projects you would never do again

friend and I were discussing needlework we'd made as gifts and would never do again. Hers: a baby quilt, with embroidered sections = mother was evidently not appreciative.

a wedding sampler - seems that after the divorce, she was afraid the bride had tossed it, custom frame and all. Had wished that the bride, upon her subsequent remarriage, had asked her to change the name and date. But I would imagine the bride wanted NO reminders lying around the new abode.

a baby bib - waste of time and money.

Me: embroidered part of a christening outfit to help someone out - one strand of white on white - almost blinded me.

anything involving black

Anything you have vowed not to do again?

Reply to
val189
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I can think of several. A baby bib is at the top of my list because as you've already pointed out it's a waste of time and money, and there's also an almost finished linen tablecloth that will probably never get finished and never be given to the intended recipient. A couple of needlepoint objects and cross stitch objects come to mind, but none that were totally horrid and if they weren't appreciated, I wasn't told and don't want to know.

I also once made a quilted afghan for my mother. She didn't love it and I hated making it. It did teach me that for me quilting is ick, ack, ptui!!! lol

Lucille

Reply to
Lucille

Anything using Renaissance threads like Sprinkles - they are gorgeous but a real pain to work with.

Pat > friend and I were discussing needlework we'd made as gifts and would > never do again.

Reply to
Pat in Illinois

Blackwork -- I bought one of those kitchen towels that was designed to be embellished and thought a blackwork motif would fit perfectly. First I very carefully stitched the outline of the design. However when I was ready to join the first stitches to the last ones, I noticed that somewhere along the journey I had messed up, making it impossible for the ends to meet.

I may never do another stumpwork project -- the one I'm doing now will be gorgeous when completed if I do say so myself but I'm tired of making button holed edged shapes.

Reply to
anne

I always wanted to try stumpwork, once was enough. Pretty and effective when finished but I felt my fingers and thumbs were the clumsiest set of digits I ever knew.

Reply to
lucretia borgia

Why not post a picture or a description of it, colors etc? Maybe someone here would love to have and finish it. I tossed a x-stitch tablecloth many years ago - hated the colors and hadn't realized how long it was going to take to finish it. Waste of time and material.

Reply to
val189

Well there are several undeserving wretches for whom I'll never make anything again although I'd happily make the project again and keep it for myself.

I'd say as far as projects are concerned, the pink tablecloth with purple flowers would have to be it - fortunately I've been able to use the completed portions in crazy quilting where it isn't quite as overwhelming.

Dora

Reply to
bungadora

Well there are several undeserving wretches for whom I'll never make anything again although I'd happily make the project again and keep it for myself.

I'd say as far as projects are concerned, the pink tablecloth with purple flowers would have to be it - fortunately I've been able to use the completed portions in crazy quilting where it isn't quite as overwhelming.

Dora

Reply to
bungadora

I will have to think really, really hard before I do another project on black! It turned out lovely, but a 3 in x 3 in cross stitch shouldn't take 4 years to complete!

--Mickey to reply: mickey18385 at yahoo dot com

Reply to
nobody

Well there are several undeserving wretches for whom I'll never make anything again although I'd happily make the project again and keep it for myself.

I'd say as far as projects are concerned, the pink tablecloth with purple flowers would have to be it - fortunately I've been able to use the completed portions in crazy quilting where it isn't quite as overwhelming.

Dora

OMG, you are so right about the "undeserving wretches" and I have a hard time figuring out who they are! I did a birth announcement for my daughter-in-law's sister's baby and mailed it to her. I thought I would never hear a word of thanks from her even though it was my own design and took lots of time to complete. But shockingly she sent a gushing Thank You note to me and she emailed everyone she knew to say how wonderful it was and how much it meant to her. But she is definitly the exception in the past few years.

So many people just don't know or care about the amount of time and effort that go into these bits of cloth and thread! I pick my projects carefully these days. aeromom

Reply to
aeromom

After finishing Marty Bell's "Miss Hathaway's Cottage", I have vowed never to do another such project. Hundreds and hundreds of hours over 7 years. Endless color changes throughout. AARGH!!!!

mag

Reply to
Mag

I took a look at this on some site - aargh is right. I bet you loved doing those flower beds in the foreground. That's where I usually cheat and wing it with whatever colors I feel like using.

Reply to
val189

I have begun some years ago to cut pieces out of old UNWANTED works and use them in my fiberart as self ready mades , mirjam

Reply to
mirjam

Oh yes.........along the lines of "undeserving wretches". Many years ago a co-worker was having a baby, her second baby, but first with current husband. I made an afghan with all 26 letters of the alphabet done in rainbow colours and both children's names on it. It looked sensational when finished, but got hardly a glance and certainly not a thank you from the mother. It took months to do, the colours were monotonous and the whole thing mind numbing. From that moment on I decided to be much more considered about making something for others.

At the other extreme, I made a CA Wells little scissor fob for a dear friend - it did turn out well, and it was cute, and she was fantastically thrilled with it, so I did invest those few hours very well!

Joanne in Perth

Reply to
The Lady Gardener

I knit a romper for Baby #1. Baby #2 was, IIRC, 15 months younger. I was requested to knit the same romper in the same colors, because it went so well with everything. Why didn't she just use the same one for Baby #2? Because "it was cluttering up the place, so I threw it out". (Not, "gave it to charity", but put it in the trash can.) Oddly, I never found a spare moment in the next 9 months to knit another one.

However, someone else in the office who I was not particularly close to, I knew his wife to be a sentimentalist. I spent a lot of hours knitting a lace christening dress. I couldn't attend the baby shower, but the next morning he delivered the news that I'd made a bunch of Mexican grandmas cry -- they could not believe that a 30-something gringo with a full-time job had knit something so intricate. And sure enough, when the mom-to-be stopped crying, she wrote me a gushing note (not just the little thank you card everyone else got) that this christening dress would be worn by all her kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, and great-great-grandkids.

Reply to
Karen C in California

I'd almost say that tractor, but you know, it taught me a lot, I got to know this crew of friends...

So - no baby projects other than wash and dry blankets.

No wedding or anniversary projects - though my 25th isn't too far away, so I'd do one for myself and DH. Maybe

99% of computer generated charts. There are people's efforts I will do, but most are 100% junk. C
Reply to
Cheryl Isaak

This has been argued before, one should be very careful to whom one gives a gift of something you worked yourself. If that person has no knowledge of what it took to do it, of course they will not appreciate it. If perchance you do give to the wrong person, suck it up, it was given and once theirs, theirs to ignore or do with as they wished.

Also from that discussion, some had been offended that the person put the piece in their bedroom. That is not always an insult, my bedroom is full of stuff I treasure, that I choose to gaze at as I lay in bed. The other thing from the long discussion was, people are reluctant to give gift certificates but there wasn't a person on rctn then who said they didn't like to receive them !

Reply to
lucretia borgia

I was complaining about not having gotten a thank you card for the $200 wedding check I sent to one of my nieces. Her older sister, who was present, said "you did't give *me* $200 for my wedding." I said "no, I gave you a cross stitched picture (Black Swan's Lily Pond Dreams) that took me two years to complete and cost well over $200 to frame." From the look on her face, I'm pretty sure she threw it out... *sigh*

I've been more careful since then....

Elizabeth

Reply to
Dr. Brat

Pearls before swine

Reply to
Bruce Fletcher (Stronsay, Orkn

Well, yes. It's almost enough to make me wish I had more UFO's. Dora

Reply to
bungadora

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