What's your favorite?!

1) Playing (um, er. . . planning) in Electric Quilt My creativity, what little there is of it, can quickly throw colors and arrangements together.

2) Putting blocks together -- paper-piecing I like its precision.

3) Putting ALL the blocks together to get the top I love to see the secondary patterns.

My favorite is piecing as is evident in my stack of WIP/UFO.

1. Buying thread and fabric

1. Designing on 1/4 in. graph paper- I have no interest in designing on my computer

2. Watching the blocks come together as I sew

That's when I start losing interest- but I can usually keep going until the top is finished. Unless I have a short deadline..... then I can't do anything else until it's done.

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

1.Finding a pattern I really want to make and then picking the fabrics to do it (This also can be the most FRUSTRATING part!) 2.Doing the piecing and putting the blocks together. 3.Finishing the last yard of sewing down the binding (ahhhh, DONE!)

Hi Connie,

My very most favorite part is picking the fabrics--looking at each one, playing with different color combinations, visualizing the patterns. Then my next favorite is the piecing to see how close my visualization was and enjoying aspects that present that I hadn't considered.

Wish I enjoyed the quilting as much as you do! I do enjoy handquilting quite a bit on small pieces. And although I have handquilted one full sized quilt, I tend to find handquilting on such big pieces intimidating. It probably didn't help that it took me 3 winters to do.

Best regards, Michelle in NV

I love picking out a pattern (from one of my far too many books), then spreading fabric out all over the place and choosing just the right ones (In my mind). I love doing applique and *like* piecing but I like a combo so I do both. I don't like hand quilting anymore - takes up too much of my time - so I send my quilts out to be machine quilted. By the time I have a top completely together, I've had enough of it anyway for a while.

Sharon (N.B.)

1. Buying patterns/books/fabrics - Hi, my name is Laurie and I'm a pattern-book-fabric-aholic... ;-) There are just too many great possibilities out there, and I am weak!
2. Putting it all together - I *love* coordinating the fabrics and making the top! The rest is just something I *have* to do to finish and move on to the next project.

Happy New Year! Laurie in rainy, windy Oregon

Piecing is my favorite then shopping for fabric and fondling it. Gwen/Brooklyn

I was thinking about this the other day. I was in the middle of stitching in the ditch of a large quilt, 92 x 92. I started to think it was a hassle to work the fabric through the harp of the machine and then I stopped and thought about it further. It is all a part of quilting. I started to think about the effort to stay in the ditch with all that fabric moving through the machine and realized that that was as creative, for me, as choosing the fabric and designing the style of quilt. Those last things are usually considered the most "creative" part of quilting by some. But the total process is what keeps me interested and the challenge of each quilt being more complex or difficult than the last. I guess what I am trying to say is, for me, there is really no "bad" part of quilting, except for trying to get more time to quilt.

John

It's easier to say what I don't like -- cutting, basting the sandwich, sewing the binding down by hand. I like the creativity of planning a quilt. I enjoy watching a quilt take shape when piecing. I enjoy the relaxation of hand quilting and hand appliqué. Machine quilting on my home machine is a challenge and not my favorite part, but overall not unpleasant (except for having to drag everything out to the dining room because I don't have room to do anything bigger than crib size in my sewing room).

Julia in MN

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SewVeryCreative wrote:

Picking a pattern is fun, and I have bought a bunch that I want to get to someday, honestly..... but that's just not as fun for me as designing one myself, on paper with a pencil and a ruler and coloured pencils. Just yesterday I came across a stack of ten 6 1/2" unfinished

4-patches that Jessamy sent to me. They are red moda marbles and baby blue/red/cream stripe 4-patches. I love that red. I want to make something with them! So.... I sat down and drew out a design with 9 of them on point. I got out my copy of "The Art of Classic Quiltmaking" and figured out what size I needed to cut the setting triangles and corner triangles. At that point I found a nice coordinating baby blue from my stash (had to do the math first, to make sure I selected a big enough piece!). I then found a red for the backing which wasn't a perfect match for the marbles but was quite close. I also found a white-stars-on-blue that will work well for a border..... hmm, me parting with a star print is a big occasion.... and tonight I cut all the blue pieces out and sewed the rows together. That was enough Displacement Activity for one evening and I got back to my coursework. But the best part, the planning stage where I coloured my little picture with pencils and did all the maths for the triangles, and then went to select fabrics, well that bit is over. I'll enjoy making this baby quilt for my former roommate's new baby, but my most enjoyable stage is finished now.

-- Jo in Scotland

I'd have to say, looking at patterns, books, fabrics, etc. and wanting them! lol

Okay, I love Kay Ahr's answer one and have to agree. I like to scan my fabrics into EQ and put them into the project I'm planning. There have been times that I have chosen 20 or so blocks to see if the fabric will look good with that block.

I love paper piecing and applique and choosing my fabrics for them. I love to see it all coming together. I love to hand quilt, but only have room and time for small items (like place mats.)

I love the feeling I get when I have given someone something I've made and know that they really like it.

Launie, in Oregon

I'll agree with that! I'm not crazy about cutting out the pieces or basting the quilt sandwich, but I do like just about everything else. I love picking out my design (or designing it myself -- which doesn't happen often), piecing (and I do wish I could appliqué well!), and either hand or machine quilting, though deciding on the quilting motifs is rather painful at times. I even love putting on the binding and label, because I know I'll be looking at the finished piece very soon -- and I love that part, too!

Interesting question! Tough to answer!!

I think my most favorite part is pulling the fabrics together. But I really do love the whole process from picking the pattern and fabrics to the last stitch in the binding.

What a delightful thread!

What's *your* favorite part of quilting? Why?

1. The feel of fabric--the hand of it! And, all the neat tools to help whack it into smaller pieces and putting it back together in a gorgeous pattern!

1. The "exactingness" of it--the fabric doesn't argue, whine, beg to be left alone, get uppity or anything! I feel like the Supreme Mistress and a mathematical genius since I can "do" quilt measurements--not much other math, but I can do that. And, if it does misbehave, I can cut it into tiny pieces and start over! (Gee, can you tell I've been a social worker for far too long!?)

Happy quilting!

Lenore

Lakewood, WA

Oh there you are, Your Majesty. I've been needing to ask for a recommendation from you. There's a trapunto creation underway and it would be so nice if there were some scissors here that looked much like children's scissors - about 4" and snub-nosed. Do you have a favorite along those lines? Polly

"Ms P"

Actually, the latest Nancy's Notions catalog has a very good price on those particular Ginghers. I just thought it would be interesting to see what Her Majesty suggested; assuming, of course that she didn't recommend something that cost a gazillion dollars. Polly

"Taria" I'm no scissors pro but Gingher makes a scissor that looks just like

I've got several sizes of bandage scissors from when I was using that sort of thing. The small ones work well for trapunto and such and are sharp as the dickens but won't stab through the fabric (or bodies). They migrated from my jump bag to my sewing stuff years ago and have been there ever since. Here's a link NAYY

that shows you what I'm talking about. Works slick and the price is SO right! Val