quilting-what's it take?

I have spent some time thinking about Cindy's note mentioning buying a
big machine to get all her tops done up. I am having a tough time
trying to figure out just what it takes for this hobby to feel right
for us. For folks in the old days they had almost nothing. A needle
and scraps got them going. Some of the work was really wonderful.
Small perfect stitches with great patterns and colors done like art.
Some just did slap-dash or just plain old functional work. Many
probably did both. Now we quilt as a form of creativity and a
pastime. SOme of us do it because we have sewn our whole life while
others are looking for something to keep them busy or social in
retirement. The equipment runs the gamut today. I don't guess there
is a right or wrong. Our budgets dictate some of our needs. Some of
our skill comes with us when we are born IMO. Most of us need lots of
practice and training to produce fine work. Most of us will not put out
blue ribbon show quality stuff. Mostly we use our quilts as hugs to
those we care about and a lot of mistakes are overlooked with all that
love we send. I just count myself lucky as someone who enjoys most
aspects of quilting. The shopping, the cutting, sewing, the many dear
friends quilting has brought me and the ability to share something
of me with other folks. I'm glad when others can find that same joy
not matter what it takes in their corner of the quilting world.
Taria

I do not really have a historical 'bump', and I rarely think of being in
a succession sort of thing; but I do agree that we have many more
gadgets. All in all, though, any skill we might have (or not) would
probably have been replicated in the past. We do not really need many
tools. I do use a rotary cutter a lot, but I also still use templates -
that I make from whatever I have to hand. I never buy templates, nor
plastic 'wheels' to make yo-yo's for instance! I have enough fabric,
but not a huge amount.

We have quite near us, an exhibition centre in Wales where they usually
have a summer-long exhibition of antique Welsh quilts. One year, I went
as usual, and saw a really un-square, large stitched woollen quilt. I
read the note with it. The mother made a quilt for every child when it
was born. This one was for number 13 (remember they didn't all survive).
I could sympathise with the lack of care g

What am I getting at? I'm not sure really; but I do think that quilters
of today who have talent - in design, colour, piecing, quilting, would
also make beautiful pieces without modern tools; and that past quilters
would learn how to use our tools and gadgets, and achieve the same
level. The tools do not make the work beautiful; they just make it
quicker and - sometimes- easier to do.

I agree we are not now quilting from necessity - but we could if the
need arose. I don't think we are that far apart, fundamentally.
..
In message GrEbi.5596$3Q4.1244@trnddc05, Taria
writes
I have spent some time thinking about Cindy's note mentioning buying a
big machine to get all her tops done up. I am having a tough time
trying to figure out just what it takes for this hobby to feel right
for us. For folks in the old days they had almost nothing. A needle
and scraps got them going. Some of the work was really wonderful.
Small perfect stitches with great patterns and colors done like art.
Some just did slap-dash or just plain old functional work. Many
probably did both. Now we quilt as a form of creativity and a
pastime. SOme of us do it because we have sewn our whole life while
others are looking for something to keep them busy or social in
retirement. The equipment runs the gamut today. I don't guess there
is a right or wrong. Our budgets dictate some of our needs. Some of
our skill comes with us when we are born IMO. Most of us need lots of
practice and training to produce fine work. Most of us will not put out
blue ribbon show quality stuff. Mostly we use our quilts as hugs to
those we care about and a lot of mistakes are overlooked with all that
love we send. I just count myself lucky as someone who enjoys most
aspects of quilting. The shopping, the cutting, sewing, the many dear
friends quilting has brought me and the ability to share something
of me with other folks. I'm glad when others can find that same joy
not matter what it takes in their corner of the quilting world.
Taria


--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

Taria, I'm not sure I understand the question or where you are coming
from? Is it a frustration with people being discouraged either by
themselves or others? Or not embracing which ever method works for
whatever reason physical, finanancial etc? Or not accepting the
diversity that exists in all things art?? Or all of the above?

Jan
RCTQ Coffee Diva

When I taught quilting, I was always amazed at the ladies who thought buying
the most expensive sewing machine would mean they could/would make great
quilts. Huh? Some of them never quite got the idea that fabric and color
choices, pattern choices, tools and equipment and lots of practice was what
separated the best quilts from the not-so-good. Most of them got
discouraged when they didn't excel at first try. I found that to be very
sad.

For myself, I am addicted to fabric and have a hard time saying no to
fabrics that call to me. I have quite a few rulers for rotary cutting, but
find that the specialty rulers I bought early on have hardly been used,
where my good ol' standbys have hardly any markings left on them from being
used constantly. I used to think that I had to subscribe to every quilting
magazine out there and buy oodles of quilting books. I am much more
selective now. I live in a small town, so I tend to have a big supply of
fusibles, threads, batting, rotary blades, etc. Traveling a hundred miles
to a LQS or waiting for the postman is not acceptable for me when I run out
of something.

I quilt for the results- the finished quilt.... not so much the process. I
love buying fabrics, I really enjoy designing, making the top is pretty
interesting, but I start fading out before most are finished. I have
analyzed this and I get discouraged because I have this amazing quilt in my
mind and I often don't have quite the necessary skills to actually produce
the mind-picture. I know I have made some very nice quilts, but I also have
a great pile of not-so-nice UFOs that I will never finish. I try to pass
those on when I have an opportunity. My failures are often someone else's
treasure.

I always dreamed of having a dozen bed quilts- all with matching bedskirts,
window treatments, etc. After almost 20 years of quilting, I know this
isn't likely to happen. But that's okay. I have a quilt for each bed, The
HairyButt Gang greatly contributes to the quilts needing frequent washing
and then the quilt is worn out and I make another for the bed. The worn
quilt goes in my truck for emergencies and the cycle begins again. I'm okay
with this.

Most of my quilt are given away to people I love. The few commissions I've
undertaken haven't been the most fun. The worst are when the commission'er
dictates every detail. They really don't 'get' how colors and prints and
block patterns play off each other and the quilts have been disappointments
to them and me. The buyers who give me a general idea and let me run with
it have been much happier. Nowadays my quilting seems to run in cycles- I
quilt like crazy and then don't do any for a while. That's okay, too. I
would not accept a commission at this point because of the time element. I
don't want to 'have to' quilt when the mood isn't right for me. That's
counter-productive to creativity.

With thanks (???) to Pat on her hill, Polly Esther and Jan (and a few other
enablers) I have become rather passionate about free motion quilting.
Unfortunately, my hip surgery has stopped that dead in it's tracks. I hope
I can pick up where I left off. I often open the door to my little studio
and look longingly at my 'stuff'. It's too cramped in there to allow me
inside with my wheelchair or walker. But soon....... VBG

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.
"Taria" wrote in message
news:GrEbi.5596$3Q4.1244@trnddc05...
I have spent some time thinking about Cindy's note mentioning buying a
big machine to get all her tops done up. I am having a tough time trying
to figure out just what it takes for this hobby to feel right
for us. For folks in the old days they had almost nothing. A needle
and scraps got them going. Some of the work was really wonderful.
Small perfect stitches with great patterns and colors done like art.
Some just did slap-dash or just plain old functional work. Many
probably did both. Now we quilt as a form of creativity and a
pastime. SOme of us do it because we have sewn our whole life while
others are looking for something to keep them busy or social in
retirement. The equipment runs the gamut today. I don't guess there
is a right or wrong. Our budgets dictate some of our needs. Some of
our skill comes with us when we are born IMO. Most of us need lots of
practice and training to produce fine work. Most of us will not put out
blue ribbon show quality stuff. Mostly we use our quilts as hugs to
those we care about and a lot of mistakes are overlooked with all that
love we send. I just count myself lucky as someone who enjoys most
aspects of quilting. The shopping, the cutting, sewing, the many dear
friends quilting has brought me and the ability to share something
of me with other folks. I'm glad when others can find that same joy
not matter what it takes in their corner of the quilting world.
Taria

What an interesting and diverse group of responses we'll most likely
see to this question!

Why I quilt? It's not a simple answer, for me anyway. I can play with
color, play with design, take a pattern and "tweak it" = it lets me be
a kid again! It allows my hands to "do something" while my mind
wanders the meadows of my thoughts. It feeds my soul to see something
in my mind's eye and produce it in fabric. It feeds my heart to gift
my endeavors.

I entered the quilting habit with no big machines, no fancy tools.
Like Leslie, my favorite rulers have their marks worn off from use. I
just stopped my subscriptions to the two magazine I have gotten for
years; there are enough saved ideas to last 3 lifetimes on my
bookshelves. I have rarely kept anything I make, and usually know
where it is going so as it is created I can think of the recipient,
putting good thoughts into every stitch. I still have nothing fancy
but a lot of fabric that spoke my name when I first saw it, and would
love to think that I can pass on until I use up the fabric I have

My regret is that I work full-time and cannot devote more energy to
this wonderful pastime.

Have a peace-filled/piece-filled day,
Ginger in CA

On Jun 12, 2:43 pm, Taria wrote:
I have spent some time thinking about Cindy's note mentioning buying a
big machine to get all her tops done up. I am having a tough time
trying to figure out just what it takes for this hobby to feel right
for us. For folks in the old days they had almost nothing. A needle
and scraps got them going. Some of the work was really wonderful.
Small perfect stitches with great patterns and colors done like art.
Some just did slap-dash or just plain old functional work. Many
probably did both. Now we quilt as a form of creativity and a
pastime. SOme of us do it because we have sewn our whole life while
others are looking for something to keep them busy or social in
retirement. The equipment runs the gamut today. I don't guess there
is a right or wrong. Our budgets dictate some of our needs. Some of
our skill comes with us when we are born IMO. Most of us need lots of
practice and training to produce fine work. Most of us will not put out
blue ribbon show quality stuff. Mostly we use our quilts as hugs to
those we care about and a lot of mistakes are overlooked with all that
love we send. I just count myself lucky as someone who enjoys most
aspects of quilting. The shopping, the cutting, sewing, the many dear
friends quilting has brought me and the ability to share something
of me with other folks. I'm glad when others can find that same joy
not matter what it takes in their corner of the quilting world.
Taria

On Jun 12, 5:43 pm, Taria wrote:
I have spent some time thinking about Cindy's note mentioning buying a
big machine to get all her tops done up. I am having a tough time
trying to figure out just what it takes for this hobby to feel right
for us. For folks in the old days they had almost nothing. A needle
and scraps got them going. Some of the work was really wonderful.
Small perfect stitches with great patterns and colors done like art.
Some just did slap-dash or just plain old functional work. Many
probably did both. Now we quilt as a form of creativity and a
pastime. SOme of us do it because we have sewn our whole life while
others are looking for something to keep them busy or social in
retirement. The equipment runs the gamut today. I don't guess there
is a right or wrong. Our budgets dictate some of our needs. Some of
our skill comes with us when we are born IMO. Most of us need lots of
practice and training to produce fine work. Most of us will not put out
blue ribbon show quality stuff. Mostly we use our quilts as hugs to
those we care about and a lot of mistakes are overlooked with all that
love we send. I just count myself lucky as someone who enjoys most
aspects of quilting. The shopping, the cutting, sewing, the many dear
friends quilting has brought me and the ability to share something
of me with other folks. I'm glad when others can find that same joy
not matter what it takes in their corner of the quilting world.
Taria

I have only been quilting for a year or so but I have sewn for most of
my life. I have a few machines that will do all sorts of amazing
things but the one I use the most is a Janome straight stitch 1600P.
That is just about as single purpose as it gets. It only sews straight
stitch. The only thing I have a lot of is thread. You can never have
too much thread. I hate running out of a color when I am into sewing.
I think a lot of people think that if they buy the fanciest machine
they will be able to do the fanciest stuff. Not necessarily. It is the
person who drives the machine that does the best work. A craftsperson
of excellence can produce the finest work with the simplest of tools.
I work in a solitary environment and don't "hang out" with other
quilters. Present company excepted. The other thing that I do is work
on one quilt at a time. I don't have a number of projects going at the
same time. I will interrupt the quilting to do a quick sewing job that
is of an urgent nature, but with the quilting it is single minded in
it's hold on me. Most of my creative life has been in a solitary
environment, and that is what works for me. Probably not to
everybody's liking though. I sometimes don't even want the radio/t-v/
stereo on as it is distracting if I am doing something such as laying
out a pattern and don't want to be distracted. The whole creative
process is not the same for everybody. I have tried to get my wife
interested in taking up sewing/quilting but she does not seem to feel
the spark that I get from it. I think she has interests of a different
type that satisfies her creative interest and so there is no need to
branch out. At least not yet. I am always hoping, though.


John

I have one of those really nice machines. I never for a moment thought it
would make me an instant artist. It's made me a better sewer because I
don't get frustrated with it like I have with all my other machines. There
are features that it has that I use every single day. There are also
wonderful features that I will never use.

I worked really hard for a lot of years to be able to afford this really
nice machine and I'll make no apologies for having it. I also still buy
tons of patterns, magazines, fabric and tools just because I'm still so
excited about it all.

I will apologize for having brought up a subject that has touched such a
nerve. I'm a little flummoxed at the emails I've gotten because people
think I'm bragging about being able to afford a long-arm when I apparently
haven't "paid my dues" long enough to deserve one.

I don't think that owning a long arm machine will magically make me into an
artist who can do the work that I saw at the show last week. I will never
be able to do that kind of work because I don't consider myself an artist.
I'm a decent enough craftsman, but no way an artist.

I should have divided the two topics into two seperate posts: the exciting
show that I saw and I am looking at maybe buying a long arm. That way no
one would have gotten confused thinking I thought that a long arm would
instantly transform me.

OK, I'll shut up now.

Cindy

Oh my goodness, Leslie, how your post distresses me. There must be someone
that could come and clear you a wheelchair-wide path into your studio. We
understand that you can't do the sewing machine things just now but, my
goodness, I'll bet you would enjoy getting to fondle and admire your stash.
Plan. Dream. Wonder why you bought that. Some of us may just have to come
to Missouri and bring a road-grader or whatever it takes. Don't worry.
We'll bring heaps of puppy biscuits. Polly


"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote, in part I hope
I can pick up where I left off. I often open the door to my little studio
and look longingly at my 'stuff'. It's too cramped in there to allow me
inside with my wheelchair or walker. But soon....... VBG

I'm not sure I understand the original thoughts behind Taria's
comments. But I am enjoying reading the follow-ups. I took a quilting
class six years ago now because it seemed like a fun thing to do. Then
when I became too ill to work and realized I would never work again, I
knew I had to do something. At first, I worked at quilting for my
sanity. Now, I do it for my soul. I love fabric. I have always loved
color and motion and lines. I just never let myself play with it
before. Now, I have a fabric collection that I love. Some if it will
never, ever, ever see a needle. That's ok. It enriches my life by
being with me. On those days when I can't do anything else, when pain
becomes my entire world, I can go to my stash and hold my fabric and
put pieces next to each other and the beauty and flow and the
potential of that fabric gives me joy. I am not an artist. I have a
goal of one day producing one quilt that I can enter in a quilt show
and feel it deserves to be there. It likely won't be this year. But
it's a goal and I work towards it. And in the meantime, I give
everything I make to someone else and it makes their eyes light up and
they hug me. What more payment could I ever ask for?

Were I to be transported back in time, I don't know if I would quilt.
I have lost sensation in my fingertips and can't really feel a needle
when I hold it most of the time. Sometimes I "forget" how to move my
fingers. It would be a great loss in my life. I don't know how I would
fill the void. I'm glad I live now, when I do. I, like Polly, have a
lot of fancy rulers I bought early on and never use them. I have a
nice machine. I drool over the Janome 6600, but that's as "big" as I
want. Someday I will make a quilt that I think is "good" enough to
deserve quilting on a longarm. That's not likely to be this year,
either.

In the meantime, I play with fabric, cut out pictuers for myself (you
guys would laugh yourselves silly if I showed you what I spend a lot
of my time making. I love cutting out funny "folks" and making scenes.
Just for me). It's grown up paper dolls. I make a few good things. I
come through in a pinch most of the time. And when all else fails, I
wrap myself in 3 yards of handpainted silk that I got for $2 at an
estate sale and pretend I'm a silent film star.

Why ever we do this thing we do, we are all sisters and brothers of
the fabric and we belong together in the long line of people that
started when Eve or Adam put two fig leaves together and then realized
it could use a little embellishment.

I love you all.
Sunny

You bring the grader and I'll send Mr Joe to drive it for you. You wouldn't
have to worry about any furniture being destroyed

Butterfly

"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
Oh my goodness, Leslie, how your post distresses me. There must be
someone that could come and clear you a wheelchair-wide path into your
studio. We understand that you can't do the sewing machine things just now
but, my goodness, I'll bet you would enjoy getting to fondle and admire
your stash. Plan. Dream. Wonder why you bought that. Some of us may
just have to come to Missouri and bring a road-grader or whatever it
takes. Don't worry. We'll bring heaps of puppy biscuits. Polly


"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote, in part I hope
I can pick up where I left off. I often open the door to my little
studio and look longingly at my 'stuff'. It's too cramped in there to
allow me inside with my wheelchair or walker. But soon....... VBG