quilting-what's it take?

I have really, really enjoyed reading this thread. How evident it has been made that we all struggle with some aspect of our passion for quilting. Hobby sounds so trite when it comes to quilting.

I love to sew on my treadle sewing machine, in fact, I think it is utimately the catalist that got me into quilts but I digress. When I pull out the different presser feet they had back "then" 1900 or so, I wonder if I could have been a quilter. Would I have been very good at it? I would have been the first to have a sewing machine because I am not good at hand work so I guess that would put me in the same position as a "long armer" or anyone who uses the latest and greatest tools.

Tarias muses are just that, her thought but thrown out over the water to see what bites. No harm, no fowl. Wow, what a response it has caused.

Leslie wrote, 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 felt I could have wrote this also, I love to quilt and in my new location I hope to meet some quilters to keep the passion going. I am good but not great. I start out with an idea and it rarely ends up a gorgeous as I pictured however it was fun and a learning experience.

Cindy, Some days I would love to own a long arm quilting machine. I teach free motion quilting, my passion, and the thought of having the freedom that a laqm would give me is mind boggling. Good for you. Those that criticize you, criticize anyone who uses any new tools. The Green Giant.................Envy. It is ugly and distroys quilting communities all of the time. It is so sad. We should be happy for each other, not envy. Try not to take it personal because it isn't your problem it is the person who attacks you. They have a REAL problem in their tiny little world.

I quilt because I love quilts. I garden because I love plants. I have kids because I love.....................kids? OK, never mind that one! LOL

Goodness, this has been a wonderful way to get to know all of you who have responded.

Back to lurkdom,

Marsha in Ohio

I have a pair of eye-teeth for sale..... alternatively I'll swap them for this machine....

I came from a sewing but not quilting background. My father always said to buy the best tools that you could afford, and then take really good care of them. I did lots of dressmaking and tailoring to earn extra money in the early years of marriage. I used a Kenmore machine, as that stretched my budget to the limit. Later on, as I was doing more work for others I purchased a high-end Pfaff, and still have it 20+ years later. I tried quilting before rotary cutters etc., and was disappointed with the results. From the start, I decided not to buy anything but the basic rulers, and I learned how to cut almost any shape using the tools I have. I love playing with colour, and have become more adventurous the longer I quilt. DH has been amazed, as it is the only hobby that I haven't lost interest in at one time or another. I have won a few prizes for my quilts, but no one was more surprised than I, when my name was called! I make quilts because it makes me happy! I donate many to different groups, but almost feel selfish doing so, as I gain so much from every quilt that I complete. I do agree, that not everyone who tries to quilt becomes a successful quilter, and I would buy a long-arm machine in a flash if I had the money and space! I am happy for anyone who can expand their quilting universe!

I began sewing in the fifties. My first sewing machine was handed down from my grandmother in the sixties. In the late sixties I got my first new machine from Montgomery Wards. I moved up to a Singer in the seventies and was dissappointed and traded it in for an Elna. That has been my main machine since then - I purchase several old Singers that I love using. These machines are all great but no longer meet my needs today, and I finally got the machine I think will do all that I wish. All this aside, I still love to handsew but arthritis is starting to give me problems. My wish is to do more machine sewing, saving my hands for the hand quilting I so enjoy.

Cindy, please don't shut up. there will always be, have always been, those who react that way. I think the enthusiasm is great. and I understand what you mean. I have a couple of great machines, not the latest and greatest but they (at least one of them) were at one point. It is like with anything else-- you have what you can afford and what works for you. And I after many years of teaching of various types, I firmly believe that many people would have fewer frustrations if they invested in a newer machine. Many people wouldn't, but I have seen and talked with enough people to know that having equipment that is frustrating makes any experience involving it a whole lot less than enjoyable. That is true be it sewing/quilting, gardening, woodworking, lapidary or ?????

Separating the 2 topics shouldn't be necessary either. The fact is that there are things that are much more easily done with a long arm machine than on a regular home type machine. There is a lot of difference in moving a lot of fabric around in the small harp area of a machine not necessarily designed for that purpose and moving a large, specially designed for the purpose, machine around stretched and steady fabric on a frame also designed for that specific purpose. Seeing wonderfully quilted end products produced by that specific type of machine would lead to the idea of having one of those types of machines. Knowing that you would not do the wonderful artistic, complex, and intricate stitching just because of the machine is a good thing. (That may not make sense, but it does to me.) You know that the machine only makes the set up easier, it doesn't provide the artistic part.

As to "paying dues"-- well that is a point of view. Some people keep on "paying dues" forever, and making sure everyone around them know it. Some people are fortunate enough to acknowledge the frustrations and such early on. They may also be fortunate enough to solve it in a way that many can't-- by "throwing money at it" I think that some people are more envious of the good fortune (and good sense to understand what and why something is frustrating) and it is that envy speaking.

Personally, I applaud you for understanding what you want to do, realizing that there is something concrete you can do about it and wanting to do so. I wish that I were as fortunate with the ability to do something about it, but that is life. Keep on, both sewing/quilting and talking about it. Hitting a sore spot with some people will always be a "danger", but unless you are doing it deliberately, don't worry about it.

Pati, rambling in Phx

teleflora wrote:

Stop--- each one of you. Please. I am really tired of reading "I am not an artist..." and want to say to each of you--------*YES, you are an artist.* every single time you pull fabrics, from stash, from shelves from a yard sale or where ever else you find it, and you combine those fabrics into something that is pleasing/interesting to you, you have created art. Even if you never sew them together you have the start of an art project. When you do sew them together, it is art. It may be useful, may not always be what you wanted it to be-- but have have you ever talked to a painter/illustrator or other "artist" about this? Same thing happens. Creativity and the expression of it in any form is art.

It has taken me many years to accept the idea that what I do may be artistic. I have had "art" classes in college (required by my major) and I had "art" all through elementary school. And did not do well at all. Theory? fine and dandy. I can explain a lot about perspective, the color wheel and so on. But actual creative "art"? yeah, right. Then I had the primary grade teachers at the school where I taught want me to teach art for their kids. hunh??? Me??? And my dear husband... an "artist" of another sort (written/spoken word type), well he has finally convinced me that yes indeed, what we do is art.

So, no more of this "I am not an artist" stuff, please. your art is, hopefully, different from someone else's, but it is still art. Have fun with it. Enjoy it and use it.

Please???

Alright, this rant is over,

Pati, > I'm not sure I understand the original thoughts behind Taria's

Sunny, I need to get a picture posted of Rick's VW quilt. This started in a class, an applique quilt of VW bugs. Very identifiable and could be sort of "ho-hum". the instructor had taken the original pattern and added "characters" to the VWs. All cut from fabric. Everything very bright and cheerful. I ended up with puns-- all sorts of "bug" puns. Not only did I populate my VWs, the fabrics of the the car bodies could be a pun. each block became something very different. And my cars didn't just travel on a static flat "road", mine went up hill, and down. One doesn't have a road because it is in space, (a "gold bug"-- remember my DH writes science fiction/fantasy) and so on. I finally had to stop making blocks at some point-- well before the ideas ran out. That quilt will not win prizes, but has been entered in a show. And people still remember seeing it. (even when they don't remember the best of show for that year's show.) It always brings smiles, and groans when people recognize the puns.

It was fun, and yes I was searching for things to cut out of fabric. for months I was searching and cutting. Just like paper dolls.

Pati, in Phx (Maybe I should take time to take pics of each block to put up... maybe later on today.) Sunny wrote:

Was it Wendy/Frood who made the snowman quilt? Each block was snowmen/snowwomen in the poses and with the backgrounds of many different famous paintings- like a Mona Lisa snowman. It was hilarious and beautifully made. I miss Frood! Wish I had a link to that quilt of hers, too. It really was a masterpiece and brilliantly executed.

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Well, no, Pati, in my case I really am not an artist. . God gave me tons of appreciation and zero artistic ability. Just like I have almost perfect pitch and no rhythm to speak of. I am a fairly decent craftsman. I can copy, but I cannot create. I have no innate color sense, it's a struggle for me to put more than 3 colors together. I can tell you that I love (or not!) the 12 colors you have chosen to go together, and I can come close to duplicating it, but don't ask me to choose more than 3 on my own.

When I was a kid in art class, I would freeze when the teacher just said "draw something". OH NO! If he said, "draw this", I could do a manageable job, but not out of my head, please!

I use a lot of kits because that takes that part of the stress away for me. I enjoy the process of making. That's my "thing".

We are not all artists. And I don't think most of us have a problem with that.

Cindy

Yes, they do. But it still runs out of thread or breaks thread so you do have to stay nearby. And of course, you have to be able to program it on the computer so it does what you want it to do.

Julia in MN

Good lord, if I ever get a long arm, you dear people will never hear the end of it! I'll be so full of myself, you just won't be able to tolerate me! So good for you, Cindy, enjoy your wonderful machine, and brag all you want :-). Can't say I'm not envious, but I am very happy that you have it. You just need to keep us posted on your progress, photos would also be nice. Roberta in D

"teleflora" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:VAKbi.122172$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe23.lga...

What does it take to be a quilter? I've been thinking about this and to paraphrase one of Yogi Berra's famous malapropisms to describe what it takes to play baseball may just about sum it up.........

or depending on what kind of quilter you are and what motivates you;

......90% of quilting is mental and the other half is physical.

Val

On Jun 12, 2:43 pm, Taria wrote:

Wowser's! Let's see, I first became aware of quilts when my Granny sent one to my mom and dad when I twelve and I was in awe. My mother sewed...had/has on and off for many years, but she doesn't quilt. I had never seen such beauty with material put together to form a "blanket." The quilt was a simple quilt. Maybe 8" squares of varies materials with red sashing and I believe it was tied. It sparked a fire in me to want to do that too! I took my first sewing class in eighth grade...we all HAD to make a sling bag. I didn't get around to taking another sewing class until I was in the tenth grade and again we had to make certain items...darn anyway! My mom would not allow me to get near her machine...her reason was the machine was too finicky. My 11th grade year I took sewing class part two and the teacher instructed us...we were to make a quilted wall hanging. I approached her with the idea of a regular queen size quilt. She made the exception for me (I was one of her best students.) :-) I made a square template out of lightweight cardboard and went to the scrapbox and picked out various pieces that would fit and went to work. I had to have a friend help with the sewing...she took class too at a different time. Needless to say, I continued to pick out pins for a few years, my little brother who was 11 years younger than I fell in love with it and so I gave it to him. From what I hear...he still has it and still loves it! Imagine that...after 20+years!!!! I bought a sm about a year after I was married...it was a cheapy brother sewing machine. It's what I could afford being young and newly married with a baby. But to my dismay it leaked oil off and on and eventually I traded it in for a pfaff...was I ever glad to get rid of it! I felt so lucky to own a pfaff! It was a lower end model, but was a jump up from the brother! On occasion I have made clothing and various quilting projects, including a few simple quilts. But eventually I realized my pfaff didn't have a strong enough motor...so my sweet dh gave me the money to buy a singer...it too is a lower end model...but it works and it hasn't stopped me from doing what I love and that is to create things with fabric. I also purchased a few specialty rulers and more patterns and books than I will ever probably get around to using or making...I have my favorites and that's what I use. I am now saving up for a Sapphire. Can I afford it...eventually! Do I envy people who have really nice machines, people who can afford to purchase longarms, in a word YES! But that doesn't stop me from sharing in their joy of their purchase or their soon to be purchases. I'm excited for them! And I hope when and if I ever can afford such a luxury they will be happy for me too. I just figure most quilters that I have met and own such have a few years ahead of me. I'm only forty...today anyway! lol There are some days I feel much older! Do I have talent? No, not really. I just do it out of love. I'm just simple minded and have a big heart and like to share what I have created. I keep in mind their taste and attempt to work with it. I don't care that my quilts or projects are not up to par with others standards. I do my best and I learn from each project that I do and I get better. Do I think my new Sapphire (once I get it) will make me this great artist or talented person...in a word...nope! lol Will I have a great time learning and using my new machine...Yes!!! The funny thing is...the only quilt or project that I have in this house is my son's baby blanket. He still sleeps with it...even if he has outgrown it...he denies it. He will be eight in July. He and I have designed a quilt using EQ6 for him and it will be fun to create something together. He has the quilting bug too! lol And yes, I'm going to let him use my machine to help sew it! It's been fun! I have been having a great time reading everyones comments and thoughts. Chow for now, Launie, in Oregon

I am so sorry, I posted this under Louise's questions and it was meant for this one. So many different replies to your post. It made interesting reading. I have been quilting on and off for about 12 years and I know that I am not talented. The quilts I have made have been for family. My grandchildren love to get a quilt from grandma. When I first started out I collected so many books and gadgets that I could never in a million years make that many quilts. I have now started giving these away or selling them. I decided to downsize and buy fabric for whatever project I am working on at the time. I had fabric that was years old and I knew I wouldn't use it. Last year my sister bought a Handi Quilter for me and I have only used it once... I still need to buy a table for it and learn how to use it. It is now in storage as I am trying to get a sewing room large enough for it. One thing I do love to do is hand quilt and I am not that great at that but it does tend to relax me.

I haven't read the replies to this -- I want to answer without being influenced. My first reaction is that I think many of the ladies of yesteryear would probably have jumped at the chance to use tools that we have so readily available. Their wonderful work was done in spite of their lack of resources -- and it shows a true artistic talent, if only in the ability to use what they had on hand or what they could afford to buy. However, the ones who made those exquisite quilts that we all drool over went far beyond that.

Hmmm...don't we do the same thing? We use what we have and can afford to buy -- it's just that advances in mechanical and technological fields have made what's available much more varied and convenient. That's great in that we can use wonderful fabrics and threads of infinite variety with a choice of machines (if we choose to use them) to enhance the experience.

But it's also bad. We can fall into the trap of relying on the fabrics to make our statement. At that point, creativity suffers -- I know, since I'm not very imaginative myself. I rely on what someone else designs most of the time, just choosing my own fabrics (except twice) and hoping for the best. I have just checked my web site, which also functions as my "quilt journal", and I have 83 quilts posted there (that doesn't count things like sewing kits, placemats, etc.; just quilts). Of that enormous total, only *12* were quilts I designed myself! Of that dozen, two are samplers and two others are one design I made twice.

Now, if I had had to content myself with making only about a dozen rather "normal" (as opposed to innovative) quilts in the past 20+ years, I'd probably have given up a long time ago and found another hobby. It's the fact that quilting can appeal to so many different tastes and that we have the possibility of doing so many different things with our quilting that gives it such a broad base in our world.

Sure, we all drool over this or that tool. I think the ladies who went before us also drooled over the things that were new to them. It's human nature to want something we think will make our life nicer in some way. We all hope that the next tool we find will be the one that makes us into a Diane Gaudynski -- or whoever your quilting "heroine" is. If we didn't feel that way, we'd still be doing laundry in the nearby stream. ;)

I would really like to get some opinions on this fairly small but important aspect of the discussions on this thread (which is terrific I think).

When I go to shows and gasp in admiration at some of the work there, I just know I couldn't do anything like that. Usually it is some brilliant idea that seems to bear no resemblance to anything before, or any living thing! Where did the idea come from - I cannot conceive how it arrived in someone's mind >g<

So, I consider: imagination, artistry and creativity.

I can see why you, Pati, say we are all artists, but I really don't think I am *artistic*. I need something to set my imagination going. Do I therefore lack imagination, or do I just need ignition to be imaginative? I do think that I can be creative, but not from nothing. Here again, I need the germ or even a word to get going. If I have an idea I can work on that and I can produce a quilt design from that; I can then make the quilt (albeit slowly!). I am a planner, and I spend so long thinking about my quilts (months quite often) that, once the plan is drawn, I will rarely if ever change it. I might, and do, change fabrics if they don't seem to work. My best skill is probably design, my next is piecing - or some say the other way round, because my designs are not 'clever and way out'. Most of the rest may work or may not - in the lap of the Gods.

So, what am I: imaginative, creative, artistic or a bit of all three? Do we need to be pigeonholed? or can we just hone and polish what we are good at - not for perfection (as that cannot be achieved) but just to get us one step further than the last piece we made. Or, is even that important? Shall we just do whatever it is makes us, as individuals, happy? If that is the case, then in this great craft, there is room for everyone, whatever their way of thinking; and I do believe that is unique.

In message , Pati Cook writes

You are imaginative, creative, artistic and a wonderful writer and philosopher!!! I have a difficult time coming up with something creative. My technical skills, while not perfect, are probably a little above average. I often think I'd make a great sidekick for a famous quilter who needs someone to execute her (or his) creative ideas.

I am leaving all of this and my original post on this subject too for those that may not get all the messages.

Personally, I don't feel very artistic or imaginative or even creative most of the time. But others tell me that I am all three. Part of it is, I think, some of the "stuff" that we, as women mostly (sorry guys, but this is a female point of view here and speaks to that aspect of this discussion. It may be the same/similar for guys but I don't know.) have generally been brought up with. I saw it a lot when I was tutoring math-- and it happens in other places too. WE are "taught" that certain things are and other things aren't. And that some people can do some things and others can't/shouldn't. And I am speaking in such weasel worded generalities I am confusing myself. So..... Please understand that what I am about to say should have all sorts of disclaimers, they should be understood. I am making sweeping generalizations here that really probably don't apply to any one person-- okay?? (Have I covered my *** here? )

We grow up being taught about "artists", when what we are really taught about is "Masters". Those who excel at things that are really very extraordinary and beyond most of us. Then get told we are not "artistic" when compared to these Masters. so. what. Art is something different to each of us. Many people love the "art" of the Gee's Bend quilts. These people made something to use, and used what they had to make them. Now some people are calling them "ART". Personally, I don't like them. Not my thing, not my style not my whatever. That is okay. They do make a statement. But I often wonder if the makers are laughing on the inside at how gullible some people can be. (NOTE: That is not a slam at anyone who likes these quilts. It is a comment on the human condition. As in a story told to me by my parents, who got it from the tribe in question. My parents worked one summer in project HeadStart on one of the reservations here in AZ. That same summer the BIA was scheduled to put a well up on a hill and feed the water down to a village that needed the water. They had made a decision on the hill and so on. However, the village elders decided that they were tired of the BIA telling them what and where and so on. The elders told the BIA the well could not go in that hill, because it was the home of _______ and he would be upset. So the BIA changed the hill and dug the well else where. While the villagers, and everyone else laughed about it, and the made up home of _______.)

Anyway, anyone who can design a quilt based on any idea as esoteric as mathematical concepts is not only creative and imaginative, but gifted with something more. And the artist rendering of those quilts is wonderful.

Choosing fabrics, even one fabric or line of fabrics, combining them with a pattern, and producing a useful product is artistic. It may not be imaginative if you are making a kit, but it can still be very artistic.

Creativity-- the act of creating. We all do that.

Imagination-- ah, there is the thing that separates many of us from the others. We all start with imagination as children. But too many of us lose it along the way to becoming "grown ups". But just as it can be "un-learned" it can be "re-learned", at least partially. But you have to let yourself be a bit foolish, a bit childlike and have fun.

Ideas. I have no clue as to where ideas come from. too many of us confuse getting "new" ideas with creativity and artistry. Any time you say "What if...." you have an idea. Try it. Read Ricky Tims book, Convergence Quilts. Not for the quilt directions, but for what he says in the beginning about "what if...". Do it yourself. Take a kit, and do a "what if... I use this other fabric instead of that one that I don't really want to use." Take a pattern, and "what if I use darks where there are lights and lights where there are darks??" Or, "I want a blue and brown quilt, not a pink and green one." and so on. Find one fabric that you love. Lots of color in it. Now, see those dots along the selvage?? find fabrics in those colors. Don't worry about matching exactly, get a few tints,shades,tones, off. Pile them up. Bet they would make a great quilt, even without that original wonderful fabric.

I do some off the wall stuff. But that is partly because I was brought up differently than many of you. I had a father who was a school teacher in the late '50s until he had to take a medical retirement. He discovered that children's attention spans were longer when he wore bright clothes. So he had, and wore, lime green trousers, red ones, print shirts of all kinds and colors. He also treated children with respect, and expected the same of them. And got it. yes he paddled. Broke a paddle on a kid one time. The kid had to make a new paddle for him--one he had for a long time. And kids liked my dad. He was a great teacher, but a lousy father.

Patti, you are all three: imaginative, creative and artistic. your quilts prove it. You have ideas. You create from those ideas. I don't think that we need to be pigeon holed as to this. I think we all need to practice and learn and do what makes us happy. Each quilt is a work of art, whether great art or not. It brings happiness, it brings comfort and more.

Now that I have voiced far too many of my opinions....... should I find the asbestos briefs??

remember, have fun, and "what if...."

Pati, in Phx

Patti wrote: