My Quilting Fail

I have to start this post off saying that my mother is a wonderful quilter. Our house is full of beautiful quilts she has made. This one hangs in our foyer:

This one hangs in the dining room/her scrap-booking & quilting room

We have Christmas quilts that go up at during the holidays

And every year from January through March a bunch of women come to my house on Tuesday nights and help sew class quilts for my old elementary school's yearly fundraiser auction. This is the quilt my class made in 5th grade:

This was my block. August. Do you like the girl out in the water only by about a foot but the water still comes up to her belly button?? Drawing has never been my strong suit. 

Now, being of a crafty nature I decided it would be a good idea for me to learn how to make at least one quilt.  So about two years ago my mom and I went out and bought a pattern and a bunch of fabric. I went off to college, we got busy, blah blah never finished the quilt. Now that I'm home for the summer again and fiance has told me he thinks quilt making is a good womanly skill to have, I thought I would try to pick up where we left off.

So I dug out the old pattern:



And everything I had cut and pieced together so far.

Unfortunately, I didn't leave the project in a very good state. I actually had gotten a lot done piecing wise. But when we pulled out the parts and tried to figure the next step, we realized that things that were supposed to fit together didn't...


Dang seam allowances. 

And speaking of seams, a lot of them were not straight either:


And finally, I decided I didn't even like the quilt any more. It just a hodge-podge of random pink and purplish colors. Looking at this makes me a little barfy:

So........we gave up. To make it salvageable I would have to go through and trim all the peices down to match  my seam allowance mishaps...and all that work for a quilt I don't even like any more??


So....now my quilt is in a box. In my room. Next to my scrap bin. So.....you'll probably be seeing these fabrics in some other crafts sometime. 

I want to try again sometime. Especially since fiance is so adamant about me learning for some reason, and because I have a mother who actually knows how to do it.

If I do try again this would be my DREAM QUILT to make. Look how pretty it is!!

source
I found it on pinterest, but cannot find a pattern for it online. If anyone has seen it before let me know....maybe one day I'll get this quilting thing down...but for now, I'm a failure haha.

12 comments

  1. Awww.....I feel your pain. I have a quilt hidden away that I still have to try to finish...it is ugly and I really don't want to. I think I'll stick to scrapbooking!

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  2. Dang! I am so sad that your quilt didn't work out. But I love your new quilt and I actually just saw that exact quilt and pattern in a magazine. The Mag is Quilts and More the Spring 2011 edition. Your quilt is the diamond in the ruff (cute name) and the pattern is on page 86. If you can't find that magazine the credits say the designer is Vanessa Christenson of V and Co. (VANESSACHRISTENSON.COM)Hope that helps. Good Luck.

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  3. Don't worry, I think we all have things that we've started and when we pull them out years later, realize how much our tastes/abilities have changed. My Aunt is a fabulous quilter. I'm just not sure I have enough patience for all the measuring and straight lines. Those are definitely NOT my strong suit.

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  4. I don't think that makes you a failure at all! there are tons of crafty thing my mother does that I have no hope of ever getting right but I keep trying them out. I'm sure that you are going to make a fab quilt one of these days.

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  5. I also have a quilting fail. Mostly that I can't even figure out how to use the sewing machine. (Sheepish grin). My hubby wants a quilt though, so I should probably try to figure it out. What is it with men and quilts anyway?

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  6. This could have definitely been worse! Your dream quilt is adorable. I bet it's not too hard!

    (But maybe you shouldn't listen to me. I think that about pretty much everything. I tackle waaay more than I probably should. What can I say? I'm wayward and crafty.)

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  7. Ah, don't sweat it. I've been "working on" my daughter's baby quilt since she was about 6 months old. She's now 5--ready for Kindergarten--and I still have all the scraps sitting in the closet! Better to have tried and failed than to have not tried at all, I say!

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  8. I think you already did more than I could ever do!

    Ahaha! Have you ever considered doing it in crochet? I love to crochet!

    Kiss

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  9. I love quilts made by family! Oh well, so you won't be a quilter...you are great at so many other things!! I do however love the one you found to someday make!

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  10. Do you know what the patterns name is?
    I wanted to quilt a while ago. I still feel like I might want to tackle it one day, but I'm skeered.

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  11. WE all have starter quilts, as o call them. I too have a husband who wants a quilt. I found a pattern, he likes. I cut it out, actually FINISHED the TOP, but then lost interest in finishing it!!!!! He decided to use it, like it was, wash it THEN asked me to COMPLETE it!!! I told him nope, he can just use it on cool sting/summer nights!!!
    Hope u have BETTER LUCK at it than I did......:o
    Karen Costa

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