What do you do with an ugly quilt in progress?

I started working on a warm wishes quilt, picked out some nice fabric
and thought I had them very well co-ordinated. I'm about halfway done
piecing the top and it's ugly, not slightly off, plain down right
ugly. The fabric colors that looked so good together on bolts, look
dreadful the further I get along with it. O.k. what do you do?
Finish it up and make it a charity quilt, just put it away and take
the loss of money spent on the cloth, or what? I can't imagine taking
apart all I have done so far to re-use the cuts in another project.
I'm venting and am curious to see what you long time quilters do when
you get a dud. Donna

dealer83 wrote:
I started working on a warm wishes quilt, picked out some nice fabric
and thought I had them very well co-ordinated. I'm about halfway done
piecing the top and it's ugly, not slightly off, plain down right
ugly. The fabric colors that looked so good together on bolts, look
dreadful the further I get along with it. O.k. what do you do?
Finish it up and make it a charity quilt, just put it away and take
the loss of money spent on the cloth, or what? I can't imagine taking
apart all I have done so far to re-use the cuts in another project.
I'm venting and am curious to see what you long time quilters do when
you get a dud. Donna

First off, you need to post a picture so we can determine if it truly is
"ugly". :-)

Best regards,
Michelle in Nevada

Give it to a charity (like Project Linus!) for a kid who will probably love
the quilt. Kids and adults don't always agree on what's ugly.

Story:

Several years ago one of our Project Linus chapters was given a purple,
white, and brown afghan that the coordinator thought was really ugly. When
she made a blanket delivery to the local hospital (back when we could
personally give blankets to the kids, now with privacy laws we don't get to
do that much anymore) the purple, white, and brown afghan was the first one
chosen. The little boy that chose it said it looked like a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich!

Donna in SW Idaho
Project Linus coordinator
Boise/SW Idaho/ E Oregon

"dealer83" wrote in message
...
I started working on a warm wishes quilt, picked out some nice fabric
and thought I had them very well co-ordinated. I'm about halfway done
piecing the top and it's ugly, not slightly off, plain down right
ugly. The fabric colors that looked so good together on bolts, look
dreadful the further I get along with it. O.k. what do you do?
Finish it up and make it a charity quilt, just put it away and take
the loss of money spent on the cloth, or what? I can't imagine taking
apart all I have done so far to re-use the cuts in another project.
I'm venting and am curious to see what you long time quilters do when
you get a dud. Donna

Give it to a charity (like Project Linus!) for a kid who will probably love
the quilt. Kids and adults don't always agree on what's ugly.

Story:

Several years ago one of our Project Linus chapters was given a purple,
white, and brown afghan that the coordinator thought was really ugly. When
she made a blanket delivery to the local hospital (back when we could
personally give blankets to the kids, now with privacy laws we don't get to
do that much anymore) the purple, white, and brown afghan was the first one
chosen. The little boy that chose it said it looked like a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich!

Donna in SW Idaho
Project Linus coordinator
Boise/SW Idaho/ E Oregon

"dealer83" wrote in message
...
I started working on a warm wishes quilt, picked out some nice fabric
and thought I had them very well co-ordinated. I'm about halfway done
piecing the top and it's ugly, not slightly off, plain down right
ugly. The fabric colors that looked so good together on bolts, look
dreadful the further I get along with it. O.k. what do you do?
Finish it up and make it a charity quilt, just put it away and take
the loss of money spent on the cloth, or what? I can't imagine taking
apart all I have done so far to re-use the cuts in another project.
I'm venting and am curious to see what you long time quilters do when
you get a dud. Donna

I simply plod on. Always, always, when I think a quilt is a dud, somebody
falls in love with it and carries it away. I made a red/black/white crib
quilt a few years back. Sounded good to begin with but got uglier with
every stitch. When my sister-in-law welcomed her first grandbaby son, I
gave her the choice of any of a dozen or so. You guessed it. She picked
the one I thought was ugly. Keep going. Somebody will think it's
wonderful. Polly

I'm with Michelle...post a picture, one quilter's ugly is another's
beautiful.

amy in CNy

Sometimes the quilting changes everything! Truly! Show us a picture,
please. You can do a lot with e.g. variegated thread in a
complimentary color, rather densely quilted. It's a bit like
overglazing a painting, makes the colors just work together a little
better.
Roberta in D

On Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:33:03 -0800, "Michelle C."
wrote:

dealer83 wrote:
I started working on a warm wishes quilt, picked out some nice fabric
and thought I had them very well co-ordinated. I'm about halfway done
piecing the top and it's ugly, not slightly off, plain down right
ugly. The fabric colors that looked so good together on bolts, look
dreadful the further I get along with it. O.k. what do you do?
Finish it up and make it a charity quilt, just put it away and take
the loss of money spent on the cloth, or what? I can't imagine taking
apart all I have done so far to re-use the cuts in another project.
I'm venting and am curious to see what you long time quilters do when
you get a dud. Donna

First off, you need to post a picture so we can determine if it truly is
"ugly". :-)

Best regards,
Michelle in Nevada

dealer83 wrote:
I started working on a warm wishes quilt, picked out some nice fabric
and thought I had them very well co-ordinated. I'm about halfway done
piecing the top and it's ugly, not slightly off, plain down right
ugly. The fabric colors that looked so good together on bolts, look
dreadful the further I get along with it. O.k. what do you do?
Finish it up and make it a charity quilt, just put it away and take
the loss of money spent on the cloth, or what? I can't imagine taking
apart all I have done so far to re-use the cuts in another project.
I'm venting and am curious to see what you long time quilters do when
you get a dud. Donna

Just started reading the group
I know what you mean. I picked some lovely blues and now it is known as
that blue quilt, which is partially pieced but looks like nothing. i
have thought of making it into several baby quilts to donate, as it
looks better in smaller bits.
I did a stack and wack fan quilt, once I got the fans pieced they looked
totally out of place with what I had chosen for background so got new
background fabric. I find it very hard to picture fabric on the bolt in
quilt form. It looks so different when cut , then again when pieced.
sometimes machine pattern quilting can dress it up.
Good luck.
Ruby

Welcome to the group, Ruby.
Hope we'll meet often from now on.
Do tell us what you like making and a little bit about yourself, so we
can get to feel we know you.
..
In message , Ruby
writes

Just started reading the group
I know what you mean. I picked some lovely blues and now it is known
as that blue quilt, which is partially pieced but looks like nothing.
i have thought of making it into several baby quilts to donate, as it
looks better in smaller bits.
I did a stack and wack fan quilt, once I got the fans pieced they
looked totally out of place with what I had chosen for background so
got new background fabric. I find it very hard to picture fabric on the
bolt in quilt form. It looks so different when cut , then again when
pieced. sometimes machine pattern quilting can dress it up.
Good luck.
Ruby

--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

O.K. here are a few photos. I can't seem to capture the true color of
the middle stripe that is a light salmon pink. I was trying to match
a color in the berries on the print fabric. (I made the stripes the
same width) The red is a cherry red and the green is very dark. I
had planned on putting a light olive green narrow border around the
whole thing and then a wider border of the salmon pink, followed by
binding in the print fabric. All I can see is an off color Italian
flag! lol


Donnahttp://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2096853770105202601CvNmny