There is a "conversation" in blogland about being a snob about quilting...
I left a comment at Naptime Quilter on this subject and thought I was done with what I had to say...
But, I guess not.
I said that no one likes to be called names, unless of course it is something like Your Royal Highness, or Sir or even Doctor.
I have been seriously making quilts for about 30 years, my first quilt was to help my mother cut hexagon shapes for a quilt she never did finish; I was about 8. My next few quilts were as admirers -- I figure if a person says they are involved in SPORTS and say "as a spectator" --- I can say I was a quilt appreciator. My grandmothers each made me a quilt between my toddler and teens, one a beautiful applique -- that I know today was not so finely made -- but I totally loved it! And a quilt from my other grandmother with embroidered blocks surrounded by scrappy squares -- it was used so long and so often that it got to the point where the embroidery threads and design had all worn away and the blocks were plain grubby white... Even my sons as toddlers had the benefit of use of that quilt for a few years.
I discovered a 'how to quilt' show on PBS sometime in the late 70's or early 80's and progressed to making a Delectable Mountains Quilt that I gave to my Mother and she kept and used it for about 25 years. It was made with fabrics that no one would even think of using today. A sort of loose woven woollen plaid, that shrunk but held together very well over the years, a brushed nylon? from old pj's, some cottons from a tablecloth and sheets. It was blue and grey with the occasional red bit, some yellow and even a touch of green. No thought to what colour goes where or even if the triangle points were perfect or cut off. It did not have a true binding. The backing came around to the front and was stitched down.
My Mom did not love the quilt because it was well made, she did not love it because it was her favourite colour, and she did not love it because I made it for her. She just loved it and would not give it up even when I made her a new warm and cozy flannel quilt. She loved the quilt because it was HERS and it was soft and warm and snuggly. She used it everyday when she laid down on her couch to watch her afternoon TV with one or two cats snuggled up beside or ontop of her. She fit perfectly under that quilt and didn't care that it was not perfect because it FELT perfectly good to her.
Through the years I took some quilting lessons from very inspiring teachers. I joined a quilt guild and learned about quilting from fellow members. I learned that you could (if you could afford it) buy fabrics to co-ordinate, all of the same good quality cotton, or you could get away with the way I did things for the longest time (in secret!), I bought cotton skirts at the 2nd hand stores -- long before it was "popular" to recycle! Some skirts were probably poly cottons, some may even have been rayon, but they all together made useful quilts for my family. I did not make a quilt a month or even a quilt every three months--I worked full time and my quilting time was regulated to evenings and weekends and cutting the pieces with scissors, sewing and then hand quilting the layers together. I think I learned more about the process of piecing and accuracy by hand quilting a quilt than actually sewing the blocks. If the blocks were not sewn accurately, it made the hand quilting difficult and uneven, so next time I learned to piece accurately and to press the seams in the proper direction!
At Quilt Guild Meetings I don't think I took a quilt to show for the first three years -- then I made a quilt. A quilt for the guild's quilt show challenge. The challenge was a result of a "name" teacher coming to the guild and suggesting that people use YELLOW. Well, I made a yellow lap size quilt, it was simply a Broken Dishes allover design -- I used yellow in every single piece... and all that yellow came from skirts that I found at the second hand store. When I went to enter that little quilt, the "registrar" told me it did not comform and I could not enter it! She explained that YELLOW was to be used to enhance a design, not to just use YELLOW everywhere...
Now, when I think about that, what turned out to be her "rule" and not a written one for the challenge, I was somewhat dissappointed! I just accepted her interpretation and took my quilt home. It really was the first quilt I wanted to show off, but it never did get shown, anywhere -- it got remade into something else and from 1988 to today is still in use! It didn't need the approval that at first I thought it did. It was a quilt I loved making. And I sure did not give up making quilts because of someone else's rule. In fact, I made a rule for myself -- I enter every challenge that the guild I now belong to offers -- well, almost everyone. A challenge always makes me think -- How can I follow a rule and still make the quilt something special to me? Colour, Shape, Size, Technique... (PS, I should say that the first guild was not the same guild I belong to now)
Now, after many years of learning about quilting and actually making quilts and experimenting with techniques and ideas and fabrics, I sometimes think I must have learned it all -- but (HA!) not nearly! Someone is always thinking of something new. It is almost like trying to keep up with trends in MUSIC, from an early favourite by Rosemary Clooney, through Herman's Hermits, Led Zeppelin, Winton Marsalis, Kris Kristofferson right up to todays David Gray and John Mayer, everything changes and grows and then turns back on itself and makes old things new again.
So yes, I just keep learning about quilting and I do know alot about it and sometimes I am picky about it, but I am happy to show you or learn from you so I think perhaps I am a quilt snob -- just because I love making quilts almost more that anything else I do in my life. Don't call me a SNOB but it is okay if you think I am...
