shy

I do both..u just have to decide if it is worth it ..I have rulers..I will never use..saw it.. thought this is really cool..I am sure to use them..but so far haven't and doubt I will..on the other hand ..I have some I use all the time..as for patterns the price has keep me from buying some..I get most of mine off free pattern sites..or I see it figure it out for myself..as for yardage when u do that..as stated there are free places to go to figure it..or u can look at the pattern ..and remember or write it down..this maybe consider wrong by some..to each their own there..I have friend who has to have a pattern..because she can not vision the end result..but she save in other ways..by not buying things she really doesn't need..to sum my feeling on this..I save where I can..but still get what I want..it is a balancing act..but most of us know that from just dailey living..

mojo11

Welcome to this board. It is great!

Sewnoma

The way I look at it...I can earn more money. I can NEVER earn more TIME.

Quilting is something I do for fun. If there's something frustrating or super time-consuming that I can make easier or faster with a gadget or a widget that fits in my budget, I'm BUYING the gadget or widget! If it doesn't fit into the budget I can always save up for it or maybe try to find a class or a friend to teach me another way.

Onebyone

Me too! I have a gadget for just about any cooking task. My grandkids love to use them.

LITTLEOLDME

I agree worked hard to many years to make do on somethings, I look at it this way if I can't do it right just won't do it.. 80 an counting can't take it with me.

Dodie

,Guess I am another one who never buys patterns not at todays prices on them but then I already have more patterns than I can ever hope to make I stared buying quilt magazines in 1981 and I still have all of them and what surprises me as that so many of todays patterns are spin offs of lots of them I saw a row by row pattern for 45.00 dollars and I have most of them in 3 magazines plus all the free patterns on the internet I can sew forever

ArchaicArcane

For those creating in EQ... have you found the fabric estimates to be accurate?
The last one I did was high by 20% or so but I was also warned by a friend that even if the requirements on the back of an envelope/pattern seem really high - don't short yourself because it will be the one pattern you do where the requirements were right on or a little skimpy. I mocked up a quilt I had the requirements and pattern for just to practice EQ and play with the quilt's layout and fabrics some so I could see easily that it was "off".

The yardage I bought for that Aphrodite quilt was enough to also make a lap quilt, a cat quilt and I'm using scraps up by learning to paper piece and still not finished using all I bought up. Granted, I also cut differently than they said to and didn't discard the mini border fabric that was on the medallion or the narrow cut off border stripes.

Onebyone

EQ yardage is way off. It always has much more listed then you need.

ArchaicArcane

Thanks for that! I thought I'd done something wrong. How do you guesstimate what you need then? Is it just experience?

Neesie

I actually enjoy doing the math, to figure out yardage, and see it as an opportunity to exercise that part of my brain. The old saying, "Use it or lose it" is way too true, when it comes to using one's brain!