Aimless musings about personality and quilting

Hmmm..... never really thought about it..... probably depends on which presonality test I'm believing that day as well :-) I'm a gemini so I take full liscense to change my mind or track :-) So that definitely works in to each quilt..... As far as Myers Briggs testing goes, I'm a INFP which definitely plays in as far as creative, perfectionish with high standards, and I am highly adaptable .. so I guess now that I think about it... yeah.... how could it not?!

Jan

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I like artistic and traditional quilts that keep the eye moving around. I like contrast and secondary patterns. I just don't have time to really plan or do such things right now. So, because of time pressures, I too make 4-patches or strips, or something I can do for

15 minutes or so and then leave... understanding where I left off later, and not needing to take a long time to figure out what I was doing. I find baby quilts are a really great way to push myself to do something that I have long wanted to do, but just never found the time for. It gives me a definite deadline, and I can experiment more with the brights and new patterns... all in a satisfyingly small package! I wish I would be more adventurous in my quiltmaking. Perhaps if the Quilt Police knocked on the door and said, "You'll do curved piecing from now on, ma'am. Oh, and if you don't use triangles more often, we'll be back" I would venture out of my strips and squares confinement....

-- Jo in Scotland

A wonderful thought provoking post Leslie!

I too *love* the design part of making quilts. I enjoy the maths needed to work out how much of x fabric is needed for several sizes of quilts. sitting down and writing out the pattern is also a pleasure I would much rather do myself than leave up to others. I go through colour phases - sometimes I am all into autumn colours when I design then it's all primary colours - right now it's graded colours. I can look at the sky, tree's, artwork on a wall, a car driving past and it will give me inspiration for a quilt - sometimes when I'm chatting an idea will strike due to the conversation we are having and then the person I'm chatting with suddenly gets a long silence while I sketch the idea in EQ or on a scrap of paper. I don't think I will ever get round to making all the quilts I dream up (sometimes literally)

Choosing the fabrics for the quilt is also a part I enjoy; feeling the fabrics and visualising what it will look like in the finished quilt. cutting is also a part I can live with - not a favourite but it can be done.

Sewing can be a joy too - but also a chore. when I was ,making a king quilt I was using 360 colours and it was wonderful seeing how it slowly evolved from the charms to a finished quilt and WH and 2 throw pillows. though more often than not when I have some of the blocks sewn I loose interest and off I go on another quilting adventure. I'm less likely to make a quilt with only a few fabrics than one with lots of colours as that is what keeps me going when I'm sewing.

recently I have discovered that I *hate* machine appliqué where I have to satin stitch the pieces down so when I finish this #^&@*^&#@^%^#!! quilt I will seriously have to reconsider if and or how I want to appliqué in the future it just takes too much time and though I'm certain I will be more than happy with the finished quilt I am not keen on the process.

the basting and quilting part is the part I like least and if I could I would prefer to send it out however as I can't afford to do so I have to grit my teeth every now and then and get it done. I'm not too sure why I *actually* succeed in finishing quilts - well except the ones I'm commissioned to do but somehow I occasionally do get round to finishing and getting to sue the quilt is the reward for sticking to it.

INteresting!

I too, am a Virgo. I need precision. I need rules. I need patterns. Love the crazy quilt. Know I will never make one.

I am not artistic. I am a craftsman. And that's ok. We can't all be artists.

Cindy

I feel I'm just about opposite! I'm a Cancer (don't know if this would be a Cancer trait tho) and the creative part of the process is what I enjoy. I love the color play, and textural feel of the fabrics, but I really hate making endless cuts for the entire quilt. I want to start right into putting the block together to see what it looks like, and often the next blocks might be a little different as I change my mind about what will go better. If there are curves or tricky pieces, I'll give it a try and, as long as it's not too wonky, will use the block in my project.

I couldn't make a big nine-patch quilt without going stir crazy with the need to get more creative!! I really hate trying to figure out the math and end up with improvised combinations of different fabrics if I don't have enough. I do tend to hesitate cutting into my stash for fear I'll need that later for something, and I save scraps.

I live far away from classes, so mostly what I do is from books or patterns until I think I know what the technique is and then I stretch it further. I'll look at the pictures and decide I can do it myself, and those fancy art quilts are my biggest desire!! I'm a little worried about the Quilt Police, but I can pretend to be innocent and bat my short eyelashes and say sincerely, "but I didn't know!!!"

Annie

And this from the artist - One of our problems is knowing when you're done. Most of us will readily admit that a good friend for us would be somebody to come whack us on the head when it's time to stop. I have on the design wall just now blocks of appliquéd daisies on Bali. They're sashed with 4-patches. Enough? No. I embroidered some bees here and there. Getting close. Now I think the quilt is calling for a little brown mouse . . . and perhaps a really fuzzy chenille lime caterpillar. Will somebody come stop me? Polly

Stop you?? No!! Send my quilting to your house to get done? Yes! ;-)

Jan

"Polly Esther" wrote in news:oG_kf.695$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Why? It sounds wonderful!

certainly not until you've finished that D..lightful LIME caterpillar. :)) do tell us how to do a wee tiny chenille caterpillar. cheers, jeanne

heehee, aint that the truth about jess leaving chat buddys in limbo not having a clue where shes gone off to now. btdt with her many many times over the past few yrs. but her work is divine and now shes on her way to the big time. :)) will she recall those late nights online when she is winging her way around the world to all the big quilt shows. heehee cheers, jeanne

Polly, that sounds like when I was painting my downstairs bath. I started with some morning glory vines on the top. Then I decided it needed something below so I added a old looking wall with bricks exposed. Then it needed something to brighten it up so I added flowers ontop of the wall to make it look like an English garden. Then when you have a garden you need some butterflies, and of course a few bees. Oh, I forgot the garden snail. Then I thought a dragon fly or two would be nice. No garden is complete without a bird house - if you have bird houses you need some birds.......... Almost complete, when I added the chipmunks I knew I was finished.

Another Cancer here, and I feel pretty much the same! The most fun part of quilting for me is to just start and let myself be surprised with what happens. Although sometimes a bout of mindless chain stitching just fixes whatever ails me. I also like having things done, but not if it involves rigid deadlines. Roberta in D, Queen of the Scrap Heap

"marbles_2" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Bonnie, if you and I didn't cure Leslie of the notion that being artistic was a good thing, nothing will. I would love to see that wonderful bathroom art. Polly

I see so much of me here, (except with me its the English I can do, but am hopeless (and terrified) of maths. If I tried to change and be more laid back I would be miserable! I just am incapable to taking the easy option.

I can't bear disorganisation, and although I am not the tidiest worker have to have big clearups and foldups after every untidy session.

It isn't really that I strive for perfection in a sort of prissy way, I just 'have' to do the fiddly things . Actually, the more I think about it it is an inability to say No! Summed up in the BOM where for some unknown reason I am doing both the pieced and the applique, and am feeling quite oppressed by the fact that I haven't finished the November piecing yet! Perhaps I have a split personality - one half me and one Quilt Police!

I'm a Virgo too, but hadn't realised that this annoying perfectionist trait was due to that!

A cure? - don't think there is one. You can't change the way you are, though if you think about it you can see the way your upbringing made you like that (or I can anyway). Just accept it - its the way you are that everyone loves, isn't it. Just think "Now I am grown up this is what I WANT to do". (and I do want to finish that block!)

-- Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~who feels very guilty that DD has the same trait and she's Scorpio.

Oh, yes! I'm a Gemini and the two parts of my personality are always at war when it comes to quilting. There is the one part that wants to do something beautiful, artistic, and free-flowing. But the other part is very logical and rigid, must follow a pattern, must have everything planned before the first cut happens. Unfortunately, the rigid part usually wins, or pitches an anxiety fit.

I started out whole-heartedly throwing myself into quilting nearly four years ago, starting with a queen-sized quilt. I've made many, many quilts since then, though recently I have been feeling burn out. My sewing machine went in for repairs, and I thought I would hyperventilate with just the thought of it being gone. But then, I adjusted and when it came back I felt a bit resentful because it meant I had to go back to sewing! I'm not sure where that came from.

Moderation? Who, me?

Trixie

Good topic, Leslie!

My MBTI is ESFJ. (If these initialisms are only so many letters to you, search "MBTI." There are MANY websites devoted to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.)

ESFJ, in one paragraph: "Tthe dominant quality in their lives is an active and intense caring about people and a strong desire to bring harmony into their relationships. ESFJs bring an aura of warmth to all that they do, and they naturally move into action to help others, to organize the world around them, and to get things done. Sensing orients their feeling to current facts and realities, and thus gives their feeling a hands-on pragmatic quality. ESFJs take their work seriously and believe others should as well."

The effect on my quilting: I like to think out loud, to talk about what I'm working on. I like organization, so my quilting area is (fairly) tidy--I cut up scraps and file them, my stash is in order--I pretty much put things away. In fact, if I have too many projects out at the same time I feel distinctly uncomfortable. Making a list of my projects/obligations calms me down.

I also like closure. Too many unresolved tasks/issues/whatever are disquieting. In quilting that refers to WIPs and UFOs. I just had an epiphany about this! I know that the "official" definition of a finished object is one that is quilted, bound, and labeled. Very often I can settle for a nearly finished object--sewn and bordered, but not necessarily quilted, etc. Three specific examples of the disquiet: I made 9-patch blocks for a specific project. There were a stack of blue-and-blue and a stack of red-and-cream. When I put them on the design wall they just didn't work. Having those stacks of 9-patches bothered the heck out of me. Last month I did this with the blues:

evening I made some snowball blocks (cream w/ red corners) to alternatewith the reds.

Nann off to Get Things Done today!

An Aquarian checking in here.

I love designing, and I really love choosing the fabrics (usually about three times as many as I really need but better too many than . . . . . right?). But applique (by hand using my own weird methods) is what I would do all the time if I could. Other factors limit my sewing pretty much now, so I have turned to teaching and have the joy of "working on" about 12 quilts at any given time.

I have literally hundreds of sketches and drawings - even detailed patterns and cutting layouts - for quilts of all types that will never be made now. When I drew them I was fit and healthy - and working 80 hours a week to be able to afford to retire and start a quilt design and teaching career. Now I am retired, and can't sew much. Moral - do not put off!

- "I will put a lot of effort into finding the easiest,

- quickest and most accurate way of doing things- anything. " Now this sounds just like me. I will test and refine things time after time before teaching because I hate the idea of wasted effort or resources. It just doesn't sit well with me. I will ponder quietly about a design or pattern for weeks sometimes, trying to figure out a better way to make what I want, and then just sit down and write the whole thing down in one hit.

I cannot get interested in making small quilts myself, but am equally appalled at the thought of making one of the "monsters" that I see others making (a friend just finished a 10' X 10' pieced quilt). This does not mean that I do not admire them for what they are, just that I don't want to make them myself. I would rather make placemats and table runners than wall hangings.

I have literally thousands of books, magazines and patterns here, but can truthfully claim never to have followed a pattern (or a recipe for that matter) in my life. I always rescale, rearrange, adjust, whatever. Or I just take elements from several sources and dream up my own take on the theme. My lack of interest in duplicating anything is a large part of my collection of unfinished projects. I design, test. make enough of a pattern to be sure it works, and then . . . . . just lose interest.

I have been told that Aquarians are often artistic, but I cannot see myself as an artist. I used to aspire to being a craftman (I refuse to call myself "craftswoman") but as I feel absolutely no compulsion to finish everything I start I do not feel comfortable claiming such a title. BTW - this doesn't mean I never finish anything, just that I am not compulsive about finishing everything.

A former boss once described me as a "Renaissance personality" in that I dabble in many fields, and can show promise, but unless my interest is sustained by seeing an application for what I learn I will pass on to another subject. That was probably pretty accurate. I draw designs from architecture, arts (pottery, printing, jewellery design, etc), engineering plans, biology, poetry, music, whatever I have read or seen. If it interests me I will study it, but I haven't finished any of the three degrees I started because my private study had already taken me beyond the basics and I hated being held back to dot the I's and cross T's by completing a set of meaningless (to me) prescribed tests.

My quilts - no matter how complex the design - are always practical in that they are meant to be used and washed and used again. I dislike seeing my finished works - quilts, embroidery, pottery, etc - packed carefully away and preserved. I would rather see them used and worn out.

I am like you, Leslie, in that I seem to have a good colour memory, but I would not say I was good with colour generally. My graphic art was often monochromatic or B&W by choice. I have learned to put colours together but it is not something that has ever been easy for me.

I do not like quilting, and I hate the whole pin and tack thing. Quilting is not a major feature in the quilts I make, but I do enjoy designing quilting patterns to enhace quilts. Why? Laziness maybe, or just unwilling to persevere until I get it right. I machine quilt individual blocks for applique, and I have machine quilted large quilts in the past, but only with very simple patterns. I learned hand quilting and loved it, but didn't have time back then and now can't see well enough. I love to see beautiful quilting on quilts, but unless I find some poor stitcher who is willing to do EXACTLY what I want on my quilts for me (with me bending over her shoulder to check on it) I will not have the quilting as a major feature of the quilts I make.

I enjoy working out the maths in quilts, and rewriting badly written instructions is easy for me. I often have other quilters bring me patterns and ask me to write a clearer set of instructions and a work plan for them. I spent most of my Air Force Logistics career doing similar work so it's easy for me now. But I have no time for the Quilt Police. I teach all my "girls" that if they really think they have a better way to do something they should try it, and if it works come show me. For years I was told by experienced quilters that things could only be done a certain way. When I finally tried my weird variations I found they worked for me, and now prequilting blocks for applique, pressing seams open and other "heresies" are methods recognised and accepted by all but the most rigid (you know - the ones who will tell you it's not really a quilt unless you hand piece and hand quilt the entire thing using 200yo methods!)

So Leslie - did you go back to bed? 'Cos I should! It's about 1am and I am up now for about the same reasons you were last night. Boofhead is snoring loudly in the kitchen (I can hear him from the next room) and Donut has fallen into a doze leaning against my leg waiting to go to bed with me, poor baby!

Good night - I hope you did get a good night's rest eventually

I'm a Sagittarius. Does this matter, as to my approach to quilt making? I can't remember what it's supposed to say about my personality. Just now I'm drawing and memorising diagrams of the Scottish court system. I'd rather stab a pencil into my arm. It is so dull. I hate rote memory tests. I would much rather write an essay.

-- Jo in Scotland

An interesting way of looking at it Nann

I type as an ENFP

Words, ideas and possibilities spew effortlessly from them. Words are their best friends. They dance around ideas, the more, the merrier. Imaginative, spontaneous, original and enthusiastic, they have a knack for seeing other possibilities, other dreams and options. The world is never as it is but as it could be, as if it were but an artists sketch begging for colour. They initiate change and often are prone to trespassing a few known boundaries to take themselves and others where no one has been before. The status quo tends to lack inspiration.

When inspired, they are fearless and tireless. Their energy will know no limits unless red tape takes over. Routine drags them down. Their faith in possibilities and belief in the benefit of change often inspire others to follow. They are challenging, ingenious and innovative. They will give their best to what appears to be an impossible challenge, a place unknown to man or beast.

They use metaphors, stories, images and analogies to make their point.They love theories and often shape their own. They see patterns emerging. Keen improvisers, they are rarely caught off guard, there is always something up their sleeve. The sky is the only limit.

They are sometimes entertainers, artists or otherwise engaged in public demonstrations that allow their ideas to bloom. Their greatest difficulty is not in initiating projects but in choosing among so many possibilities, setting realistic boundaries, establishing priorities and correctly assessing resources.

and it sounds about right to me lol (especially the last bit ;-) )