key4unc

I think you are more creative than you realize, but just aren't confident. So when your sister makes a suggestion (and you "think" she is more creative than you), you start to feel inferior and believe that her idea was better than yours. I've been through this with my oldest sister. She's an interior decorator and a bit of an artist (I can barely draw a straight line with a ruler--LOL). So, I let her help me with colors but no longer include her in the design process. The main thing with making a quilt is that *I* like it. It's MY quilt and I should like it--it shouldn't matter if my sister thinks she can improve my design. So I say, go with your original design--that's the design that's going to make you happy.

tessagin

First let me begin my saying I love your avatar. It's beautiful. If it's made by you, it was created by you.To be creative means to create something from what you've seen. I get my creativity from being inspired by others. I''m not that creative but it's from years of watching others. I have a sister who is so creative and doesn't realize it. Your environment helps in creativity. My sister made a quilt from a cartoon character of Snoopy sitting in a window sleeping in the warmth of the sun. Don't be so down on yourself. Finalize your design, we are anxious to see it.

Sarabela

I am very similar to you. I often ask my daughter for advice with colors and patterns because she is much more artistic and creative than I am. My quilts have been mostly my designs but she helps out with colors and placement. For me, the enjoyment is in the sewing and looking at the finished work. I have seen lots of quilts out there that are much more gorgeous than anything I have created but planning, cutting, and sewing for me is very relaxing and enjoyable. It's the one thing I can do that others around me aren't "experts" in and telling me how I should do it differently (I have too many of that type of person in my life!). I think you should use your own ideas, make it your own even if it's not as beautiful in your eyes as your sister's design. At least it will be yours and yours alone and your sense of accomplishment will be much greater. In the end you may decide you like what you did better than you expected!

maviskw

Wow! What a thread. The answers are wonderful! But I especially like numbers 16, 20 and 30.
You have to remember that almost no two quilts are truly alike. Even with the same pattern, people choose their own fabrics and colors. That makes them their own creation.
I would go with your sister's suggestion and then thank her for it. Even if you don't really want to. It will make you feel better.
I understand the sister thing. I have older sisters and younger sisters. (Yes, I'm a middle child.) My relationship with each is very different.

DOTTYMO

Your idea is your original idea and hers is hers. They are different and special to each of you and both excellent ideas for their owners. My friend loves bright scrappy quilts I love pale subdued shades with a symmetrical patterns. We both know we have our own designs but still differ . Neither of us is wrong or right and other people but more importantly ourselves love what we do for ourselves.

red-warrior

Take a step back and as others have said ........is more going on here? If you like your sister's design better or parts of it use it.......to me it is like the Quilt Board.....I book mark quilts I love or color combinations that I wouldn't have thought of. I also have gotten specific help here to improve a design! Do not be so hard on yourself, I think the ideas
will flow as you gain confidence and ? experience. I too have bought some beautiful Kaffe Fassette material and have had to get others ideas to use it ......I couldn't get it myself either! It is so pretty and expensive I didn't want to ruin it or not like it when done!

Bubbie

YOU are a quilter, so "YOU ARE CREATIVE" When every you look at something that is nothing more than fabric on a bolt, you see a quilt (just because it's not the same quilt that someone else sees, doesn't mean it's still not a quilt and a work of are). Each of us (as quilters, sewers, ect), see things in a different eye. Myself I can see things (prints, colors, ect...), together even when others don't. I found a print that had a cute print with many colors in it. At a small quilt shop that two sisters have (they are about 15 years older than I - and yes you do need to know that - lol), they both said they loved the fabric (and both had made items with it). One made pillow cases, she showed me what other fabrics she used with hers (not bad very nice and very cute for kids). The other used in a quilt with a theme and totally different fabric from her sister. Again very nice yet looked totally different. I picked different colors and prints (most from my stash), to end up with the original fabric looking still totally different again. When one sister called the other over to see what I was going to use and do with it (she was the one who ordered the fabric), she couldn't believe what I had been able to see in the main fabric that both she and her sister had missed. When I finished I brought my work in and they each had what they had done (all of us with the same main fabric). We had all made what we could see in our fabric, yet it was ALL different. So give your self a BIG HUG, lay your fabric back out and work out YOUR idea. Remember your one of a kind, just as your sister is too. For me SIMPLE gives you LOTS of room to work and grow. Your ideas and your quilting are the same. Please never be miserable with your beautiful quilting skills and ideas, they are what make you the person and the quilter you are. Good luck

shayarene

Dearest Annesthreads Please don't feel alone. I have no great creativity either. I come up with lots of ideas but then I can't "picture" them in colors or what colors might look good. I am just working on my first quilt. LOL I had it planned, picked some fabrics that were given to me, drew it on paper, colored it in with colored pencils. I really thought, this is going to be so awesome. Then the roadblocks started appearing. First, I never learned to make sure the fabric pieces were large enough. First, I decided my border should match the one tiny block in center. Hunted and with help from quilter's on here, found enough to match for the border. Then I learned to use a mat and rotary cutter, both gifts from a new quilting friend, cut tiny squares all day long. LOL Then Ran out of the white with flower shadows in it , then measured the light peachy flowered and discovered way too small a piece for what I was doing. SO needless to say, there it all sits. I am not creative enough to come up with another solution for this. So, I have decided to stick to the scrappy quilts for now, until I become more creative in quilting. LOL These ladies are super and I feel more comfortable asking them for help and suggestions than anyone in my family. Of course, my family is more critical of me than helpful. So like others stated, keep your chin up, make it your own and you will be more proud of the achievement. HUGS from another newbie. Rachel

quiltinglady-1

When you buy a pattern or copy a free one off the internet, that is someone else s creation, but you picked the fabric and you sew it together. I don't have a creative bone in my body, but I don't mind using someones ideas to learn from. Your sister has ideas and you can learn from them. It will start your creative juices flowing one day and you will be sharing with her. Hang in there and keep sewing.

trolleystation

Don't compare your creativity with another's.......You did have 'original creativity' when you initially laid out your pattern. Go with it. I am never so happy as when I think of something myself and go forward with it. Remember the old saying. Different strokes for different folks.