The Ugly Quilt

It is finished. The Ugly Quilt was the third quilt in my Maine guild challenge. We were to finish three ufos.

The first one is the Birdhouse Quilt. I had won the blocks several years ago in a block drawing at the Maine guild. I added log cabin sashing to make a queen-size quilt. This is a fun quilt.

The second is Baby Butterflies. I decided to make a smaller version of Basket and Butterflies. It hangs over my sofa in the living room.

The third is the Ugly Quilt. Many, many years ago, I took a class at the Vermont Quilt Festival. We were to take a quilt top and the instructor would tell us how to quilt it. I had stepped out of the usual quilts that I made. I saw a Kaffee Fassett pattern in the Quilters Newsletter magazine. It was unusual. Some of the measurements included 9/16 of an inch. I cut carefully and the quilt went together perfectly. I did not buy Kaffee Fassett fabric, but I did use my fabric that was in the same colors. It was the most colorful quilt that I had ever made.

Others showed their quilts and were received well. When I stood up and revealed mine, the instructor’s face dropped in horror. She obviously didn’t like the quilt. As she talked about it, she told me that one of the blocks was offensive and why didn’t I see it. Later on in the lecture she looked at me and said, “Some quilts should be left on the back of the bus. ” It was not my favorite class. I was miffed. Actually, very hurt and angry. When I got home, the quilt went on the back of a shelf and stayed there for a long time.

After a while, I pulled the quilt out and took out offensive block. I replaced it with a half square triangle. It was named the Ugly Quilt. The quilt is a Mismash of different quilting patterns. I used it to practice new quilting patterns. I had thought that quilting might make the quilt look better, but that didn’t happen.

When I chose the three ufos to finish, this was not one of the original three. The third one was a Cynthia England paper piece wall hanging. When that one proved to be impossible to make, it ended up in the trash and was replaced with the Ugly Quilt. The criteria for the replacement was that it had to be one of the oldest ufos in the sewing room.

All is well that ends well. I do like the quilt now. Several who have seen it also like it. Maybe it needs a new name. I did learn one thing from the class. I learned to encourage the students that came to my class with positive suggestions, not negativity.

Have a great day and happy quilting.