A note of thanks.

Thankyou John.!I do love to hear and see your projects.!

You are a most welcome addition to our cyber group John. I am really looking forward to what you will try next, and I hope you will break out and try a freeform art quilt one day.

I think the precision of many forms of patchwork is very akin to your other interest of workworking. I am surprised that more men in Western cultures do not take up textile crafts. But you should see the blank and bemused looks on my "students" faces when I wax lyrical on the subject of woodworking. I miss having a workshop and a "wood pile" and an array of beautifully cleaned and sharpened carving tools and chisels, and don't even mention the word "lathe" . . . . . . . (sigh). OTOH - the best needlepointer I know is a man (retired electrician), and although it may not be generally known there are many wonderful male needleworkers and knitters in the Navy (space for hobbies is at a premium on board!)

Back in my school days (just after Noah graduated!) when they still taught things like cooking and sewing and woodwork, I always thought they should teach basic cooking and sewing skills to boys and basic "handyMAN" skills to girls. I was looked at as an oddity at the time. We went through the stage of offering any class to anyone (although they were still heavily gender oriented), and now teaching basic "life skills" has degenerated to teaching our students how to use a computer.

Oh dear . . . . there I go again, getting up on my soapbox rofl

BTW - how many men do we have in the group now? Do we have any quiet lurkers who have not posted yet?

patchwork quilting is out of the mainstream? who knew? go figure, eh. oh well, have to be half crazy to buy perfectly booooootiful fabric, cut it into tiny pieces and sew it back together again. so you're in good company here, John. cheers, jeanne

Aw shucks, John! We like you too :-) Just keep posting those photo links. We love to see artistic development. Roberta in D

"John" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@8g2000cwh.googlegroups.com...

You're welcome, John. I wish I had more time to read and respond to folks, but quilting takes precedence. If the household gods are good to me today, I should have a whole afternoon to work on quilts. Hope everyone here has the same good fortune.

John - I think your quilts, as well as your posts, are just delightful. It's refreshing to see someone so inspired, and jumping in to an art form that takes some people years to master. No fear..... I think it's grand! Good luck on your new quilt too.

Patti in Seattle

I would venture to guess that it's not mainstream for guys to do it. Although my dad used to needlepoint...pretty good at it, too. He actually likes French knots.

Jenn in Tacoma

After my father developed angina, he began tapestry. He progressed to crewel embroidery, and even went as far as cut work on fine linen. His work was gorgeous. I am lucky to have many pieces. He was also very ill when I was born, and off work for a year. He made all my knitted baby clothes! . In message , Jenn/Jalynne writes

For 4-5 years I too needle pointed, when I first retired. . I finally had to give it up when all the couches had pillows and every wall had something on it. That and the need to get up and get moving and lose some weight. I still have a lot of yarn in a stash and will probably do some more if the spirit moves me. Right now I am entranced with quilting, and bicycling.

John

Cheryl, you can count my DH, the Count, on your list of male quilters. He was a wood patternmaker when he started working, and has graduated after retirement to my addiction. We both have a nice stash, and he has completed four quilts so far on his own Bernina. He admits he has a good teacher and cheer leader in me. LOL! Nancycog in MD PS: John we appreciate your thanks and encourage you to keep in stitching!

John - keep stitching. Your work is quite gorgeous!! And the neatness of your SR always inspires me to growl about the messiness of mine.

My DH is taking up quilting as we "speak". He made ascots for his M/C group last weekend, and has bought flannel to make a lap quilt for himself. I think he just got tired of waiting for me to finish something. LOL (both my dad and my grandpa did embroidery, and grandpa did this kind of needle work, where you stitch really close together, and then cut out the middle. I can't seem to recall what it's actually called, but I have a couple pieces he did.)

I think you might mean either Hardanger (where you have to count the threads) -

or possibly Cut-work.http://www.advanced-embroidery-designs.com/projects/guide_cutwork.htmlBoth are beautiful. I have done a lot of Hardanger, and have been considering doing another piece just recently.

Well John, welcome to our quilting club, I told you about being addicted, you were warned, now it's too late, you will never be able to stop, isn't it fun to achieve such masterpieces? Keep on quilting, lol. Dixie in sunny NB.

When I give to you something I made with my hands I share my heart.

That's it - hardanger!!! Thanks, Cheryl!! It truly is beautiful needlework, I just have no patience for it.

Your welcome! I too, enjoy your posts and seeing your quilts. Makes me more determined to get back to mine. Company leaves Tues. so maybe??? I understand about being accepted by the (other) gender. My DH is a custom knifemaker and together we have launched a supply business for knifemakers. Most of the guys think its great that I have an interest and talk the lingo, but there are still a few that will only deal with DH. New customers are often surprised when I can answer their questions, and I have to admit that I get a kick out of their reactions sometimes. I'm looking forward to seeing your "girly" quilt.

Marilyn in snowy, Alberta, Canada

Bicycling, huh? My DH is obsessed! But hey, while he's out cycling, I'm here creating stuff, so it all works. I have four or five different hobbies that I rotate, so eventually I'll get back around to cross stitch again. Right now it's knitting baby hats and pretty soon I'll have to make some star and siggie blocks, but it's all good.

Jenn >> I would venture to guess that it's not mainstream for guys to do it.

One of my ideas, which I am still working on designing, is a bicycling themed quilt. I don't have it all fleshed out yet but it will be more modern than traditional and involve free motion quilting and large open spaces of color that are scenic in nature. Stay tuned, as they say, updates at 11.

John