What's stopping you??

Oh Jeanne, I must not have phrased that right--I love hand-piecing! My very first quilt (Rose Star) was hand-pieced and hand-quilted. While I've made friends with my sewing machine over the years, I am still intimidated by doing curves on the sewing machine. A lot of the time, I feel using the machine is a way to make mistakes very fast. ;-) Probably would stick to hand work, but I've got too many quilts screaming to get out of my head.

That said, right now, I'm cutting for two quilts that will be hand-pieced and probably hand-quilted too. One is another form of Drunkards Path. (Did one Drunkard's Path--hand-pieced then tied--and now I have to try a new layout.) The other is one composed of the block that looks like the rising sun (the block seems to have lots of different names). I've done a quilt with it before. It is twin sized. Now I need one to go on a full-sized bed.

Best regards, Michelle > Michelle,

Howdy!

MaryD- email me if you would, please. ;-D

Quilting world: nothing stops me.

R/Sandy

Well, I used to be stymied by lots of little appliqu=E9 pieces. But then I did my Dear Jane quilt to practice appliqu=E9. Love curves and all sorts of complex looking patterns. Guess I will try most anything. at least twice. Biggest thing that stops me is free motion quilting. Have lots of partially quilted quilts that need a bit more, but I don't have the skills to do what I want to do. sigh. Other big stopping point is the fact that there is too much stuff, including fabric, in the house. I need a space to sort, organize and get things into order. sigh.

Pati, > In the discussion about templates, I've gotten a couple of emails from

Isocoles traingles. I have yet, in this lifetime, been able to get the points to come out correctly. The very first quilt that Mom and I made, a three foot square Storm-at-Sea, was enough of a nightmare that we didn't quilt again for about 10 years. I still avoid all blocks with long pointy triangles. I'm just not good at them. I'll actually try curves before these types of triangles.

Steven Alaska

I'm not really trying to persuade you, Steven: but, if you were to make even a tiny four block Storm at Sea by using foundation paper piecing on each segment, it would exorcise your demons about the pattern - probably about long, skinny triangles too - altogether. I know you're probably too busy to experiment, though. One vacation, it might be an idea? . In message , Steven Cook writes

That is an idea since I have been doing more paper piecing in the last year. I do have the Autumn Splendor paper-piece pattern that Bert loved, and I must say I did too, in purples and greens, that I hope to start this winter. The paper-piecing will take care of the triangles and then I will have to face my demons with all the curves. We shall see.

Steven Alaska

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 16:53:01 -0500, Sunny wrote (in article ):

Up to date it's been one of two things: curves and/or thousands of pieces. Took a paper piecing class that turns out also requires curves. I've been working on those blocks. The curves aren't great, but I'm improving and could actually see myself doing more.

So who knows, maybe one day I'll end up cutting thousands of little pieces.

Maureen

Interesting question. At first I thought "Nothing!" because I am not afraid of tackling new or different techniques. There is something that does stop me though: guilt! I sometimes think of a really fun or challenging quilt to make but feel guilty about not finishing certain UFO, or not making a quilt for a favorite person. I need to clear out* those UFOs that are holding me back. Then maybe I could make a new and fun quilt ... perhaps even giving those to my favorite people!! (*By clear out I mean that I need to let them go to another quilter or repurpose the parts; this does not mean I have to FINISH in the original form those projects that no longer interest me.) PAT

The deal-breaker for me is paper-piecing, which I simply despise doing!

I'm a bit surprised that there are so many not willing to work on quilts with a bunch of little bitty pieces. I personally find that sort of piecing very relaxing, and am currently working on a quilt with 72 -- yep, 72! -- pieces in each 12" block. The smallest bits are 1" squares, and the largest are 2" squares, and there are a flock of half-square triangles. There will be 81 blocks, so it will be a large quilt. I do everything by hand -- piecing, quilting, and binding -- and will stitch-in-the-ditch, so it's a good thing I'm not in a great hurry!

LOL! Mary, I've just finished the central portion of a small quilt for our local challenge. That center is 12" (finished) and has 320 pieces in it. I still need to add the borders.

Last night I also finished a sample block that I was fortunate enough to have been able to do as a test for Marsha McCloskey's newest book. That 16" feathered star block has -- if I've counted correctly -- 133 pieces.

Both were loads of fun. Oh, and I love paper piecing, though I also love "regular" piecing and am trying to learn to love appliqué.

Hi Pat,

I recently sold an unfinished medallion quilt top on ebay. It was a beautiful top created in a round robin. We got creative with that one, and instead of starting our own centers and sending the top around, we started tops for others in the group. Well, although the top I got was incredible, the colors simply didn't appeal and I could never bring myself to finish it. However, somebody on ebay loved it and bought it, so now that quilt top will finally get the attention it deserves.

Best regards, Michelle > Interesting question. At first I thought "Nothing!" because I am not afraid

You know, Mary, I'm with you. I've tried to do all the wonderful things with the sewing machine that so many people on RTCQ do, but I'm coming to the conclusion that I much prefer hand-piecing and hand-quilting.

Best regards, Michelle in Nevada