Why do you quilt? Ahh, the questions that can come from a five year old. Yet, I must admit this one has me pondering. Why do I quilt? Why does anyone quilt? For that matter, why do writers write, musicians compose and play, or painters paint? It's all about the art, but what motivates us? Several possibilities come to mind--self-expression, to create beauty, to give back to the world, a desire for recognition, to stretch our abilities, to move people emotionally, and for some who are lucky enough to make living with their art, it's a job.
Me? The answer is two-fold. First, I simply like to create something pretty--beautiful I hope, but pretty will do. In my quest to create beauty, the process is just as important as the result. I find that if I've enjoyed making a quilt, then I'm more apt to find the quilt pretty than if I've had problems with the process. To that end, I tend to appreciate my hand-pieced, hand-quilted quilts a tad more than those I've made on the machine. I'm relatively new to machine quilting as opposed to creating by hand, so I'm much more insecure about the machine quilting process. Yet, I do feel driven to stretch myself.
The second motivator is the desire to elicit in others the same happy feeling that being wrapped in a warm, beautifully colored quilt gives me. The quilt pictured above went to that little five year old cousin who asked me why I quilted. After I'd shown her the various blocks that were received from a block exchange, she quietly informed me that purple was her favorite color and that I could make her a quilt with those blocks. Well who could resist that? I must have been a success in making her feel warm and happy with the quilt. Her father informed me that the quilt goes everywhere with her.
So now you know why I quilt, but the title of this article is Why Do You Quilt. I'd like to draw your attention to the poll on the sidebar. So why do you quilt?
Great question! I agree with your answer yet, interesting, I did not check the "move people emotionally" box in the poll. I guess for me that's icing on the cake. Such a pretty, purple-y quilt! Your little cousin is a lucky kiddo. I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't inspired to make quilts one day too!
ReplyDeletecan't help myself - have always needed to EXPRESS MYSELF creatively, and quilting is the craft I settled on as an adult that seems to fulfill that need.
ReplyDeleteI quilt because it calms my soul, gives me focus and brings me and sometimes others joy, smiles and happiness. And it's a way to express myself. My latest realization is how my tastes have changed over the years. Sometimes I've liked very traditional stuff and other times I want to be the weirdest one on the block.
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