While at the LQS I was accosted by a couple who decided I looked like a quilter and before I knew it I was enlisted in helping them figure out what batting was, how to use it, how much to buy and all the rest. The entire time the woman's husband was going on about the quilting his grandmother did, telling me how they didn't have all the latest gadgets and how it took her 5 years to make a quilt. I understood he was paying his grandmother a compliment so just nodded and smiled but I started thinking about that and for some reason he thought like many do, that the only quilting that counts is that which is done with a hand needle and thread. ( It's not the first time I've run into such a stance.)
*I* started thinking about that and while searching online tonight found a wonderful site with a lot of quilting history on it.In particular the site owner, a retired school teacher, has done an awful lot of research into a great number of quilting areas including a section on quilting myths that I found fairly entertaining and very interesting so I thought I'd share it with ya'll.
Here is the entire site:
During the Colonial Revival around the turn of the last century hand quilting was valued more but this was a part of a movement toward going back to fine handcrafts. During the earlier years when the sewing machine was first available we do not find that most people considered hand piecing and quilting to be the superior method."
At any rate I hope some of you find the site interesting!