Ha! Many, many years ago there was a column in a women’s magazine called, “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” I have no memory of reading the content, but somehow the overly-dramatic title has stuck with me. (I just asked Ms. Google, and I’m not the only one who remembers this: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/can-this-marriage-be-saved_b_58404189e4b0b93e10f8dfdf)
Anyway, in moving I have come across some experimental pieces that I’ve kept. I learned something from each of them, but sometimes what I learned was that a particular piece was not especially attractive!
Well, this didn’t work
The above piece was an experiment after reading a book by Freddy Moran. It’s well made but not especially attractive. For me, the colors don’t “gel” and the prairie points are entirely too regular in their arrangement.
This unquilted piece, approximately 42″ square, is the THIRD attempt to make something with these dotted fabrics! The other versions were no better, but I’ve saved some of the fabric by cutting out circles and using them as applique.
Rescued Dots
I think the “rescue” was pretty successful, and I’ll probably do something similar with the rest of this fabric. So I guess that’s 4 iterations of a design with those dots before finding something successful!
And then there’s the Stuffed Olive Block. Never mind why I designed it in the first place. I made it into a pillow, but really, we have more than enough pillows. I think it just has to go!
I’m a firm believer that no experience is wasted, so we’ll call it good even if some of these just go out with the trash.
Of course that’s nowhere near all the experimental pieces I came across, but that’s all for now 😀
P.S.: I enjoy seeing “barn quilt” blocks as we travel, but this one struck me as unlikely:
Zippy Quilts 
That stuffed olive block made me laugh out loud! Who knew?
I don’t usually like throwing away stuff in the garbage – but when it needs to go, it needs to go and unless it’s a faithful/favorite but oily, too tattered rag, I usually send it on to ARK or VVA or HOPE house or even Aunt Sally (Salvation Army). I mean, how many textile ‘stuffs’ do creatives find in such places – rejected by their original creators, but reclaimed by others???!!!
And your last example – I like the wavy lines without the red/yellow/black inserts…so for me, that serves as a springboard for researching the how-tos on making effective wavy blocks!
HA!
Good point on donating in case someone else can use it. I take unwanted yardage/scraps/patterns to my quilt groups for people to take what they want, but the rest certainly could go to thrift shops. Only problem is that sometimes I buy more than I donated 🤣
Understood!
I have a pile of yardage/scraps/and fails ready to take to a quilt group. Included in this is half a year of the temperature quilt. I just could not go past June. Way too tedious.
Been there, done that too with the temperature quilt! Guess it just didn’t fit with our tempera-ments 🙄
My experiments that don’t gel get turned into donation quilts; they will keep someone warm and who knows, someone else might even like the design. I can give directly to a group that gives to houseless people, so don’t have the ‘buy more than I give’ dilemma.
Sounds good.
Marriage, quilt, sometimes trying to save either seems complicated – ha! I like your perspective that no experience is wasted. I have a Freddy Moran book (or maybe it is Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran) and I’ve met her in person at the Stitchin Post in Sisters, Oregon and she is lovely person but not sure if her color choices are ones I would make, but they definitely work her vibrant pieces. Thanks for sharing your experimental pieces.
I always thought I would get to the Sisters outdoor show while you still lived in Oregon, but it was always in a far opposite corner of the country 🙂
I know, darn it!
Ah yes. You have struck a chord. I agree that the quilts that didn’t work are part of the process.
Thanks 🙂