I dont like Charms...but......

I started this discussion.....http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/gen...am-saying.html out or frustration and and got lots of suggestions. I was hanging around my sewing room....oh, excuse me...sewing studio (maybe if I change the name it will be more intriguing to me to be in there!) and i closing the drawer where i keep a few pack of charms...I noticed 3 packs I bought about 3 years ago... I think from M*...they were like $3.50 a pack and at the time I didn't know how to use them, but bought them anyway. Well, I knew one reason I dont' like charms is because they are just one charm of each of the fabrics in a line...meaning nothing matches and everything is different! I am to organized a person to have to deal with such....disorganization!
Well, anyway, they have sat there all this time and now today, I saw them and it hit me....someone said do something different in the other discussion...so I thought I'd try it! The charms are called "Lovely" by Debbie Beaves. What I thought was purple pansies when I bought them...turned out to be so much more....

I realized the other reason I don't like charms. TOO MANY prints/colors and nothing matches and many are a waste!
In this first picture...42 charms...some have one of each print/color, others have 2 of each print/color and 5 different prints and 5 different colors and even 2 more colors that didn't have anything that matched! my head was spinning! I just wanted some of the same! I get that a charm pak is a sampling of the full line, but still...make it one of each or cut down on how many colors and prints in a line...or just leave it as is and I wont' buy again!!!!

So I went through and put them all in order for print and color. Took out the green and yellows as neither color had that large pansies print that I was wanting. Took out the solids that didn't match the supposedly same color in the prints and took two each of those that had 2 and okay....totally confused now!

Anyway...I chose the third picture as what I was going to use. THe large pansy prints and couldn't figure how to fit the small flower print with them, so those are now in the waste pile and I took solids from my stash to match to each pansy print. I ended up with purple, blue and black colors, but the purple and blue are the flowers in them, but 2 have a beige background and one has a black background. See what I mean by to many colors and prints and so much going on!!! I started with a 42 pieces and ended up with 12 usable ones and had to add from my stash. Thankfully I have 3 packs and can take out the same from all three and maybe be able to use the other 6 smaller flower prints in this same way and make another quilt, but...still a pile of non usable charms. To me that is a waste of money. Not that charm packs are that expensive, but still...money is money and I have no used for what is about 1/2 of a charm pack. Oh well... at least they were not that expensive in the first place!

So I guess this is where it ends....now... for my question... what pattern/block suggestions do you have to use with 5" charms? I know I can make HST's but I was hoping for something bigger than that so you can see the panseys very good, so I don't think I want to cut the charms. I want more than just squares sewn together. The solids can be cut into 5" charms and also sashings...but I am not good at figuring pattern designs! Thanks for suggestions! And something else I am going to try that I have never done....I am a avid pre washer...but since charms shrink when pre washed... and since I want to use these and want 5" squares... I AM NOT PRE WASHING THE CHARMS!!!!!LOL!!!!! The solids are pre washed so whatever shrinking happens will happen only on the charm side, but still... I will be able to see how much shrinkage is and what it looks like as far as the crinkling effect goes. Should be interesting!

just can't come up with anything! What ideas do you all have?

warm wishes

I used a charm pack to cut into tumblers, just cutting so they were 3" on the small end, and 5" on the opposite end. Not much wasted that way.

Cheri, what about something like this: ?Doubly charming? charm pack quilt tutorial | Sewn Up by TeresaDownUnder

I'll keep looking and add anything I find to this post.
If you get on Pinterest this page has some nice charm quilts. http://www.pinterest.com/sallie789/charm-pack-quilts/ The floating squares one would be nice. I know it's squares, but the shadowing makes it more interesting.


Just a thought...I know you are picky about the fabrics in the packs and I am too, but sometimes once you've incorporated the "not so pretty" ones into the quilt, they look fine. I made my mom this quilt below out of a jellyroll and there were a lot of fabrics that I wasn't crazy about...some I just didn't like, but it came out pretty anyway.

Square-in-a-Square. I'm working on that now using a combo of Fusions fabrics. I see you have the Lovely fabric. I still have my charm pack, too, as well as some matching yardage & FQs. There are so many tuts using charms. I'm sure you'll come up with something. JCY

Oh dear! I hope I understand you dilemma. I too, find the grouping of a fabric line often hard to comprehend. But not as difficult as it is for you. I will just say that buying items like charm squares, jelly rolls and layer cakes are not for you.

For your charm squares, there is a pattern called "Falling Charms". That might be something you would like to do. You will need the charm squares, and a neutral jelly roll. Hopefully, someone else can link you to the tutorial.

Since you really don't like a total collection, maybe you can use you charm packs to make some charity quilts, and then go on to do what you do like.

falling charms M*QC tutorial

Sad realization with a silver lining, maybe? You don't like working with precuts and want more control over which items in a collection you will use in a quilt. Buying 3 charms @$3.50 is a fairly inexpensive lesson compared to some of the things we hear on this board, so I would guess you are lucky you have found this out now. Besides, there is no need to obsess over prewashing charms or other precuts. Just don't do it. If you really can't stand working with these charms, maybe someone here needs them and would trade you for something else. Why not check it out? I realized when I started working on this &*()$ quilt I am currently piecing that I only thought I liked the collection. In fact, I really don't like it at all. There is not enough of the right kind of variety in the prints. They are all florals. Blah. Not a geometric in sight. If this had been planned to be for me, I fear it would never be taken out of it's bin again. Fortunately I planned this for a gift. Sure hope she likes it more than I do. Feeling your pain of disappointment, for sure. Somehow it feels different to me when a precut dissapoints as opposed to a few cuts of yardage. You feel that too?

Here's what I decided to do with my "lovely" charms recently.Attachment 93425 Not original, somebody did something similar for iron quilter

I did a "Lovely" Falling Charms: http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/mem...e-batting.html

I'm working on a Lovely Falling Charms. Angelia your's is beautiful.

Thanks, Anita!

What about cutting large hexis out of the charms and making a hexi quilt. It you sew triangles to opposite sides of the hexi you can sew them in rows with a machine and not have to hand stitch them. I've done two quilts like that. You could use this concept and it would look like the first quilt (hexis within a star), except yours would be one solid fabric instead of the dresden look. OR like the second quilt with diamond shapes between the hexis. I used different fabric for the triangles that would eventually look like diamonds (which was a little tricky), but if you used the same background fabric throughout, it would be a piece of cake. FYI- the triangles are cut larger than needed and then cut even with the sides of the hexi.

You could put them all together in a tumbler quilt. If you have yardage in coordinating solids you can sash each charm all the way around and do a square in a square as was suggested earlier.

The tumbler idea is an excellent idea... Just start cutting! I've used chatm packs this wsy, and the results are do much fun.

I like chatm packs for all the readons you don't, and buy them often.... I love the variety of prints... You can make an adorable baby quilt top for under trn bucks... Not bad....

Some say you can't do much with charms, but I find them to be very versitile.... They are the bad is of so many of Jenny 's tutorials....even when she starts out with a layer cake.

I don 'to think charm packs are disorganized at all....the fact that they have at least one sample of each fabric in a line makes them...to me, anyway....organized......and I know they will all work well together.

Oh, I'll admit that there can be a couple of charms in a pavk I might not use...usually too light....but on the whole, charm packs are great!


But, that's just me.....

How about the tipsy tumbler? The prints won't be right next to each other. I'm going to try it with some tumblers I already have cut out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHOebrCAZo

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Originally Posted by bec

Cheri, what about something like this: ?Doubly charming? charm pack quilt tutorial | Sewn Up by TeresaDownUnder
anyway.

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bec... yes you are probably right about using the ones I don't like with the ones I do. I will give that some thought when I use the small flower print ones. They might just go well with those since the flowers are smaller. Thanks for the links...It always helps to just look. And I dont' know what my problem is... but I ALWAYS forget to check Pinterest! I don't know what that is but everytime.. I forget and someone reminds me. Can't figure that one out! Thanks for reminding!

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Originally Posted by Midge

Sad realization with a silver lining, maybe? n a precut dissapoints as opposed to a few cuts of yardage. You feel that too?

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Midge.. I think we are on the same page! I haven't bought any charms since these and yeah, $3.50 is cheap but normally they are higher, so yeah...at least my lesson is not costing me much!! I am making this a "out of the box" project for myself. I am in such a strict, organized box, many things dont' even appeal to me when they could be great...if I'd just look at them "out of the box"!

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Originally Posted by Angelia

I did a "Lovely" Falling Charms: http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/mem...e-batting.html

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How is it coming out? I am not to crazy about the pattern...not sure why!

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Originally Posted by bec

What about cutting large hexis out of the charms and making a hexi quilt. It you sew triangles to opposite sides of the hexi you can sew them in rows with a machine and not have to hand stitch them. I've done two quilts like that. You could use this concept and it would look like the first quilt (hexis within a star), except yours would be one solid fabric instead of the dresden look. OR like the second quilt with diamond shapes between the hexis. I used different fabric for the triangles that would eventually look like diamonds (which was a little tricky), but if you used the same background fabric throughout, it would be a piece of cake. FYI- the triangles are cut larger than needed and then cut even with the sides of the hexi.

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bec... this is a bit out of my range, plus... I am not to crazy about hexies. I think it is just cause so many prints so close together makes me think "clutter". That is a problem I have with scrappy quilts...just to much going on for my over organized structure!

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Originally Posted by goofyizzy

You could put them all together in a tumbler quilt. If you have yardage in coordinating solids you can sash each charm all the way around and do a square in a square as was suggested earlier.

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goofyizzy... I will give this thought as I have a tumbler template and I have made a tumbler quilt before and really liked how it turned out. A tumbler gives "life" to squares!

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Originally Posted by easyquilts

The tumbler idea is an excellent idea... Just start cutting! I've used chatm packs this wsy, and the results are do much fun.

But, that's just me.....

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easy - I know I am in the minority on this...so many love charms. But I have an over organized mentality kind of thing and even scrappy quilts just say "clutter" to me! I know... I have to get out of my box... I am trying!!! LOL!!

Don't take this the wrong way and I don't mean to sound snarky. My husband does not sew but you two suffer from the same thing: It is called over-thinking or over-analyzing and you described the symptoms perfectly. It drives me absolutely crazy. (Maybe that's why a game of Scrabble with him takes like 3 hours) Just make up your mind already and move on. The colors don't have to be the same but if they were in the same charm pack in the end they WILL go together.I speak from experience, I have a gazillion charm packs. That's all I will buy.

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Originally Posted by coffeebreak

How is it coming out? I am not to crazy about the pattern...not sure why!

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A link to the photo: http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/mem...e-batting.html

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Originally Posted by Angelia

I did a "Lovely" Falling Charms: http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/mem...e-batting.html

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Your falling charms quilt is gorgeous. I love the use of a color backgroud as opposed to white. Beautiful work.

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Originally Posted by Angelia

I did a "Lovely" Falling Charms: http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/mem...e-batting.html

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I'm so happy to see a colored background. I need to make a baby quilt and didn't want to use white. Yours is beautiful!

I'going to use this, but don't know what color to pick!

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=mind%2...%20and%20q%27s

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Originally Posted by Hulamoon

I'm so happy to see a colored background. I need to make a baby quilt and didn't want to use white. Yours is beautiful!

I'going to use this, but don't know what color to pick!

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=mind%2...%20and%20q%27s

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I'd just have to audition them--one will jump out at you.

I have a piece of lavender that has more pink in it, and I think I might do another with my leftover Lovely charms. I pulled the blue/lavender on the first one, but I have several in pink/lavender that will go with the fabric. I do prefer a bit of color as opposed to the white background.

I made my IQ2 quilt from charms. All of the IQ2 quilts were made from charms, so if you check out the album you'll get lots of ideas. Also, the Gourmet Quilter has lots of great tutorials for charm blocks on YouTube.

maybe a plus sign quilt? since you have 3 charm packs there should be 5 of the prints you want. Or make a few different placemats with different colors.
Those are my 2cents worth. Good luck!
It's a "lovely" charm pack!!

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Originally Posted by Amy R

maybe a plus sign quilt? since you have 3 charm packs there should be 5 of the prints you want. Or make a few different placemats with different colors.
Those are my 2cents worth. Good luck!
It's a "lovely" charm pack!!

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Good idea!

I think D9P is a nice easy pattern for charms with large prints you don't want to cut out. It is what I did with the Watercolor Gardens Charm pack I got from M* with my first order, 2 years ago. Leave the large printed charms in the corners of the 9P and the solids from your stash in the sides of center, these will be cut for the D9P.
http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/mem...loseup-fmq.jpg

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Originally Posted by Hulamoon

I'm so happy to see a colored background. I need to make a baby quilt and didn't want to use white. Yours is beautiful!

I'going to use this, but don't know what color to pick!

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=mind%2...%20and%20q%27s

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I also like colored backgrounds, especially bright light colors. If I had your fabrics, I would probably use a pistacchio green or a banana yellow, with a sparkle of that beautiful red-orange (in cornerstones for the sashing or a thin inner border).

There is also an Eleanor burns pattern called How Charming () that I really liked. It went together well and I think it would be good fit for you.

Cheri, you are not alone. I don't care for pre cuts for the same reason....too many different fabrics. I did have a charm pack that I used for a D9P like lourixe. I just placed mine in a different pattern than she did. There are so many ways to lay it out once you've cut them. Just place your charms in the four corners so they don't get cut. Here is my finished D9P
Attachment 93432

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Originally Posted by lourixe

I think D9P is a nice easy pattern for charms with large prints you don't want to cut out. It is what I did with the Watercolor Gardens Charm pack I got from M* with my first order, 2 years ago. Leave the large printed charms in the corners of the 9P and the solids from your stash in the sides of center, these will be cut for the D9P.
http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/mem...loseup-fmq.jpg


I also like colored backgrounds, especially bright light colors. If I had your fabrics, I would probably use a pistacchio green or a banana yellow, with a sparkle of that beautiful red-orange (in cornerstones for the sashing or a thin inner border).

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I'll have to remember that color combo if I do a D9P. I do want to try a falling charms though. I really don't know how I got invited to the shower. It's my step daughters BIL. It's nice to be included though.

Oh and it t's a boy.

So far, I've been lucky. Most charm packs I've bought can be cut down to Candies. Moda has some fun books to play with these little squares and you don't need much else to experiment. I can also put up some of the fabric I've cut as a pack, and gift it. (I use the Sizzix)

Attachment 93433 Small quilt from Moda book. Cut too many squares for another project.

Attachment 93434 Potholder in work. Clearance pack bought at an Expo

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Originally Posted by vchale

Here's what I decided to do with my "lovely" charms recently.Attachment 93425 Not original, somebody did something similar for iron quilter

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I love your quilt! So pretty.
I like your whole charm pack, I hope you find something to do with your prints.

Going forward, there are many patterns for quilts made of just a few fabric designs. Many quilts are only two colors. I am sure with a query you can find many free patterns. The pattern don't even need to be for just 2 fabrics, if you don't mind doing extra calculations to determine how much yardage you will need. Kathy Brown has published 2 books with the "Take 5" theme. They use just 5 different fabrics for the quilt top (sometimes there is a background fabric too.) I hope you find material and patterns that you will like so you can continue quilting.

Have you looked into the Schnibbles books by Carrie Nelson?

I've done 4 quilts from that and her other schnibbles book. Love them!

The one complaint I usually have and it's more with Jelly Rolls, is the color values. There might be 2 strips of a burgundy that have blue overtones, and 2 strips with red overtones. I usually need 4 - 6 strips of the same value. So far, the charms seem to be more coordinated.

At least, cutting up charms to candies, I'd have at least 8 2 1/2 inch squares of the same value to play with.

I'll find something else for the florals, or cut into 2 1/2 rectangles and piece those. The dots didn't have any florals - just smaller dots.

Attachment 93436

This is the base for an iPad carrier. I used bits of every charm.

That red and white quilt is only 22 x 22. It was from yardage, not a pack. The pattern is from Moda's Candies.

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Originally Posted by jjkaiser

Don't take this the wrong way and I don't mean to sound snarky. My husband does not sew but you two suffer from the same thing: It is called over-thinking or over-analyzing and you described the symptoms perfectly. It drives me absolutely crazy. (Maybe that's why a game of Scrabble with him takes like 3 hours) Just make up your mind already and move on. The colors don't have to be the same but if they were in the same charm pack in the end they WILL go together.I speak from experience, I have a gazillion charm packs. That's all I will buy.

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Yes you are right! I admit it! I have to have things to match and I do over organize....probably most of the time. Another problem I have is if I dont like what I am making, it won't get done!