I used to use any fabric I had on hand - cotton, polyester, blends - now I try to use only cotton, and I find I'm rejecting poorer quality cottons. The older I get the more I learn that you get what you pay for, and all those $1/yard fabrics and 39 cent spools of thread I used to buy are worth exactly that.

I've always been a traditionalist and still am, but I do venture into the occasional "art" quilt (like landscapes). I also find that I occasionally buy and use colors I really don't like (orange, mostly) just for the adventure or because they work in a particular project.

Donna

Not sure what my "style" was early on - I think I usually saw a quilt design in a magazine and wanted to duplicate that quilt exactly! Most of my fabric choices were rather safe and predictable. Then I discovered the 1930's reproduction prints which I still really love. Then I went through my "cottage" phase with soft faded florals, checks, plaids, etc. In the past couple of years I've jumped on the brighter pastels bandwagon.

Currently I'm on this redwork kick and can't wait to show you all my outline stitch "little girls" designs. I surprised myself with enjoying the English Paper Piecing by hand, too. I also am very interested in two-color quilts and found a design I want to do in indigo blue and white.

Who knows what will be the next phase of my quilting?

Teresa

Had to think awhile on this question, I am changing some now, will not buy anymore floral fabric for along time or any fabric until my stash has gone down alittle more. One colour I never used was orange but have found out it goes well on quilts I have made. Currently working on charity quilts and finding great pleasure in that. I,m like Teresa will not know my next project until it starts.
Gillian

When I first started I used any old fabric ,the cheaper the better,paid no attention to whether it would wear well or even if it was all cotton.Now I'm much more into good quality fabric and only use cotton,no blends. I tied all of the first quilts I made and always used high loft polyester batting.Now I use only Hobbs cotton batting and machine or hand quilt all my quilts.
Also I would only attempt easy to piece patterns like the log cabin (made so many of those my kids thought all quilts were called log cabins) LOL Now I'm doing applique and much more complicated patterns than I ever thought I could!

Thought-provoking question! I have been quilting for about 16 years or so, and I've always used just cottons - oh, I take that back. The very first effort in quiltmaking was a simple one-patch I made in an attempt to use up sewing scraps from years of sewing dresses, blouses, etc. for me and two little girls. What a concept - using up all the scraps! That quilt was tied, and backed with a large light blue sheet. I have it still! After I'd read every quilting magazine in the library, I had it figured out. I started collecting a stash by combing through the remnants bins of the fabric chain stores, and most of them were calicos. I seemed to prefer blue fabrics, too, and my stash is still top-heavy with them. But now, I just love all colors! I'm on a yellow kick lately, it seems. I think I've embraced every "look" as the years of quilting have gone by - Amish solids, batiks, plaids, '30's, but my quilts mainly now have a scrappy look, whereas in the beginning, things had to be very coordinated and matchy. I also am rethinking the kinds of battings I use - cotton batting for wall-hangings as it lies flatter, cotton/poly blends for larger quilts.

My foray into quilting is about 5 years now if you don't count the first quilt I made in the 70's. At first because I was so inexperienced and the thought of making mistakes with $8 a yard material was too scary, I learned on cheaper all cotton stuff. I was kind of disappointed when I spent so much time and the look wasn't nearly as wonderful as the displays in the LQS.

So I started trying to study what was so appealing about the quilts I saw that I loved. I still love 1) traditional quilt blocks, 2) 30's prints, 3) calicos 4)romantic florals 5) applique which I am just beginning to do but like Scraphappy I am finding more and more kinds of fabrics and styles appealing. I hope I have time in my lifetime to try making all the types of quilts I'd like to--I started so late!!!

Teresa, what pattern did you find that you want to make a blue and white quilt from? I have amassed a HUGE collection of blue and white prints to make my dream quilt but have yet to find just the right pattern that will show off the varying sizes of prints to best advantage and is something I think I execute well.

My preferences have changed from having the patience for more complicated designs (hexagons, etc), to the easier stuff, squares! I used to piece small, intricate pieces or blocks that had many pieces to them. I also did some hand applique & also hand quilted my first couple of quilts. Now...if it can't be done 100% on the machine, it won't get done (except for the binding which I'm OK handsewing in from of the TV). maybe it's just my "preference" for actually getting the project DONE instead of always a WIP (or UFO) that has driven me to the faster methods & patterns. As I've said in the past...I think I have ADD when it comes to crafting. *haha* I love to start, but finishing is...well....another project for another...year.

Gauralady,
It is a Bear's Paws variation - 4 paws in each block - set on point, sort of a center medallion of BP blocks, thin border of dark blue around the BP blocks. There is a wide border of white then a border of the E.Burn's Delectable Mts. blocks on two opposing sides - like the head and the foot of the quilt. I would make each paw a different dark, indigo blue print so the quilt would be scrappy.

Do a google search for "blue and white quilts" on the image page for google - not the web site page. You'll get thousands of images of blue/white quilts.

Gosh I don't know if I want to think about the first quilts I made...any kind of fabric...high contrasts...traditional patterns. Then I took a 3 rail fence quilt in a day class and I bought a book "You can sit upon my quilt" and I was into strip quilting...still mixing fabrics when I couldn't find the right color. I eventually joined a quilt guild...and met real high tech quilters...many are my best friends today...but they really shaped me into the rights and wrongs of doing things hahaha and my quilting did improve immensely and I only use 100% cotton...They frown on my Internet shopping but love what I make! I just don't show or tell them everything I do hehe! I still like traditional patterns with a newer look...like maybe an appliqued border or big feathers quilted on a log cabin and I am passoniate about controlled scrap quilts. Every once in a while I like to digress to something arty like a kalidescope, 9 patch pizzazz. I am changing my color preferrences slowly...when I started it was mostly pastels(purples, pinks) with white backgrounds...now I have moved to mediums (not brights) and hardly ever use white. I like a multimix of creams and tans for backgrounds. I have never done a pattern more than once...that is very boring to me...I have done my fill of country...I constantly look for something new and get lots of inspiration from this group...I don't shy away from a good challenge! I like to think my stash is controlled by making charity quilts..but it's not! Thanks for starting this thread..it is very interesting and fun.
Jean

I am sad to say my preferences can change from day to day. That explains my collection of UFO's I am currently working on. I do still love making the I-spy quilts and prefer to make throw size (car quilts my grandmother called them) as they are easier for me to handle.

I have some extra I-spy blocks I will be glad to send you if you want them. I have some 6 inch and 4.5 inch. Just send me an e-mail with your address and I can get them out Monday.

beverly

beverly

I think my biggest change is liking tone on tone fabric over prints. At first I was drawn to -- and still am -- the really pretty colorful prints. But now I also see how those are hard to use in most of the quilt patterns that I like because they are too busy and make it hard to see the pattern.

Why go to all that trouble to sew a nice pattern if it gets lost in chunky prints? Or what is the point in a pretty flower if it's cut in two to fit in a quilt block?

My other big change is appreciating more complex designs. Most things that are labeled "quick and easy" don't appeal to me now, but they did in the beginning.

I, too, have seen a shift from patterns to tone-on-tone fabrics. They seem to work well with the highly graphic nature of the quilts I usually make.

That said, I have a beautiful print I'm using for a stack-and-whack, and I'm really liking the results. My quilting evolves to suit my moods.

Mary

Interesting thread.My color choices tend to stay the same,Fall colors being a fav.Have been buying a bit of "French Country"fabrics now & then & someday will make a quilt using those colors.Have also learned to buy less but better type fabric....on sale that is.
Seems I usually go back to traditional patterns,using a scrappy theme.Have learned to stay away from the patterns,colors I never cared for & still don't.It's such a chore,making a quilt when you just wish it was done.I've learned to keep my sample blocks & use them for pillows,table runners etc.
I've learned that a good sewing machine works for me & the same with using the right tools.Of course,some things never change.I still use a lead pencil for marking & a yardstick for evening edges.Pat

When I first started quilting, I bought the cheapest fabrics I could find and used scraps from old clothing. I also didn't attempt any pattern that included a half square triangle. Since my skills have improved, I now use only quilt shop quality fabric and am getting more adventurous in the types of blocks I make. Now I get those sharp points at least 75% of the time.

I used to love lots of pattern and floral prints, but now I am appreciating the small prints and beautiful tone on tone fabrics we have available. I still can't commit to a favorite color combination. I just think it depends on where the quilt is intended to be used.

My first quilt, back in the 50's, had a lot of bright colors and regular bright red accents, then I went through a period of softer colors, but now I'm back to loving bright, bright, bright. I like tiny flowered prints less than I used to, though I'll use them if a pattern seems to call for them. However, if I am making a quilt for someone else, which seems to happen a lot these days, since I want them to like it, I bend my preferences to suit them. (Hence, there is a recurring Kelly green fabric in the quilt I am working on right now!)

So much of those above also applies to me. I used cheap and conservative things and have branched out to better things and wilder options. I've learned so much - like how poor 1/4" seams can accumulate and come back to haunt you when you try to make things line up. I think each quilt I make is a step in my learning and I seem to want to go back to early ones and rip out parts and re-do them but resist. They are good examples of where I've been in all this. I enjoy these discussions.
Linda

One change I just noticed. My very first quilt contained a lot of bright red, but just now when I went to see if there was anything in my stash to cut up for Redpenny's August string swap, I couldn't find a single piece of red fabric. In spite of my loving brights, somewhere along the way red got dropped from my mind. Maybe it turned into orange.

This one took some thinking and after all this thinking I can honestly say my preferences haven't changed. From day one I have always enjoyed using bright fabrics, brown earthy colors, soft colors, whites, greys and/or blacks. I have a tendency to lean towards the earthy colors as my comfort zone, but often push to try different colors if it suits the quilt. I'm always interested in trying different patterns and techinques too. I have tried many different kinds of batting and continue to use different kinds batting all the time. I guess you could say changing all the time is staying the same in my case.

Foxy.

I see where some of you give your quilts away. How on earth do you do that? I have a very hard time doing that. Am I the only one who feels like that.

Weste - Wait until you've quilted for 16 years, and you have a closet literally bursting with quilts on hangars - ok, it's a small closet, but those are just the big bed quilts. I've been kinda choosey about who gets my quilts - I'll gladly give them to my brothers, and my kids and grandkids, as I know they do appreciate them, but just recently, my DH's ex-stepmother, and the wife of his ex-step-brother (EX is the operative word!) were in town, and I showed them my closet, and the other closet where the unquilted tops were hung, and their general comment was "I'd like a quilt - when are you going to give me one? Who do you give them to?" I just laughed those comments off, and pretty much ignored them. The ex-step-mother is not my favorite person, either. It's definitely an emotional process to give up something you've created with care!

Many years ago I stopped counting when I reached 25 baby quilts given away. Now, I don't even know how many quilts I have given away. I've just got this notion in my head that every new baby needs a quilt. The lap quilts and bed quilts I've made and given away have gone to family and friends that are very dear to me. This is my way to show them how important they are in my life and that I want to wrap them in my love.

May sound corny, but I think many quilters feel this way about gifting their quilts.
Teresa

Well, I've quilted for a long,long, time, but when I started I was cheap, lots of scraps,leftover clothes no one wore.My first real quilt was a bedsheet, with a Lone Star in the center, and quilted with chrochet threads by hand. I've said before #3 son uses it in Civil War reenactments, and it looks authentic,LOL
Over the years I have used better fabric, but a lot of muslin, guess that is why I don't like white backgrounds anymore. Color is something I love, but dark colors suit me the best, designs that need lots of pieces, and I can say, I did improve some,still sloppy, now I have found I look at color differently, need to lighten up some, but now do small quilts. Still ever changing, a lot of what I use to paint now gets into quilts, I can paint of fabric too, it is allowed. lol Rene

I used a lot of dark colors when I started, now I find I prefer the light, bright ones. I also used to like sampler quilts but I find that I don't do them any longer. I still like the traditional blocks though, think Ohio Star is my favorite.