Quilting Pet Peeve
01-13-2012, 01:06 PM
#41
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,664
Originally Posted by susie-susie-susie
Dropped pins. I never know that they have dropped until my DH finds them. I think he is an expert in finding dropped pins. He always steps on them. I never step on any--just lucky i guess.
Sue
Sue
Sounds like my house.
01-13-2012, 01:47 PM
#43
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Midland Tx
Posts: 252
All I can say is....WOW......no pet peeves here...lmao
Originally Posted by deemail
okay, as a longstanding seamstress... for all those with 'freebie friends'... there is a wonderful way to fix this... the minute someone asks me to hem pants, make a free (or nearly free) quilt, or fix alter anything...I say, "Absolutely, I don't have a price list with me but if you like I will bring one in tomorrow." Then if they still want to talk about it (trust me, most don't...they'll say yes, but you will never hear about it again)... put those prices right where they belong... and if someone wants to pay you $10-15 a seam (that's right, $20-30 to hem a pair of pants)... then you just hem happily while planning what that $20-30 will buy for your sewing room. and no one will want the quilts at a decent price, mine start at $100/baby, $200/twin, $300/full, $400/queen and $500/king. This includes NO supplies, they furnish fabric, batting, backing and thread. And NO, that is not too much. and if they want to pay it... you will get to make an entire quilt with no cost to you, lots of fun and have some pocket money, as well. If your response to this is that you don't want to charge your 'friends' that much, then you don't mind as much as you think you do. and if you don't want to hem pants, even for $20... then make $30 the base...just raise the price till they go away. They can take them to any dry cleaners in town for alterations. And the embroiderers? no problem...when they blanch because you begin all embroidery work with $20 thread charge and then $15 per motif....you say, "my machine cost $XXX thousand dollars, I have to recoup the original cost".... that's them, the people leaving quickly.....
bobbin sensors not working? make sure you close the bobbin door...the sensor has to have 'dark' to work right and if the door is open then enough light comes in to mess it up... for those without enough scissors to have one on every surface in your sewing room...go outside and count your husband's screwdrivers... and then go shopping... for little stuff, i have those school or party packs of fiskars kid's scissors, just for clipping threads and little stuff and they are EVERYWHERE in my house, every pen/pencil cup, every junk drawer, every sewing basket and bag.... and my purse (they are round on the tips, they won't hurt anything). Having these means I can hide my 'good scissors' where the family won't find them... I find tupperware to be the ultimate hiding place, no person in my house is gonna open something that means work for them. put in fabric to camoflage...
and for the youtube problem....this one is so easy to enjoy... the double bar on the left black sliding bar is a 'pause' button....wait till they get to the part you want to see, use mouse to click on the double vertical bar and then study till you are ready to click on the 'right facing arrow' (play button), to start the video again...
For the young mom...why do you think most quilters are grandmas? I have been quilting and sewing since I was a kid and my available time came and went with the stages of my life. When i was single, i could go home and sew till 1 am if i wanted... but when there were little boys at my house, i sewed after 8:30 or during naptime, you can vacumn while you talk to a little person (or give them a ride on the vacumn) but you can't concentrate on matching points and be nice to them at the same time. the only answer is giving him two pieces of fabric and teaching him to sew them together...he will either join you in your pursuits or get bored and go build something from legos.. (which is why the legos lived in my sewing room for most of my children's childhood years). But the hard part is that he will only be 5 this year... for one year... there is no answer to that.
and the BOM? well, now we have arrived at my pet peeve..... kits, BOMs, mystery quilts and pre-cut fabric squares, strips and triangles.... I don't want to make someone else's quilt. I want to make mine..with my choices and my color palette and my block choice and layout ideas. Nothing wrong with any of these things for people with no time or who are just beginning, or who want the social experience of doing something with a lot of people. But where is the right place and the right time to take off the training wheels... I get ticked when i go to a quilt show and see the same quilt over and over because someone gave a class and did not encourage her students to branch out with their own color choices even. i mean i see the EXACT quilt...a lot...who wants someone else's quilt on their bed/wall? we have been using the same blocks for centuries and there is still a way to make them our own with color and texture and quilting designs and border designs... why are we giving away our choices? Knock off the training wheels... yellow is the complementary color to a royal blue....knock out EVERY yellow piece of the blocks you haven't made yet...replace with the complementary and you will have a subtle, yet colorful block with your own stamp on it.... do you like orange? replace with that... still the same type of contrast, but not yellow.... want it more subtle? go with white in every yellow piece.... why would you let someone else choose a color for your BOM? it's YOURS..... enjoy... they have much to teach you about construction and piecing and handling seams...but the colors are YOURS....
okay, i hope i did not offend anyone with my pet peeve or my advice... i'm a fixer and i cannot resist when someone tells me they don't have enough time to quilt or tools or money (no one is cheaper than me when it comes to buying EVERYTHING on sale).... if your dishes are done and your kitchen is tidy, you just spent your quilting time on something else... you can't complain about no quilting time if you spend all your available time cleaning up after someone else rather than making a new mess yourself... and if you just can't sew till everything is tidy....fine...good choice, just realize it IS a choice. My dishes get done when I get stiff and have to get up from the sewing machine and move around for a few minutes...and my floor gets vacumned when one of the kids does it or one of the grandchildren asks for a ride...whichever comes first...
bobbin sensors not working? make sure you close the bobbin door...the sensor has to have 'dark' to work right and if the door is open then enough light comes in to mess it up... for those without enough scissors to have one on every surface in your sewing room...go outside and count your husband's screwdrivers... and then go shopping... for little stuff, i have those school or party packs of fiskars kid's scissors, just for clipping threads and little stuff and they are EVERYWHERE in my house, every pen/pencil cup, every junk drawer, every sewing basket and bag.... and my purse (they are round on the tips, they won't hurt anything). Having these means I can hide my 'good scissors' where the family won't find them... I find tupperware to be the ultimate hiding place, no person in my house is gonna open something that means work for them. put in fabric to camoflage...
and for the youtube problem....this one is so easy to enjoy... the double bar on the left black sliding bar is a 'pause' button....wait till they get to the part you want to see, use mouse to click on the double vertical bar and then study till you are ready to click on the 'right facing arrow' (play button), to start the video again...
For the young mom...why do you think most quilters are grandmas? I have been quilting and sewing since I was a kid and my available time came and went with the stages of my life. When i was single, i could go home and sew till 1 am if i wanted... but when there were little boys at my house, i sewed after 8:30 or during naptime, you can vacumn while you talk to a little person (or give them a ride on the vacumn) but you can't concentrate on matching points and be nice to them at the same time. the only answer is giving him two pieces of fabric and teaching him to sew them together...he will either join you in your pursuits or get bored and go build something from legos.. (which is why the legos lived in my sewing room for most of my children's childhood years). But the hard part is that he will only be 5 this year... for one year... there is no answer to that.
and the BOM? well, now we have arrived at my pet peeve..... kits, BOMs, mystery quilts and pre-cut fabric squares, strips and triangles.... I don't want to make someone else's quilt. I want to make mine..with my choices and my color palette and my block choice and layout ideas. Nothing wrong with any of these things for people with no time or who are just beginning, or who want the social experience of doing something with a lot of people. But where is the right place and the right time to take off the training wheels... I get ticked when i go to a quilt show and see the same quilt over and over because someone gave a class and did not encourage her students to branch out with their own color choices even. i mean i see the EXACT quilt...a lot...who wants someone else's quilt on their bed/wall? we have been using the same blocks for centuries and there is still a way to make them our own with color and texture and quilting designs and border designs... why are we giving away our choices? Knock off the training wheels... yellow is the complementary color to a royal blue....knock out EVERY yellow piece of the blocks you haven't made yet...replace with the complementary and you will have a subtle, yet colorful block with your own stamp on it.... do you like orange? replace with that... still the same type of contrast, but not yellow.... want it more subtle? go with white in every yellow piece.... why would you let someone else choose a color for your BOM? it's YOURS..... enjoy... they have much to teach you about construction and piecing and handling seams...but the colors are YOURS....
okay, i hope i did not offend anyone with my pet peeve or my advice... i'm a fixer and i cannot resist when someone tells me they don't have enough time to quilt or tools or money (no one is cheaper than me when it comes to buying EVERYTHING on sale).... if your dishes are done and your kitchen is tidy, you just spent your quilting time on something else... you can't complain about no quilting time if you spend all your available time cleaning up after someone else rather than making a new mess yourself... and if you just can't sew till everything is tidy....fine...good choice, just realize it IS a choice. My dishes get done when I get stiff and have to get up from the sewing machine and move around for a few minutes...and my floor gets vacumned when one of the kids does it or one of the grandchildren asks for a ride...whichever comes first...
Last edited by janceejan; 01-13-2012 at 01:47 PM. Reason: spelling
01-13-2012, 02:15 PM
#44
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SW Florida
Posts: 1,188
deemail, I totally concur with you w.r.t kits and reproducing someone elses quilt. It's so rewarding to come up with your own design and fabric selection.
one thing that has bugged me is when the supply list for a class includes some rather pricy item, and then you never use it in the class! (Has happened to me in 2 of 2 classes I've taken!)
one thing that has bugged me is when the supply list for a class includes some rather pricy item, and then you never use it in the class! (Has happened to me in 2 of 2 classes I've taken!)
01-13-2012, 02:43 PM
#45
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: rural Maryland
Posts: 1,564
You are certainly a woman after my own heart. My signature, mpspeedy, describes me in more ways than one. Perhaps because my first and only career type job was as a Lab Tech. We used to get three deliveries a day of speciamens to be tested. The goal was to finish each shipment before the next one arrived. I learned in a hurry how to organize my working area and a routine to get the job done as soon as possible. After a month or two of working there I always got my work done and had time to help in other areas that I was not responsible for along with reading as many as 100 pages of whatever novel I was in the midst of at the time. I even found time to visit other labs and help them in a pinch.
My Bernina 1260 was finally worn out and I replaced it with a used Artista 185. The bobbins are not only three times the cost of the older machine but they last at least a third less of the time. I am always running out of bobbin thread in the middle of a project. It is really annoying to find you have completed a whole line of machine stitching without bobbin thread. I didn't get the embroidery module because I have two free standing Embroidery machines already. I can't imagine having to put up with that bobbin capacity while using the embroidery module. I guess it would last longer because the bobbin thread for embroidery is thinner. The other thing I don't like about the wider stitch capacity of the newer machine is that the straight stitch is not as consistant. I have to adjust the needle position in order to sew something narrow like straps because the feed dogs are to far apart.
Your remarks about the BOM are right on the money. One of my guilds as the stupid rule that if you win the blocks you are obligated to particapate in the BOM for another six months out of the next 9. I have found the hard way that when I did win the blocks I could never get all of them to match well enough to be included in the project. If I were running the BOM I would offer the directions and simply ask those participating to make something using that pattern. Their "prize" could be having the membership vote for the one they liked the best that month or whatever.
The woman who cleans for me asked me if I would sew patches on a team jacket for a woman she knew. I made the mistake of saying yes. The coat was heavy wool, completely lined and had fake leather sleeves. I had to sew the patches on by hand as there was no way to get it under my machine. The lady gladly paid me $20 but I told her to please not recommend me to any of her friends. Just because I know how to do things doesn't mean I want to do them for other people.
My Bernina 1260 was finally worn out and I replaced it with a used Artista 185. The bobbins are not only three times the cost of the older machine but they last at least a third less of the time. I am always running out of bobbin thread in the middle of a project. It is really annoying to find you have completed a whole line of machine stitching without bobbin thread. I didn't get the embroidery module because I have two free standing Embroidery machines already. I can't imagine having to put up with that bobbin capacity while using the embroidery module. I guess it would last longer because the bobbin thread for embroidery is thinner. The other thing I don't like about the wider stitch capacity of the newer machine is that the straight stitch is not as consistant. I have to adjust the needle position in order to sew something narrow like straps because the feed dogs are to far apart.
Your remarks about the BOM are right on the money. One of my guilds as the stupid rule that if you win the blocks you are obligated to particapate in the BOM for another six months out of the next 9. I have found the hard way that when I did win the blocks I could never get all of them to match well enough to be included in the project. If I were running the BOM I would offer the directions and simply ask those participating to make something using that pattern. Their "prize" could be having the membership vote for the one they liked the best that month or whatever.
The woman who cleans for me asked me if I would sew patches on a team jacket for a woman she knew. I made the mistake of saying yes. The coat was heavy wool, completely lined and had fake leather sleeves. I had to sew the patches on by hand as there was no way to get it under my machine. The lady gladly paid me $20 but I told her to please not recommend me to any of her friends. Just because I know how to do things doesn't mean I want to do them for other people.
01-13-2012, 02:43 PM
#46
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Manchester, NH
Posts: 701
Originally Posted by ShiAnnF
I was wondering what is everyone's pet peeve for quilting. My #1 pet peeve is seeing the little tiny threads lying around I cannot stand that and pick one up whenever I see one. My #2 pet peeve, and I know none of you have this problem, is ripping out what I just sewed. Someday I will learn to pay more attention to my sewing!!!!!!
01-13-2012, 07:02 PM
#48
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: other side of the black stump, Perth Western Australia
Posts: 1,902
Spending ages pinning everything just so..& looking at it with pride then put under machine needle &spend the whole time sewing going ouch..ouch..as every one of those perfectly placed pins stabs you.
01-13-2012, 07:24 PM
#49
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 814
I always manage to get a seam thread to peak out to the front of the quilt top. I'm not so disciplined about trimming threads as I go along, so more than once I've gotten these threads that somehow get stuck, and I can't pull it through.
My other pet peeve is after unsewing something, I pin it together so the points match up. But somehow, even with the pinning, the points still don't match up. How do the points not match up if they are pinned exactly together?! Arggh!
My other pet peeve is after unsewing something, I pin it together so the points match up. But somehow, even with the pinning, the points still don't match up. How do the points not match up if they are pinned exactly together?! Arggh!
01-13-2012, 10:05 PM
#50
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Front row
Posts: 14,646
I have several pair of the heavy metal Gingher scissors for household use. I don't have to worry about anyone using my sewing scissors. The good ones are all we have in the house. No one wants to use a bad pair of scissors.
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