my-ty

There aren't many quilts that I wouldn't attempt if I loved the pattern. I enjoy the challenge of learning, conquering new skills and striving for my best effort. My skills have improved and developed with time and experience.

At this point in my quilting journey, I am revisiting my abandoned projects. Each one was abandoned for a reason, and I hope to overcome each particular roadblock and either complete the project or re-purpose my efforts.

RonieM

I enjoy both simple piecing and advanced piecing. I won't shy away from any pattern I like. I have waited to do some patterns until I found what I considered to be an easier method.

For instance, I love the Double Wedding ring. I think I bought every pattern, template, etc. trying to find the one I considered the easiest. I finally found Sew Kind of Wonderful and the pattern Metro Rings. I LOVED it so much, my quilt is now king size!

Don't let a pattern scare you out of trying it. If you're not sure - try making one of the blocks with scrap fabric before investing in enough for the entire quilt.

Onebyone

There are two simple ways to make a Double Wedding Ring quilt. The first super simple way is to use the Rings That Bind method. My choice to make it this way when I need a WOW quilt in a hurry.
http://www.softexpressions.com/softw...s/RingBind.php
The other way is with the Wedding Ring die to use in my Go.

I took a Judy Neimeyer class and my quilt turned out stunning but had lots of mistakes. I learned I could do her patterns but I don't want to do any again. I learned Elizabeth Hartman patterns are difficult for me after making one. I won't make another. I will try any pattern once but usually I find once is enough.

Kitsie

I like to try one block (if I like the pattern) then decide.

tessagin

I won't do anything that requires multiple templates and it needs to be forgiving. I also hate wasting fabric, so any stack and whack is out of the question.

fruitloop

I traveled out of state to take the Rings That Bind class. I had my queen size quilt done in a week.
Beware! it does take a lot of background and backing fabric so don't faint when you see the yardage required chart. I used a good quality muslin. I won 1st place at our guilds quilt show in the traditional category. I have made several for wedding gifts since.

pchp

I enjoy learning new techniques; haven't tried Y-seams by machine or curved piecing - yet. But I have no interest in doing a Baltimore Album type of quilt.

fruitloop

The stack and whack method is so much fun. Usually the type of print that works great for them are always on clearance because no one wants them. LOL I like to cut squares instead of wedges. I've never noticed enough waste either way to be concerned about.

craft

I have been dreaming on making one of those Art Picture Quilts that I've seen at the AQS Quilt Show.

themadpatter

I once had a second job as a food processor demonstrator. You know what makes it look so easy? Practice and repetition. I did it over 30 years ago, and I can still remember my patter. ("It can crush ice, whip cream, and you can even make your own mayonnaise! Let me show you how.") For years I had my machine facing the wall, because I was used to using it facing the audience, and if it was facing me, the buttons were in the "wrong" place, lol. That used to make people wonder.

Sometimes I have a fail on stuff like this, so I have to watch the video over and over again, sometimes freezing it after each step, until I figure it out. I was a knitter before i was a quilter, and I hated purling. Ugh! It seemed sooooo inefficient to me! So, I taught myself how to knit backwards. It took over an hour til I understood the exact mechanics of how the purl stitch was formed going frontwards and then to reverse the motions one by one in reverse. Then it took about an hour of practice until I quit getting lost in the middle of the stitch when my attention wandered. And then it took a refresher course when I wanted to do it after not doing it for a few weeks or months. And of course, it took hours and hours of practice until I could knit it as fast as I could going frontwards. My tension is not exactly the same going frontwards and backwards , but then it wasn't the same knitting and purling, so it doesn't worry me. I mostly knit socks and scarves, so any tension problems seem to sort themselves out after the item is washed. Or they're invisible when it's in a shoe, so win- win!

I guess my point is that like knitting, quilting has a lot of different skills and tricks and whatnot that are not all created equal. But, through the magic of our big brains and muscle memory, with enough practice just about anything can be "easy." The part that's always left out of that is the amount of practice. In his book "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes 10,000 hours of 'deliberate practice' to rise to the level of expert at a task, as well as natural ability. Lol, and didn't that​ start a huge brouhaha!