Have you challenged yourself?
10-02-2025, 05:24 PM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2022
Location: USA
Posts: 469
Cathedral Window
I've challenged myself a number of times just this year. I made a Elizabeth Hartman Dinosaur quilt for a little boy and I just hated working with small pieces but after making this quilt, I'm not so afraid of them now. Then I tried my hand at the Drunkards Path, curves were another out of my comfort zone but I made 2 oversized lap quilts for a couple so now I'm not afraid of curves. Now I'm working on Missouri Star's version of the Cathedral Windows. I made a small runner to try it first and it didn't seem all that daunting but then I went for a queen/king size. I'll never make another one that size again. It's next on the quilt frame. I call that the quilt from hell.
I'm making a Cathedral Window and I am stuffing each window as I sew it. Momma had made one many years ago but she said she had not thought about stuffing each window so hers did not have the puff that mine will have provided I ever get it finished. I work on it just whenever. This quilt will be only for myself.
Also I will not have to do any extra quilting on this one.
10-03-2025, 04:12 AM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Delaware
Posts: 1,620
A paper pieced mini before I had even tried paper piecing. I couldn’t have possibly made any more mistakes with paper piecing as I did on this quilt. Finished at 6”. It won first place at our state fair and governor’s choice ribbon which was larger than the quilt.
10-03-2025, 06:05 AM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Florida
Posts: 6,132
Like Stitchnripper, I made a Judy Niemeyer. Used my own fabrics but something close to what she had used. The paper pieced sections were easy for me, putting them together was not. But somehow it worked. Then when I had completed it totally, I decided to enlarge it to fit my king size bed. I added onto all sides. It worked also but it's extremely heavy. I only put it on the bed when company is in the house. Her patterns are beautiful, but I have never been tempted to do another one.
10-03-2025, 01:21 PM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Posts: 1,197
My biggest challenge may have been the first quilted project I ever made. I saw this Christmas tree skirt in the first quilt shop I had ever been in. I thought that I might like to make it and maybe begin quilting as a hobby. I had sewn clothing and curtains forty years earlier, so I had an old machine. I bought the pattern, fabric, cutting mat, rotary cutter, thread - all the essentials - and I started. I cut some fabric and tried sewing half square triangles, but my old Kenmore kept eating the start of every seam. I soon got frustrated and put the whole mess away. Five years later, I visited an old friend in Alaska. She was a quilter with a beautiful new Bernina machine. I was inspired. The day after I returned home, I purchased my Janome 6600 and dragged out my fabric. I still didn't know anything about quilting, like trimming HSTs, but my Janome worked like a dream. I finished my tree skirt. I love it, and I use it every year. I try not to look at all the points that are missing. I've now completed 130 quilts in the past 14 years. I bought a used long arm three years ago, which was another challenge in itself. Now I run the LA with robotics, and I love doing it. This has been a great hobby for me.
Last edited by loisf; 10-03-2025 at 01:25 PM.
10-03-2025, 03:23 PM
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: British Columbia
Posts: 2,640
A double wedding ring! It has been a WIP for more than two years now. True to form, I started by jumping in and starting to cut fabric. I'm fussy-cutting because the fabric is Peter Pan themed. Once I had cut a fair bit of fabric, I decided to get some advice which stalled my project. Suddenly it seemed too difficult. I realized the enormity of what I was trying. So I put the actual quilt on hold and sewed six blocks together to try the technique with test fabric. One day those six blocks will be a table runner, if I ever figure out how to finish them in a squared off manner.
