Today is a wonderful day. I have decided what quilt I'm making next. It's an unnamed version of a log cabin with very small logs and tight turns. Completely in blues - another portion of my stash to use up.
This is almost my very favorite part of the process - the beginning of a new quilt. Today when I get home I'll cut out some logs and make a practice piece to make sure that the pattern I've worked out will actually work. Then I'll spend a day or so just cutting. I think you almost have to cut out scrap quilts completely before you start so that your fabrics are spread over the entire surface of the quilt and not bunched in a corner. Just my opinion of course. By this weekend I should be well immersed in a new quilt top. Oh, the possibilities!! It might be the most awesome quilt I've ever made, who knows?
The beginning - I think it is definitely my favorite part. The excitement of a new project, new fabrics to pet, the possibilities of the new quilt. Yep. I love the beginning. Not to say that I don't also just adore finishing one, but that's a different feeling.
Favorite parts: Shopping for the fabric, petting the fabric, looking at the fabric......then sewing the binding down by hand & giving the quilt away.
Least favorite parts: Planning, pre-washing, ironing, calculating, measuring, rotary cutting, fighting intersections, trying to keep things square, doing borders, layering & pinning, & wrestling the quilt through the machine.
Oh my gosh -- if it weren't for the favorite parts, I think I'd be better off taking up basket weaving!
Posts: 4484 | Location: About 28,000 Light Years From Galactic Center | Registered: Jul 23, 2004
Gee Lynn, I don't know where you find the time to come up with these fabulous quilts you make, you are so busy leading the Ravens to victory and getting John Bates out of jail - congratulations, looks like you have achieved both goals!
Personally I like putting on the binding, feel like that is the point where I am bonding with the quilt and finishing a project
Marlene - one hour at a time. That's my sewing time and while not fast, I get them done.
I think I'm doing awesome - Ravens - Super Bowl champs (check), John Bates - looks like he's coming home (check), and a lovely new quilt to start (check). My little corner of the world totally rocks!!!
I think I love the planning stage, then love doing the binding. I like laying out the fabric, deciding on design, drawing in my sketch book, and starting the new piece. Then all the crap stuff, then sitting in my recliner doing the hand work, which I LOVE the most!
Posts: 4441 | Location: It is truly summer!! | Registered: Dec 10, 2006
No doubt in my mind, I love the designing/modifying stage. Then the planning, finding the fabrics and going at it. Somewhere in the middle of the sewing it becomes boring and finishing the binding is a chore.
I sometimes think I have a fear of completion. lollll
Difficult question!! I like the thrill of starting something - the newness, the excitement of when it gets done (but since the thrill is so addictive to me, I don't often get to the finish line - EXCEPT this year, I am changing that!!!)
But I really do enjoy sewing all those little pieces together - so piecing is my favorite part.
My least fav? Not that you asked! But dealing with that large piece of newly created fabric I made to press it nicely and make it look good before taking to be quilted.... That is my least fav. and one day, I will learn to love that too!!
Posts: 2162 | Location: Somewhere where it snows..... | Registered: Mar 13, 2005
My favorite part of the process has changed over the course of my sewing and quilting career. I used to hate to piece but now I love to just sit and sew... ... There was a time that I had rather be doing the actual quilting... and then I went through a time that I could sit and cut out tops for hours on end.. they wound up in shoe boxes... (now I wonder what happened to all those shoe boxes..hmmm)
I'm with Florida Farm gal..I love the piecing,cutting precisely is a necessity...the quilting I like depending on how big the quilt is or if my friend is doing the quilting for me ..I like the binding part only if I'm doing it by machine. Picking out the fabric is the most time consuming part for me...especially if I have a certain shade it "MUST" be and its not in my stash..Arrgh and I hate the mess I make....
May "In Michigan"
Posts: 9320 | Location: Michigan,up North,the west side of Perfect | Registered: Sep 14, 2004
I love starting new quilts. Just the fact that I can select my fabric, make colors coordinate and see a beautiful outcome. The thing I dislike most is ironing the backing fabric, usually let Patty J do that. She likes to iron. LOL Sue
Posts: 1114 | Location: Wisconsin | Registered: Oct 01, 2010
My favorite part is searching through my stash again and again to see what I have and what I might use...
Very least favorite part...having to put it all together! And precise???? Not me, not a precise kind of gal so REALLY don't like (and don't do very well!) this part!
My favorite is the shopping for the fabric. Love to feel it! Then sewing, piecing, pressing. The hand sewing on the binding is something I love to do. relaxing to me. I really enjoy seeing it all come together and when it is finished it is so satisfying.
I dislike the cutting out. I guess that is probably because it makes my back hurt. I have to really talk myself into that process.
● ● ● My most favorite part is designing and watching it come to life. I love when I get a new idea for a quilt. Can't wait to get started with the design and doing all the calculations. I enjoy most of the other aspects, but can get bored with parts of them. There are times I love to do the quilting, usually when it's a smaller project. Then there are times I dread the quilting. I think my least favorite is the sandwiching, especially on a larger quilt.
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Life without quilting is not an option! • • • • • MY Photos • • • • • • ENJOY!
Like some of the rest of you, I like all the different steps in creating a quilt. One thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned is hand quilting. Although I miss having my Mom to quilt with me, I still love the relaxing feel of hand quilting.
Another favorite is shopping for fabric with my quilt guild. There is one member that I like to follow around the store to see what she chooses and get some of the same. LOL
I love the chain piecing, especially if I can figure out on the pattern how to line them all up, and let 'er rip! Specifically,hsts. THE favorite part is cutting between the lines and getting 2...that never fails to thrill me. Ha! I like basting, love binding by hand...now that I have mitering down (thanks to much practice on doll quilts!) and I love the layout part on a scrappy top. Throwing stuff together that shouldn't work and seeing the block come alive floats my boat.
I do NOT like the layering process. Ugh.
***This message has been edited. Last edited by: nancyc20,
"It's bad to supress laughter. It goes back down and spreads to your hips."
Posts: 7489 | Location: California | Registered: Sep 02, 2003
99% of what I make I do by hand not even using a rotary cutter just plain old scissors so my favorite part is thinking up the design then cutting out all the pieces (just love the feel of the fabric)
Kayla
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream" -Edgar Allan Poe-
LOVE the fabric choosing part....I get the picture in my head and have to find just the right fabric to make that happen. After that is the "design" process with the blocks....patterns don't always end up the way the pattern maker had envisioned in my world
Posts: 5999 | Location: Great Midwest | Registered: Oct 29, 2006