must have been as basic as you can get - and they would be hand sewing by candle or lamplight.

I agree with you Moira. I am curious about all the gadgets and find it very interesting. When I started quilting more or less 10 years ago I wanted to learn and I bought a mat, a ruler, a rotary cutter and that's about it. I'm so grateful I have a sewing machine and electricity and that's all I want loll

It isn't necessary to learn about every possible thing available, especially when you're starting out. When I first started sewing decades ago I used universal needles (in various sizes) for everything, and they worked fine. Now I use sharps for woven and jersey needles for knits, and I've tried lots of different types of each, but when it gets down to it, I could have kept using those universal needles and been fine except maybe for some thick canvas types of fabric I've used.

There are also whole categories of things I ignore. I would love to learn how to use a longarm, but I wouldn't use it enough to make it worthwhile to purchase, and there's nowhere close enough to rent one, so for now longarming is out for me.

I try to learn about more things as I go, but what I'm doing now is working for me, so I don't worry too much about all the things I don't know about, because then I would be overwhelmed!

I don't find it intimidating or overwhelming. I find it interesting and absolutely don't feel a need to buy any or everything. I do like to find out about new things, you never know when one will come along to solve a problem for you or make it easier to achieve your ideas. After all, some of the basics most of us use every single time, ie rotary cutters, basic rulers, the variety of available thread, even electric sewing machines etc were unheard of way back in the day. I can't even imagine I would quilt at all without them. When I think about how the pioneer women quilted I can't imagine I would have even survived crossing the country in a covered wagon! Just think of what the internet has done for quilting.

Not intimidated or overwhelmed at all. I love a gadget or gizmo but don’t have all of them. I have few specialty rulers mostly gotten at garage sales or markdown at Tuesday Morning. I don’t really have a stash. I have what I enjoy using and can manage.