Slotted rulers - yuk! Never could get them to work well for me. The rotary cutter always seemed to jump the slots, and the cutter almost cut me many times. I like my fingers, so I just put the slotted ruler away.

What makes the Flynn frame such a bad investment? What would you recommend in its place?

Do you think this would be a good investment then?

My bad buys are a bobbin winder that doesn't keep good tension and a rotary sharpen that just takes the spurs off, but does not sharpen. Adding to the list: inexpensive/cheap pins and marking pencils.

Re quiltingshorttimer's message of being a ruthless cleaner: I am in the process of moving to a smaller house. I have all of my quilting projects, kits and equipment boxed up. When I get to the new house all of the boxes will be in a staging area to open one box at a time and decide whether I need to "keep an item" or "move it on".

I foresee a number of rulers going into the "move it on" pile as well as wrong fabric choices. I'm combining two houses into one, so I'm sure there will be a lot of duplicates. Many items were purchased early on before I understood the concept of purchasing quality items once rather than replacing cheap many times. It will be interesting to see how many items I bought at quilt shows (due to nifty demonstrations) that I forgotten I had and never liked.

The best thing I bought at the one quilt show I went to was (big surprise)....fabric--I went to a show in 2013 in Wichita, KS. The thing I've not used yet (but still want to)...a couple of books.

An extra large self healing rotary cutting mat was my biggest waste of money. I bought it thinking I would use it to cut on my table. In reality I use my kitchen island to cut on and use my smaller mat. I'm sure there are more but I thought of this one right away.

A janome quilter's edition sewing machine. I just could not get used to the machine since I had always had a bernina. It was a great little machine, don't get me wrong, perfect stitches and not a moments trouble. The feet cost a fraction of the bernina's and I bought every one they had. But, after being used to the markings, size and metal feet of a bernina, I just really didn't care for the janome.

I have used a serger for twenty some years and love it! I wore one babylock out and bought another. I make home dec and clothing, so it is invaluable for those projects.

I bought a quilt frame, metal from Gracie that does up to a crib or throw blanket. I figured it would help me learn. I put my machine on it and could barely do one row before stopping and turning. I eventually got the Viking Mega quilter 9in but never got around to setting the whole system up. I went to sell the frame once but after I got a couple of prank callers decided to forget about it. Now, I try to think hard about what I'm buying

I love this program. Take the online classes. Once you get to know it, you'll use it to design your own quilts all the time.

For all the folks that remarked on the EQ (Electric Quilt) software. There is a place to take lessons online that are so helpful. I love my EQ and can sit in the morning design a quilt and be sewing it up right after.

http://classes.electricquilt.com/

There are also a lot of great free education on how to use the software on the EQ University website. They have challenges and quick lessons to practice with and clubs to follow.