How far is TOO far?

First, please check out this link-

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Pat on her hill sent the link to me. The quilts are fabulous- just gorgeous, BUT.... how far is too far??? I would be happier with calling these "quilts" if the scenes in the quilts were of fabric and appliqued. I would greatly admire the maker for searching out just the right fabrics and turning and manipulating the fabrics to make a scene of this magnitude and intricacy. I realize searching out a beautiful scene and photographing it properly is an art in itself, but..... is it what we generally think of as making a quilt top? Running fabric thru a computer- is *that* making a quilt top?

I appreciate the quiltmakers who stretch their quiltmaking to the limits and are always looking for something new and different. But at the same time I have a problem with using printing and painting and some other techniques. For me quiltmaking means piecing or appliquing- with fabric- a quilt should have pictures that are appliqued if you want a face or a flower or a scene- not printed or painted. (I know "embellishments" have been around forever- where do you draw the line???) Painting a flower on a piece of fabric and then quilting it just doesn't seem like a "quilt" to me- altho if it has the layers and the quilt stitching, I guess it's technically a type of whole cloth quilt. And some fabric artists take raggedy chunks of fabric and toss them together and call that a quilt- it's just not what I expect in a "quilt".

*IF* you were The Honorary Quilt Police for a day how would you define "A Quilt"? What would be a process or "substance" which would put it over the edge? What are the basic "requirements" to define a "quilt"??? Where does quiltmaking end and "textile artist" begin?

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.
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Well, I like whole cloth quilts and it seems this is another kind of those.

Yes, people who make quilts like this probably get credit for amazing piecing from those who don't know any better. But heck, they don't know any better.

Did you know Carol Bryer Fallert won a prize in miniature quilts at Paducah for a quilt like these? Picture and description is in the current AQS magazine. Seems quilt judges must be ok with it.

Is it my favorite thing? Nope. Will I make one? Unlikely. I like the piecing and applique so this doesn't thrill me. If I were to do a whole cloth, it would be to show off the quilting and that's hard to do with printed fabric like these.

marcella

Reply to
Marcella Peek

I have been going through the same debate in my own mind- at Paducah, there was a beautiful "quilt" of (I think) a gigantic chickadee that was painted on the fabric and then quilted. It just didn't seem like a "quilt" to me, although a person pointed out to me that it wasn't all that much different than a whole cloth quilt, just with the added bit of the painting.

Painting a flower on a piece of fabric and then quilting it

Reply to
SUSAN STRINGFELLOW

It looks to me like all she does is create her own fabrics by printing her photos onto them. That is kinda interesting and certainly creative, but I don't like the quilts, they give me a headache just looking at them.

I always say if it can't keep my butt warm, it is not a quilt, but I guess that is a bit too old fashioned a view. I recently looked through a magazine "for today's quilters" and suddenly I felt old. ;)

Hugs,

Maria

Reply to
Maria in NC

A quilt is defined as layers of fabric, usually with batting between, held together by lines of stitching going through all layers. So these qualify as quilts. And IMO they are pretty amazing.

I once saw a photo of a quilt by a Japanese designer who first pieced something quite intricate and finished quilting it. Then she photographed that quilt and printed onto fabric. Then cut up the photo fabric and pieced another quilt out of that.

Most photo quilts by the average quiltmaker IMO are about as enjoyable as looking at somebody's vacation pictures. The ones on this site challenge the mind. Wish I could do as well! Roberta in D

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

Now, wait. If I were to accept the position of Honorary Quilt Police for a day, first we have to decide what my goal is. Will I be motivated to encourage the buying of stuff such as fabric pens, paint and embroidery machines? Do we define quilt as a wrap for a homeless or ill child? Got to have some guidelines here before I even consider the job. Naaah. Forget it. I think it's cheating to use a pen on a quilt, if only to draw eyelashes or tendrils. On the other hand, I think painting happy eyes on cat faces is perfectly acceptable. How sweet it is not to have to make any sense at all. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Don't think it is too old-fashioned at all. My dictionary states a quilt is "a bedcover made of two layers of cloth filled with down, cotton, wool, etc. and stitched together in lines or patterns to keep the filling in place." Bedcover. To me, that is what a quilt is. Something to use on the bed and to be washed over and over would not need embellishments and I'm sure if any ink was on a quilt it was because it was spilled.

There is a difference in a quilt and something that is quilted. To me a quilt (noun) goes on a bed, anything else is a quilted (adjective) wall hanging, quilted clothing, quilted art, but not "a quilt". A quilt belongs on a bed and is made to keep people warm. Can you see the pioneer women making quilted art when their families needed quilts to keep them warm during winters when the wind whistled through the cracks in the plank walls?

That said, I've seen some quilted articles that were absolutely gorgeous, > It looks to me like all she does is create her own fabrics by printing

Reply to
Phyllis Nilsson

Sunny: I know what you mean!! My guild has a challenge every year. This year, I am the challenge co-diva with another member. WE two set the rules. This time our categories include SOLO projects: ONE person ONLY; and TEAM projects: more than one person, ALL of whom must be GUILD MEMBERS. We feel this will 'level the playing field' for those who do ALL the work alone. You might suggest these categories to your group. PAT in VA/USA

S wrote: ...cut...

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Howdy!

Quilting makes the quilt. IMO ;-)

Many of the responses to your question deal w/ making the top. In my world, because I love/prefer to quilt, it's the quilting of my own top that makes it a unique quilt. Handquilting a top for someone else makes it an heirloom I helped create. Sending a top to someone else for quilting cuts the credit in half, as far as I'm concerned. It's a good thing when it means the quilt is Finished.

Pictures printed on fabric, no piecing involved--if it's quilted, it's a quilt, IMO. These are fine examples, interesting and pretty.

Seeing these as prize winners makes me question the criteria of the judges. Is this what they consider to be the best expression of this art form? Does this represent "Quilt" to them? Makes me wonder about the judges. I've seen many, many quilts that won awards for the quilt TOP rather than for the over-all quilt, esp. those tops (again) that were quilted by someone other than the top maker, and esp. those tops that are machine quilted without much style. I have nothing against this process, this decision to have a second party do the quilting, I just question the judgment in competitions that gives the award for the QUILT to the TOP maker.

Printing a picture for the top isn't much different *for me* than putting a piece of flannel or fleece on the back without adding batting--it's all a personal choice.

Many quilt "artists", including Cynthia England, make beautiful quilts by painting the details on their quilt tops. Is that cheating? I don't think so. Just a different way to get to the end product, the quilt they had in mind.

A quilt is useable, in my quilting world. Other quilted textile pieces are that, quilted wallhanging, quilted vest, quilted picture, quilted photograph, quilted textile art. If I were running the show I'd put each in its own category. But in my guild they lump the handquilted quilts into the same category as the "hand-quided machine" quilted quilts, seeing no significant difference in techniques {so I don't enter "their" competition}.

As a quilter I am a textile artist. I can do both, or either.

Quilting is such a big world. Thank goodness.

Ragmop/Sandy

Reply to
Sandy Ellison

Ok... I had to think about this a bit... because I'm a big believer in no quilt police. What I think we are seeing more and more is quilts as a form of art rather than keeping warm and snuggly. I think that comes from a few different avenues, such as how many can you keep on your bed, smaller is easier to manage etc. As long as it is 3 layers held together with thread, then it's a quilt... but... more and more judged shows now have a "pictorial or art" type group. Whole cloths have been painted on and off for many decades. I have a very old one that is in horrid shape, but it's at least 60 years old. Irena Bluhm is bringing this back big time and has won tons of awards at big shows this year. I'm a huge fan of her work.

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Are these things I personally would do? Well now... I have dogs and a pre- schooler.... I don't see anything that isn't durable and washable existing in my home any time in the near future..... on the other hand... is that really that much further than hand dying your own fabric and using it?

I think it's great that quilting is not becoming a lost art. But like everything in life, when it ceases to evolve, it stops being a living art. And I don't want to see that happen.

Reply to
Jan

Pat in Virginia wrote in news:X2crg.316588 $5Z.176769@dukeread02:

Pat, I'm curious... and not to take Leslie's thread too far off track... but are there any limitations to keep someone from joining your guild by paying dues, but not really showing up or participating until it came time to show? And no I'm not planning on doing that.... but as I've mentioned previously, I really enjoy the smaller guild shows... the ones just held in the basements of churches with no juding, just the love of quilting.. but lately those have changed dramatically. We went to one about 5 months ago where the majority of the quilts were quilted by the same person, same design, but not even bound yet... just a little sign saying "under construction" And it was really pretty clear that they were done on a computer guided thing too...... so.... not being a member of a guild, I'm just curious if there is something to maybe say uhm... well.... protect the integrity? of the smaller guild shows? That sounds kind of snooty and quilt police like I realize, but .... well.. I sincerely hate to see them look like walmart quilts......not that the piecing wasn't spectacular.. but.. still....

Reply to
Jan

I love them! But, again, I really don't care for many of the "traditional" quilts, and really have no desire to cut up tiny pieces and try to match them up. At a show I usually go to the art quilts first, then the rest of the show. I guess maybe quilting is advancing in new directions that our ancestors had no way to predict, using products that weren't even dreamed about in those days. I think there will always be a place for all quilts-traditional, appliqué, art-painted, machine embroidered, and probably something we haven't even dreamed of. It'd be fun to come back in 100 years, with a memory of this part of our life, and see what changes have been made. Gen

Reply to
Don/Gen

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Our guild has a member who is a nationally recognized quilter. She is a member for the workshops we hold. (I know because she told me) She does not participate in the guild, except to attend workshops and classes we offer (at a pittance!). As far as I can tell, she has not held office or served on a committee. She's a Taker, not a Giver. What can we do? Nothing, I guess. Knowing this side of her did really change how I felt about her as a quilt artist, tho.

Reply to
frood

this one for me is a work of art but not a quilt.

a quilt is a piece of sewn together fabric (PP, pieced, appliqué) layered with batting and a backing - a whole cloth as was traditionally made by the welsh is also a quilt - made to show off the skill of the needlewoman and it still does today! :-)

the quilt is certainly not one a person would even consider using on a bid if it had been made the right size for a bed - a WH could, if it had been made larger, be used on a bed and so is still a quilt for me.

there are days when stuff I make for my personal satisfaction are on the edge of art - certainly not a quilt one would consider for usage on a bed and that's ok I do them for fun - to stretch the word quilt to the edge of quiltiness and sometimes beyond and then I wander off an design a more traditional pattern :-)

Reply to
Jessamy

Hi Sunny! I'm glad you popped in and anyone can always comment on things. No particular skill level required.

I think the reason many long arm quilted quilts win over many home machine quilted quilts is the detail in the quilting. In my guild we have lots of women whose idea of quilted is stitch in the ditch only "so it doesn't take away from the piecing". Stitch in the ditch alone just isn't going to win a ribbon.

There are lots of ribbon winning and published quilters who quilt on home machines and do wonderful work. Don't be discouraged. You can win ribbons. Heck, I do and up against fabulous long arm quilted projects.

Here are a few home machine quilters so you can see the kinds of things they do on regular old sewing machines.

Paula Reid

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Kathy Sandbach
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Diane Gaudynski
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Hari Walner and Harriet Hargrave also do wonderful stuff. I don't find a website for Hari and no pictures on Harriet's website (shame on her!)

Keep quilting! Take machine quilting classes when you can. Enjoy it!

marcella

Reply to
Marcella Peek

Pat in Virginia wrote in news:nNcrg.316592$5Z.267811@dukeread02:

Thanks! It sounds wonderful! And like you have a fun, well organized crew! I'm looking forward to the day when I'm not such a valuable commodity around here and I can sneak off and play more ;-)

Reply to
Jan

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Yeah, I know. And the ones who don't help are usually the ones who complain the loudest about how things are done! Harumph. I love my guild, and I want to help out so it continues to be an organization I'm proud to be a part of. (ok, Grammar Police, sorry about that sentence!)

Reply to
frood

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