Quilter's, Brainstorm with Me Please

Several of you have asked why I don't like the Little Glory quilt, and I confessed that one reason is because I cheaped out and used some polyester fabric in it. The medium blue (center and corner blocks) are not only polyester, but they have a thin blue stripe as well. The polyester doesn't flatten with the iron, it ravels more, and it has a different sheen than the cotton. That is probably why most quilters don't use it. I don't know where I got it, but I had three yards of it, so thought I'd use it. So that's one reason I'm not crazy about this quilt.

Then, there's the way it fits the bed. This is the way I planned it to fit the bed, but now that I've seen it on the bed, I don't like the way the blocks hang off.



Ignore the stuff on the tables, this is a room in progress.

The only thing I can think of, besides just living with it, is turning it sideways and making a king out of it. But to do that, I have to introduce even more blues because I am out of all the blue used in the blocks, and I don't really want to use any more polyester. And I really hate to keep working on a quilt that I am never going to love. Can you see any other options, especially any that keep this a twin size?

15 Minute Challenge

I only sewed one day this week, and that was only because I forced myself to finish the top of this quilt. The more I look at this quilt, the less I like it, but that's not the reason I only sewed one day. That was because of my sewing machine. It struggles going over seams and I don't want to quilt this top with it. I'll wait until I have another machine.

I want to thank everyone who gave me their opinions on my last sewing machine post. I have decided that those of you who said to repair mom's machine and give it a trial are right. If I don't like it after that, I'll give it to my daughter and buy a new machine. Like Hubby said, whether I keep it or give it to her, it still needs to be serviced.

Even with my pitiful showing, I'm linking to Kate's Life in Pieces. Join in over there to see how others have met the challenge.

This month, Kate's subject has been talking about quilting, or the ways we talk about quilting, ask others for advice, encouragement, and problem solving.  It's been really interesting, though I haven't had anything to offer.  However, that changed last night after attending our local quilt guild meeting.  I haven't been to one of these meetings in five or six years.  I was first invited by a local quilter who was the guest speaker right after I began quilting and was all but avoided by the other members.  Then, a couple of years later, I went with a new neighbor who was also a quilter, and again, we went through the entire evening without a hello from anyone.  I don't know if the group was just extremely  clickish and didn't want outsiders (common in a small town), if they were so involved with their activities that they didn't notice that we were visiting, or if they just didn't know how to talk to strangers.  In any case, neither of us ever went back.

But last night was different.  I went with the same neighbor again, and another neighbor who has begun quilting.  At the meeting, they had everyone sign in before entering the auditorium, with a  separate sheet for visitors, and they gave each visitor a colorful lei necklace.  The current president came over to greet us; she had been a college roommate of my first quilting neighbor, and she stood with us a long time telling us about the guild and introducing us to people who came up.  People in general seemed much friendlier than my previous visits, and both my original neighbor and I think we will join next month.  So there is another way to talk about quilting.

15 Minute Challenge, One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

I don't think I made any progress this week. I sewed every two rows together and was about to sew all the sets when I noticed I had put in THREE blocks backwards. They were all near the outer edge on their row, but still, it meant a lot of ripping. Today, I'm finally back to having every two rows sewn together with all the blocks turned correctly. (I put an ARGH in there but thought about the being positive thing, so took it out. But you know I'm still thinking it. *grin*)

On my design floor is the Little Glory with a few strips of yellow inner border.  The main quilt has twelve inch blocks with two inch blue blocks around it.  I cut the yellow border at four inches but I'm not sure I like the look of it.  What do you think?  Should it be less than four inches?  If so what? Two, or three?

Hop over to Life in Pieces to see how others have done with their challenge this week.

There is (1) link in this post - to Life in Pieces.

15 Minute Challenge

I really thought I'd be quilting by now, but I'm still putting the top together. I did have a couple of sick days in there, and one lazy day too.

Kate has been talking about organization lately, and I thought I'd show the sewing cabinet my mother gave me.

A couple of the drawers have pegs for spools of thread.

And a couple of drawers have sliding trays.

I'm linking to Kate's 15 Minute Challenge at Life in Pieces. See you there!