Every Quilt Doesn't Have to be a Masterpiece
#131
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It seems to me that if you enjoy what you are doing, the love will show through on your completed project, no matter what that project is.
I hope you continue to make beautiful quilts and enjoy the process.
I hope you continue to make beautiful quilts and enjoy the process.
#132
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I think you have stated very well that quilting can encompass everything we want it to be and everything we don't. I didn't start quilting originally because I saw it as being such a perfectionist pursuit for it to work and being inclined to perfectionism myself, I felt I lacked the skills to pull it off. With the persistent encouaragement of a few friends I gave it a whirl and it has taken a few years for me to overcome my perfectionist approach because I do lack some skill to pull that off. I admire those who can and celebrate that I quilt because I love the adventure with colours in a tactile medium. I love the thoughts that go into a quilt and that there are so many techniques to suit everyone. It has challenged a weakness I had in myself and I feel more liberated and more 'artistic' than every before. No quilt police except in my head! I love the sentiment that quilts bring to myself and many others. Great postings here to confirm that too.
#133
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: NYS Finger Lakes Region
Posts: 1,178
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At 73 I am still learning. I love to do the puzzles called "Crypt-to-quotes" and one this week was Kurt Vonnegut's quote, "TO PRACTICE ANY ART, NO MATTER HOW WELL OR BADLY,IS A WAY TO MAKE YOUR SOUL GROW SO DO IT!" It so fits!
#135
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PumpkinPatchQuilter, it's great to read this. I'm twice your age and still struggle with the idea that perfection is a thing to be grasped. After the first year I entered something in our guild quilt show, I vowed not to do it again. Too many self-appointed quilt police!!! And too few with the heart of a teacher. So I don't show my quilts. I give them to people who will enjoy them. And I teach others who are intimidated by those expect perfection.
#136
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 282
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Originally Posted by pumpkinpatchquilter
This is the lesson I am slowly learning. I have been quilting for 6 years, and as a new quilter I surrounded myself with some of THE most knowledgeable, and intimidating quilters in the area. I was 24 years old, green and new to the quilting world when I began. As I progressed I felt like I had to do BIGGER, BETTER, and GREATER to be taken even a little bit seriously by these women who were much older than me and knew what seemed to be SO very much more than me about quilting. If I wasn't getting snubbed for my age I was getting snubbed for my skill level. I am an artist at heart, all I wanted for years when I was young was to go to art school. That unfortunately never happened for me as I started a family early, and many of you know just how hard it is to go back to school with small children. But it was a blessing, truly, because my family is my world, and making a quilt for my daughter was what brought me to find my life's passion in quilting. All of this combined with a really awful experience with a quilt shop owner who hired me to teach a class but then treated me so rudely as if I didn't know a darn thing I was talking about has left me with this need to prove myself artistically and I feel like for the past several years I've been on this personal MISSION to prove to anybody and EVERYBODY that I am capapble, I am skilled, and gosh darnit, I'm artistic!!!
You know what? I refuse to live with that insecurity any longer, I know who I am and what I can do. Here I am. I am 30 years old, I'm a Mother first and foremost, second a wife, and third I'm a dedicated quilter. I have finally learned that FOR ME, every quilt doesn't need to be a masterpiece. Every quilt that I create does not have to knock everybody's socks off, and it doesn't have to encase all the techniques I have learned in the past 6 years to PROVE that I am a capable quilter. That is not to say I don't do the best I can with every quilt, but a corner that doesn't match perfectly doesn't always need to be ripped and resewn. Every project doesn't need to be the hardest and most complicated project I've ever done. I adore challenging projects but a simple nine patch quilt can be just as satisfying to complete as the most complicated paper pieced mariners compass.
Thanks for the vent. Just thought I'd share that little revelation, because I know I'm not the only one who feels like they need to prove themselves to the local quilting veterans. ;)
You know what? I refuse to live with that insecurity any longer, I know who I am and what I can do. Here I am. I am 30 years old, I'm a Mother first and foremost, second a wife, and third I'm a dedicated quilter. I have finally learned that FOR ME, every quilt doesn't need to be a masterpiece. Every quilt that I create does not have to knock everybody's socks off, and it doesn't have to encase all the techniques I have learned in the past 6 years to PROVE that I am a capable quilter. That is not to say I don't do the best I can with every quilt, but a corner that doesn't match perfectly doesn't always need to be ripped and resewn. Every project doesn't need to be the hardest and most complicated project I've ever done. I adore challenging projects but a simple nine patch quilt can be just as satisfying to complete as the most complicated paper pieced mariners compass.
Thanks for the vent. Just thought I'd share that little revelation, because I know I'm not the only one who feels like they need to prove themselves to the local quilting veterans. ;)
40 years, and I certainly don't "know it all" , and all things are
not perfect. Doesn't keep the oohs and aahs from coming tho at
'show and tell'. You are ahead of most of us if you have an
artistic eye. I have noticed the first ones to offer criticizem, and
tell you what you should have done are the ones that never
do anything... Keep quilting, I'm sure you are doing fine.
#137
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,135
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I have to admit that I would like my quilts to look like some of the ones that I see on here and other places, but I know I don't need them to look like those quilts to be happy with the ones that I make, because each quilt I make shows some sort of improvement and those quilts make the people I make them for happy...what more can I ask???
#138
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I love lots of different things. I like the weather crisp in the fall and warm in the spring. I admire the lilies, tulips, daffodils, lilacs, sunflowers, and the mums. Sometimes I like a tuna sandwich and sometimes I want a slice of pizza.
We don't need to be one thing or another, or settle for one style or another. Sometimes I like a simple quilt pattern and sometimes I want a challenge. Sometimes I use 4 fabrics in a quilt, and other quilts have hundreds of fabrics.
Variety is the spice of life for me. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
We don't need to be one thing or another, or settle for one style or another. Sometimes I like a simple quilt pattern and sometimes I want a challenge. Sometimes I use 4 fabrics in a quilt, and other quilts have hundreds of fabrics.
Variety is the spice of life for me. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
#139
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Camden, Arkansas
Posts: 228
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Thank you for saying what I have been feeling along!..:) Im a new beginner also and thought I had to quilt as all those snobby quilting groups thought I should when instead I needed to just learn from trial and error and do what was best for me. I have more confidence since coming to the board and the folks Ive met and talked with. There are no snobs here. Just good friends and good advice.
#140
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AMEN! I haven't had my quilts criticized but I feel I have to keep making more challenging quilts with every quilt. I decided why do I need to put this pressure on myself. I can make whatever I want. I totally agree with your rant. Thanks for saying it for us.
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