What our dear Emily asked her husband when he came home from work yesterday, using the prop she whipped up for Show & Tell at last night’s Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild Meeting….
Too cute! It was a fun meeting, we revealed the items we made from our One-Fourth Ugly Fabric Swap. The rules: bring at least 1/4 yard of “ugly” fabric in a paper bag, grab someone else’s bag (not knowing what you’re gonna get!) and in two months time, make something for yourself utilizing the ugly fabric. This was the fabric in the bag I grabbed:
c. 1970s brown and orange floral, an odd shaped remnant left over from someone’s handmade garment. Not something I would buy, but not that ugly either… it could have been much worse. I made yet another wristlet!
used some Urban Chicks, American Jane and Amy Butler to jazz it up, even stuck some “carrot” fabric from my scrap bin in there, and some linen… and lined it with my “ugly” fabric as well:
Her fabric was those candy colored elliptical shapes (also not so very ugly…) Linda’s quilt, I only got a photo of the back. Her ugly fabric was much bigger than a 1/4 of a yard, so she made a good sized quilt from it… and it was really not ugly!
Sherry was the first to reveal her quilt, her ugly fabric was a sunset colored batik (certainly NOT ugly), and it inspired her to create this amazing art quilt she titled “The Repentant Sinner” with the crosses of Calvaryon it. She decided to experiment with quilting stitches from Leah’s site,
Which made her back as impressive as the front!
We had a Holiday Swap, too, we each made something to gift to another member in a seasonal or holiday theme. The UGLY fabric I took to the meeting in September was SO ugly (I took this challenge to heart!–sorry, Lola!), that Lola had to use it as unseen lining in her Holiday Swap Pillow!
It was an older Moda fabric with a cream background and the logos of their then designers printed all over it. Seriously, I don’t even know how it ever got into my stash in the first place!!!
Our swap made it very clear that Beauty is definitely in the Eye of the Beholder. So my question to you is. what fabric/colors/prints/styles are ugly to you?
More pics from our meeting, including some of our Holiday Swap items here.
made by a brunnette 
I sure don't see any UGLY ones in there, that was fun.
I love getting inspired my leah day! I gotta get her button for my blog… hmmm
It's always interesting to see what other people pick as “ugly.” Usually, I like them! But there are fabrics I've given up as too ugly…it's all in the eye of the beholder.
I love this idea! I'm going to see if my stitching group would be interested in doing it. 🙂 blessings, marlene
Your purse turned out really cute, as did the other projects. Loved the little skirt and the Calvary wallhanging.
I participated in one of these ugly swaps while visiting a quilt guild class (I had been forewarned on bringing a piece). I found it interesting that the gal I was standing next to loved and desired the dullest, mottled prints, while my eye kept following the bright pieces being passed around. She ended up giving me the piece I had admired from the start when it landed in her possession at the end!
:-}pokey
wow every one of those are great I specially loved the one with the crosses….and your pocketbook. That ugly fabric was not ugly anymore……e-mail hwright2008@carolina.rr.com Hi Doris
Nothing Ugly. What I've always heard is that if you don't like a fabric, it means you haven't cut it small enough.
Y'all truly rose to the challenge!
Some creative ways to use ugly fabrics!
Ugly certainly is in the eye of the beholder, because not too many of those are ugly! I like Bonnie Hunter's motto….if it's still ugly, you just haven't cut it small enough yet. I love how you combined the fabric you got with more modern ones and really spruced it up! Amazing. A very fun idea. Not sure what fabrics I find ugly. There are a lot of positives about most fabrics I see. You can always make something from nothing!