Why do you quilt?

As has been said here already - therapy. I can't necessarily say it is cheaper than my actual therapist, by the time you add up what I've spent on fabric, accessories and such....but I definitely believe it is a better, healthier form of therapy.

I have always had an artistic bent, it has been a much easier way for me to express myself, either through drawing, or painting or making something beautiful.

The reason I am here on this group today, IS the same reason I quilt. It started for me two years ago, right before Christmas, when I wanted to give my mother something that would memorialize years of good memories in an otherwise not-so-good relationship. Collecting the pictures, collecting the fabrics, the leftover remnants and scraps of a rocky childhood and incorporating them in to something good, something healthy for my mother and I to share - was the best therapy in the world for me.

When that first quilt was finished, I cried. I didn't want it to be over. I wanted the opportunity to keep putting those feelings, those memories, those needs and desires into more fabric and stitches that would hold those good things together forever.

So I started a quilt for my mother-in-law, I made a quilted vest and skirt for my step-mother, I made a quilt for my daughter. I joined RCTQ and found a thousand other souls that spoke to mine not just through a shared medium, but through those same thoughts and feelings and desires that motivate each one of us to answer the question, "Why do you quilt?"

or colors that speak to a warm and peaceful, pretty place in my soul that reminds me of someone I love or care about. Fabrics with bright colors that make me think and/or feel a warm, happy, sunny day or moment. Designs that touch me in a way that a sunset or sunrise or a natural beauty touch me. That's what gets to me first.

Then the cutting and putting together. It is a small victory for me each time I finish one block. It helps motivate me even in other aspects of my life, to have this one small victory and know, that if I can do another one, they will all add up to something even bigger, even better, even prettier and even more moving and special.

I love puzzles, I love figuring out how things go together and then seeing the BIG picture when all the little pieces have come together. Again, it is a small victory that doesn't require a huge amount of stress or effort.

Then as it begins to come together, and I see the accomplishment, I start to see the big picture and know that this particular project, is a work of art, a work of love, a work of memories and thoughts and feelings and it will be a gift of all those things, to someone in my life that generates those warm thoughts and feelings.

Or maybe, it will be a cumulative work of my own therapy, my own needs and desires and thoughts that have been worked through in the process, my own little victories and I will keep it and hold it and fondle it and remember each moment of success, each moment of joy when I found the perfect fabric, figured out the pattern, accomplished the right seam to create the right block. It will be one for my own home or family and some day, I will be able to put into words all the heart, soul, and mental work that this particular quilt achieved for me.

I love the creation of it, I love the process, I love the "gift" it means to the person I am creating it for and I love the gift of accomplishment, creativity and therapy that quilting is to myself.

Thank you for the wonderful, thought provoking question.

Hugs, Tina

Believe me, I have to. It's an addiction. Lots of people around here might admit to the same. However, I've always sewn something (also knit and cross stitch), so it would feel odd not to sew. But patchwork and quilting satisfy every creative part of me. Roberta in D

"Reilly" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@craftbanter.com...

Like many others here, I quilt as therapy, as well as getting an immense amount of pleasure from it. I've always sewn (though I don't do clothes or other things than quilts these days), but somehow this is so much more satisfying than sewing, cross stitch, etc., ever were for me, and I've been quilting for over 20 years now. No offense meant to those who do enjoy those things -- it's just a personal preference. I love quilting and try to do something quilty every day, whether it's playing around with Quilt Pro or EQ5 or actually stitching something. It's much more than a hobby at this point. :)

I'm not very creative, but I love doing something with my hands. I have loved doing crafty things ever since I can remember. Starting with general easy to do crafts in school and girl scouts, etc. and moving on to my mother trying to teaching me crochet and knitting with no luck, then she tried cross stitch and I've done that ever since. When she got into quilting she started working on getting me into it. I was interested, but didn't have the time or money to get started. She helped with the money aspect by buying my some start up tools and loaning me her machine. Since then I've been quilting too. I've also learned to crochet during that same time. For some reason I just have to have a project (or two or three dozen) going no matter what the crafting type. I like creating things for myself and for others. My hobbies also give me something to do while watching TV, sitting in waiting rooms etc. that is productive.

I have also found out that my DH likes to do his hobbies to stop thinking. I like to do my hobbies because something they make me think, only then I'm concentrating on figuring out my project instructions, cutting pieces, counting stitches, etc. not things like what I need at the grocery store, what time was that dr. apt, is the vet apt this week or next, did DS remember his library book, what we are going to have for dinner or any of the other 20 million things that I think during the course of a normal day.

So that is why I do my many hobbies, which one I happen to work at any given time depends on my mood or occasionally if I have a deadline on a project for a gift.

Because I enjoy it. I've sewn since I was a child. I've done all sorts of other needlework and crafts, but I like quilting best. I think it's because I can take a pattern and make it my own, either by my choice of colors and fabrics, or by adapting it in some way to suit what I want to do. I also enjoy hand quilting, because the repetitiveness of it is relaxing and "brainless".

Julia > Hi! I?m new to this forum. I started quilting for the first time last

I'm not so sure I can explain it.

Quilting, and the entire process that surrounds the making of a quilt (no matter the size) is a source of healing for me. It feeds my soul. It soothes me when the world outside my sewing room door is carrying on in the normal insane manner it seems to do. It challenges me to try my best, to try something new, to step outside my comfort zone when I feel up to the challenge. And on those days when repetition and familiarity of what I have already done/already feel comfortable with prevails, it welcomes me like an old friend. It helps me give voice to that deep seated part of me, where my self/Self lives, where Spirit sings. It lets me see color in a whole new way.

When a piece is done, I step back and can recall the thoughts, the feelings, the conversations, the decisions to place this "here" rather than "there". And I am wondrous, asking "did I do that?"

Ginger in CA

Reilly wrote:

Hmmm. Well it started as something to do while DH worked on restoring an old car. Then my ma got involved and enhanced my stash some and totally enhanced her own (about triple my size) and kept me going with second hand magazines. Then the creative urges struck. Then DH wanted a quilt. It's fun, it's relaxing, it keeps me warm in winter.....

Amen.

I quilt because I can't paint pictures. God gave me so much appreciation for art and very little artistic talent. I'm a pretty good craftsman, but I'm not an artist. If I could draw and paint, I would be doing that all the time.

That said, I really love fabric, so that might very well have been my medium. As it is, I must have direction in my art. A pattern, printed fabrics and detailed instructions and I can do ok. I can copy someone else's work. An artist can look at a piece of fabric (just like a solid piece of marble or a blank canvas) and see a finished project from the vision in her head. I don't have that "vision" gene.

Cindy

On Thu, 9 Nov 2006 11:27:57 -0600, Reilly wrote (in article ):

Funny, Someone just asked this at our last guild meeting. I usually say stuff like "it's a creative outlet, etc." But the real reason: Sanity.

Maureen