I'm with you , Agnes! When my nephew's fiancée at the time (now married) saw my 2010 Hugs and Kisses quilt, she practically drooled! It's easy to give away a quilt when someone really seems to love it, and it makes room in the closet for another project!

Pam--I join you in believing that choosing fabric is the first part of my design process. Of course, for others, they would never have become quilters if it were a requirement. Quilting is good for me because I can do my own thing and please myself. The bonus comes when someone else likes it and can't keep their eyes off it. That's how a sister-in-law got gifted a quilt. Then she felt guilty but my answer was now I had reason to replace it with a pattern or design I had been wanting to try.

Ohhh, Black Forest Cherry Cake! I had a German boyfriend in college, whose friend was a pastry chef. Do you know where I'm going with this? Friend made one of these cakes and I still remember it 35 years later. Lorchen, if I'm ever over in your blessed isle, I'll look you up for sure. You're a woman after my own heart.

Kathy

It figures that the Deutsche I remember, besides manner words, is dessert!

Sometimes, I have to do what I call mindless sewing. I don't want to piece an intricate pattern, especially at a bring your own project retreat. Sometimes I just need to sew but not really concentrate. Even then, the mind is still learning, paying attention to how the thread tension is, how the pieces feed thru the machine, etc.
I won a Jelly Roll and it was the most difficult project I have done--working on fabrics selected by someone else.
I find that fabric selection is part of the design process for me. For those that buy kits and make them. Wonderful. We are so lucky to have all of the fabric designers now. Back in the dark ages, we had some calicos, no rotary cutters.
The blessing of quilting is that there is something for everyone.

Ya'll are a hoot and I love to read the comments. We have a wonderful forum.

Tights would be ok, Keith. And you could bring friends. We'd invite Rosemary in one of her historical costumes and have a ball!!

I love black forest cherry cake. I have made a couple in my life, but they are SOOOO full of calories, they were only for celebrations, but I really loved them.

I think this discussion really leaves my style of quilting out. I caught a kind of sneerful (I just invented that word) attitude in her blogs about "contemporary" quilts, but perhaps she really doesn't feel that. Per her definition I would probably still be a beginner, because I am not doing traditional quilts with triangles...the closest I will probably get to that will be if I use them for background or work them into a design for an art quilt. I CAN do them, but I don't enjoy them. I truly appreciate traditional quilts for their great beauty and intricacy, but I don't enjoy making them. I think, though, that her purpose may have been to get quilters to try things beyond what they think they can, which is good, if that is what her intent was. I'm just glad we have such a wide variety of quilting styles we can work with. I did not like her tone, but perhaps what she was trying to say was ok, but it sounded like a quilt policewoman. I have recently encountered some who feel that a quilt is not a quilt if it isn't traditional. :shock: Oh well, this is why I like TQS...all types of quilting is appreciated. Happy quilting, my friends.

What bad timing to say something that looks disparaging towards HSTs, huh? Never a dull moment...

No, maybe not narrow, but LadyRags pointed us to a set of blogs and about a billion comments - I reacted strongly to a lot of it and threw out some overgeneralized comments to various parts of it without much context.

One blogger said that learning to piece HSTs was only for the intermediate or advanced quilter and another blogger jumped all up in her business for saying that. I think if you tell someone that something is harder than it really is, and that scares them away from trying it, that's not always a good thing.

And for the record: coffee and Schwarzwälderkirschtorte with you, Lorchen, sounds great! I promise I won't wear my Robin Hood tights.

Cake , Cherries, Cream and more cake cherries cream my gosh you are driving me crazy , I am always on some sort of diet or the
other , but every now and again I just give in, but it has to be worth it and I reckon this would be worth it maybe on my next trip into
Chester I may find a nice little cafe and have fun. I know who to blame if I feel guilty after Lorchen .

Jeesh....I just drooled on my keyboard....

Let us know when you're baking and I will be down the M1 by the time it is cooled and assembled

Rosemary

That's it, Ladies! Blackforest Cherry Gateau. You make a nice think chocolate sponge cake and cut it into three layers. Then drizzle a little (if it's for grown-ups) Cherry Brandy on the cake layers. Whip some cream till it's stiff and take the stones out of a bowl full of black cherries. Then layer: cake, cherries, cream, cake, cherries, cream, cake, cherries, cream. Decorate with a few cherries and some grated dark chcolate. And enjoy. Only eat/make when not on a diet.

Rosemary, I did wonder if it was that, but didn't want to look stupid. My german is non existent, although DD is doing her MA in german translation and interpreting.
Anyway I'd still like a slice please, Lorchen.