I was feeling so good about myself...hadn't succumbed to buying even one of the items mentioned. And then she came to the magazines. When we were putting in the new floor last month I had to move stacks and stacks of magazines out of the kitchen where they'd been quietly multiplying for years.
 |
| A VERY small part of them |
It's snowing again here this morning and I'm trying hard not to think that we could be in Hawaii right now if I'd saved the money spent on all those magazines! Seriously!!!
Aside from the mags, my one serious gadget blunder has to be the John Flynn Frame. Anybody else make that mistake? Or perhaps there are some of you who bought it and loved it. I bought it..never used it and never will. Definitely a "what was I thinking" purchase precipitated by watching him too many times on Simply Quilts.
So what are your biggest gadget mistakes?
Edited to clarify Feb 8:
When I said I never used it, I meant I never quilted a quilt with it. I did try it out.
17 comments:
I read the blog post and winced a little too when it came to the magazines. I am addicted I think. There's no way I can make all those beautiful quilts but it sure is fun to dream and look.
It is an addiction. I can't stop myself, and then after I pay for the magazine, there might be one thing in it that holds my interest and I swear I'll never buy another magazine. Then the next time I go to the store.....
I'm hopeless.
Mary I loved that you had a link.....I know I know...I did not buy that frame but I did purchase a circle frame and stand that tilts and swivels and I paid almost 200.o0 for that and it is in storage...what was I thinking...lol...
You do have a lot of mags...lol
I was doing good too...until I got to the magazines. I have always told myself that quilting magazines were a good bargain because you get half a dozen (or more) patterns for the price of one. Once it's all totaled, maybe they aren't such a good deal after all
I had that frame, but thought I was doing something good and traded it for a hand-held quilting hoop. One of the boys stepped on it and it broke. I was sick, but I have't hand quilted anything in years either.
I quit getting magazines a long time ago. Still have some from the 80's but they need to be sorted and given to Guild to sell so somebody else can sort thru them later!
Yep! I also have a book & magazine collection marked with projects that I will probably never have the time to get to. But they sure are gorgeous. :-)
I also have fabric that I have purchased that I just can't seem to find the courage to cut into. They are just so pretty as yardage. :-)
I also bought the John Flynn frame. I realized what an ill thought out item it was when I tried to machine quilt a twin sized quilt on it. It might be good for hand-quilting, but I don't do that.
Fortunately, I was able to unload it on some poor soul and was happy to do so. Then again, maybe she was a hand quilter and, for her, she found a treasure. :-)
I have heard quite a few people say they got the John Flynn frame and never used it - never even tried it? I don't quite understand that one but to each his own.
I cured myself of buying the magazines - I go to the bookstore/coffee shop about once or twice a month, buy a coffee and grabe a stack of the newest quilting magazines. I look through all of them and then decide are any worth keeping - if it has one idea I jot it down in my notebook, if it has a pattern I really want to make I will buy it. You know sometimes I forget about the notebook for several weeks at a time and then happen to look at it and realize the great idea wasn't so great after all if I so quickly forgot about it.
I have saved a bundle not buying magazines.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/
I still buy magazines, but when I get a pile I do triage on them. I page through the magazine and if something catches my eye immediately, I pull it out and file it. I find it easier to store and go through a file folder than several hundred pounds of magazines. It was kind of hard at first, but the space savings makes it worth while. I continue to buy magazines because I like to follow what people are doing.
I love magazines, sometimes there's only one Patern that I like but I have to have it.
Sometimes I can resist it but when I see it the next time I will buy it.
For a year and a half, my biggest gadget blunder was the GO! die cutter. Until the fall of last year I decided that I didn't use it because it was to inconvenient to use (not readily available) and I didn't have the dies that I'd want to use. So, after another major investment in dies, it's now one of my favorite gadgets!
With that in mind, I have to agree that the John Flynn frame would not top my list. Even my small quilts were too big for the smallest frame size recommended. My dining room table wouldn't let me turn my machine the opposit way and still have me reach my foot pedal. So, I sold the darn thing at our guild's flea market! I was really excited that I got a good price for it.
Boy, I am glad I read this post. I was thinking about the JF frame! Glad I didn't rush into that one. Patterns and books are my downfall. I will never even begin to make even one quilt from each one!!
I have never been tempted by the John Flynn frame, but that's probably partly because I had not heard favorable reviews about it. One thing I bought that was a ridiculous mistake are the bicycle clips for rolling up a quilt for machine quilting. All they do are make a heavy, bulky log that is very hard to handle.
Ok, I am a magazine and boook addict. Are you needing someone to take your "extra" magazines off of your hands? LOL.
I don't buy gadgets or magazines and have so few books and patterns that they don't even fill a shelf on my bookcase but I still can't afford to go to Hawaii LOL.
Crispy
Mary, I am really surprised to hear you calling my frame the biggest mistake you have made when you did not even try to learn to use it. I have always cheerfully refunded the purchase price within the first 30 day no questions asked. I always try to help users who are struggling with the technique of using the frame either over the phone or thru email.
The frame is not magic if that is what you wanted. It will not come out from under your bed and quilt your quilts on its own. You have the responsibility to learn how to use it. I personally have quilted over one hundred quilts of all sizes both hand and machine on the frame and have never had a single pucker in the back nor have I had to baste or block any of them. If you had asked me how to use it I probably could have helped you.
I spent years engineering all of the unnecessary window dressing out of quilting systems to make a frame that performs the essential functions of the modern long-arm quilting machine without costing an arm and a leg. If anyone can find a system that performs all of the functions of the Flynn Multi Frame for less than ten times the price I will be surprised.
I admit that it takes some practice to learn to use the frame. It does not have a stitch-regulator ($5000 for most long-arms). It only allows you to quilt the length of the head of your sewing machine (it is not magic). It does require that you learn some basic playground physics (remember the teeter-totter). When used properly it will give you a square flat no puckers quilt that you will be proud to show without all the pinning or paying a long-arm quilter to do your art for you..
John Flynn
John..
I'm sorry I've offended you. When I said I never used it, I meant I never quilted a quilt with it. I did try it out and it was never a matter of not understanding how to use it. It is a matter of not liking to do edge to edge quilting, the small amount of space to quilt in and the unwieldy (for me at least) nature of using it. I did not expect magic, nor the frame to "come out from under my bed and quilt it for me". I just realized after I purchased it that it woulde not allow me to do the type of free motion that I wanted to do. I prefer to move my quilts through the machine without a frame. We all have our preferences. This is mine.
Oh...I am glad you said something about that quilting frame I have often thought of buying it.
Post a Comment