how to I break my quilting block?
#11
Power Poster
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 10,357
Ah....paralysis by over-analysis...ask me how I know.....Time to throw caution to the wind and JUST DO IT. Maybe a scrap or crazy quilt might just be what you need to get you on your way.
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: N. Florida
Posts: 4,568
Don't over-think fabric choices. Pick a few and go for it. Quilting should be a time for creativity. I just went shopping on ebay for quilt tops. Wow, some of those fabric choices were absolutely awful but that didn't stop those quilters. Have fun with it.
#13
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: DC metro area
Posts: 1,286
All my quilts are made for charity. I just finished a big clean on my sewing room, I donated all my strings and scraps to a new charity quilter on freecycle. I gave her 6 computer boxes full of stuff because I was so tired of doing scrappy and wanted to focus on planned few fabric quilts. I posted about my scrappy adventures here: http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...ml#post4907571
I had a huge stack of 6", 8" and 12" strip blocks leftover from what I made last year. I put them up for adoption at one of my sewing dates. A few people took some to play with. I was completely amazed with what they came back with.
Now I remember about 4 yrs ago, I borrowed a friends accuquilt Go and her strip die and cut a huge amount of my fabric into 2.5" strips and made probably 20 quilts in different variations. I also cut a lot into 5" strips and made scrappy 4 and 9 patches.
I guess I'm just more comfortable with wild scrappy with 1 fabric to pull it all together. Guess I need to cut down my small pieces again and go for it.
I guess the worse that will happen is that during show and tell when I turn in my quilts for distribution I won't get many oohs and aahs. I feel I've done a good job when, after I finish it , I don't want to give it to anyone.
After I leave this world my dh has been instructed to contact my quilting group and donate all my stuff to them. So I know that it wil be used by someone for the same purpose.
I had a huge stack of 6", 8" and 12" strip blocks leftover from what I made last year. I put them up for adoption at one of my sewing dates. A few people took some to play with. I was completely amazed with what they came back with.
Now I remember about 4 yrs ago, I borrowed a friends accuquilt Go and her strip die and cut a huge amount of my fabric into 2.5" strips and made probably 20 quilts in different variations. I also cut a lot into 5" strips and made scrappy 4 and 9 patches.
I guess I'm just more comfortable with wild scrappy with 1 fabric to pull it all together. Guess I need to cut down my small pieces again and go for it.
I guess the worse that will happen is that during show and tell when I turn in my quilts for distribution I won't get many oohs and aahs. I feel I've done a good job when, after I finish it , I don't want to give it to anyone.
After I leave this world my dh has been instructed to contact my quilting group and donate all my stuff to them. So I know that it wil be used by someone for the same purpose.
Last edited by charity-crafter; 02-10-2013 at 04:20 AM.
#14
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Delmarva Peninsula
Posts: 1,151
I have a problem with mixing colors too. Cutting up my stash was made easier when I made the Farmer's Wife sampler quilt. I was able to cut what I needed from pieces of my stash. To me, it wasn't like cutting up an entire piece, I was just "snacking", not eating the whole thing.
My problem is I get quilters paralyzis when it comes to cutting out a new project. As long as the fabric is whole, it has the possibility of so much but once I cut it...maybe another pattern will show up tomorrow that would have been perfect for it. So I collect and fondle my fabric and dream quilty things. Arrange it into piles that might go together, then change my mind.
Another problem I have is matching fabrics. I can match 2-3 fabrics ok, but then usually I don't have enough of the fabric so I have to find more fabric to go with the project and when I finally put my blocks together I wonder what I was thinking.
I have a huge stash that I bought on various sales and yard sales where I didn't buy coordinating fabrics or I have ~1/4 yard pieces. I go to my sewing room with great expectations then after 20 minutes of look at fabric I give up.
It's so annoying. I have time to sew now but can't get started.
What do you do when you have this problem?
Another problem I have is matching fabrics. I can match 2-3 fabrics ok, but then usually I don't have enough of the fabric so I have to find more fabric to go with the project and when I finally put my blocks together I wonder what I was thinking.
I have a huge stash that I bought on various sales and yard sales where I didn't buy coordinating fabrics or I have ~1/4 yard pieces. I go to my sewing room with great expectations then after 20 minutes of look at fabric I give up.
It's so annoying. I have time to sew now but can't get started.
What do you do when you have this problem?
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Maine-ly Florida
Posts: 3,927
Find one of your fabrics that you like but don't love. Tell yourself this one is for practice. Pick a new technique to try, maybe a disappearing 4 block, tube quilt or ten minute block. Pick out some coordinating fabrics. Play around, remind yourself it's just practice. Now, what can you make from your practice pieces? Placemats, a comfort quilt, sewing machine cover? I'm keeping track of how much fabric I'm using up because I want to free up some breathing space. This is helping me. It can't be that important if it's just practice.
#17
I have been making quilts for longer than I want to say and it still happens to me a lot.I have some beauties that I hang on to that I just can not cut.Just pick a few that look good together and dig in-it should be fun.start with a lap quilt and after you get 1 done maybe you will be happy to cut more fabric.
#18
I like to sit down with my books and magazines, then when I run onto something I absolutely love I start looking for fabrics in my stash that are close to their colors. If I don't have every color I just substitute in the same color family.
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