So. You started out to make the best quilt EVER. It was going to be a Masterpiece, a triumph of skill and creativity, one that would make the editors of the best quilting magazines weep into their mocha java lattes in envy, but then reality set in. Your mother-in-law came to visit for three weeks, the cat got sick, the kids used your favorite fabrics to redecorate the treehouse, and your sewing machine started making funny noises and developed a tic. Consequently, your quilt won’t quite lie flat in the middle, some of the points don’t quite meet, and the chocolate bar you consoled yourself with left an odd little stain in the bottom right hand corner. Besides that, the border has a ripple, you cut a little triangular hole in the back when you were clipping some threads, and you have this funny feeling that that wonderful turkey red print is going to run, even though you tested it first. These are the times that try a quilter’s soul.
When this sort of thing happens, remember what Mother Theresa said to the Assembly of the United Nations. She said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love,” and she changed the shape of the world. People started thinking about small things they could actually do that would bring massive change to the world as we know it; and they did. They changed the world. In our world, where we are just small things, nothing you or I can do or say is going to end world hunger, bring peace to nations, fix the ozone layer or cure cancer; and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to make the Olympic diving team, either; but I can make quilts, and so can you. My quilts, and yours, may never make the cover of a national magazine, they may not always win the first prize ribbon, but at least they’re done, they’re out there, circulating and doing the world and some of its people some good. When we make quilts, we accomplish what the great majority of people will never even try to do, and if the quilts we make don’t work out quite like our visions of them, IT JUST DOESN’T MATTER! We “did the best we could with what we had,” just like our mothers and grandmothers did, trying to keep their children warm and add beauty to their lives. Unfortunately, many people think that that’s still the only thing quilters do - make nine patches from cut up feed sacks.
The women in my family have been quilters for generations and I have a deep and abiding love for the art and craft of quilting; but I am not blind to the fact that most people regard quilting as a hobby, a harmless, sedentary occupation that grandmothers do because they have far too much time on their hands. When you say you are a quilter, people expect you to be 65, gray-haired, rather plump, wearing orthopedic shoes and a hairnet, and they expect all of your quilts to look just like Grandma’s. Most people don’t see a lot of sense in cutting up fabric in little pieces just to sew them together again, and think that people who think that this is fun are not quite right in the head.
I am all for people who love quilts and make them in spite of the skewed world vision of our art, and persevere in the face of adversity. When you get a little down and discouraged, remember this essay and know that we’ve all been there, done that, got a T-shirt. We’ve all had running colors destroy a finished work, we’ve all cut holes in a finished quilt top, we’ve all had the sewing machine jam up just when we needed it most, and we’ve all made the jacket sleeves two inches too short; but we’re still sewing, we’re still quilting. The important thing to keep in mind is why we persist, why we continue to challenge ourselves with this often frustrating art form.
I make quilts to keep my children warm and to create the Art that keeps me whole. Sometimes I make a quilt for a contest, or as a commission piece, but mostly when I make a quilt it’s because I have to. Once I get a vision of a quilt in my head, it haunts me until I make it real; I can’t NOT make it. It’s all connected for me in quilting - the beauty of the fabric, the strength of the tradition, the challenge of making and doing, learning and trying, all caught up in the attempt to make Art that moves and stretches, challenges and changes.
I make quilts because I believe they are important, in and of themselves, and I don’t let ANYBODY tell me they’re not. So, WORK! DO! FINISH IT! Make quilts for your show and make the effort to display your work in other shows. Make baby gifts and wearable art, make dolls and crazy quilts, take classes and teach others, spread the word and cover your little piece of the world with color, grace and beauty. You never know when the quilt YOU made will touch someone, bring someone hope, or just say something to them that no one has ever said before in quite the same way. Making a quilt is just the beginning - it’s when you share it with others that you really know what it means.
If you make your quilt with love, if your quilt helps someone through a rough patch, if you learn something new from it, if it keeps someone you love warm - then you have done something, added something to the world that wasn’t there before. Your work, even if it isn’t perfect, can touch people in ways you cannot fathom, bringing comfort and remembrance and inspiration. Quilters are constantly “making small things with great love.” It’s good to know that so many people are out in the world, seeing visions and bringing them as close to reality as they possibly can; it’s good to know that lots of people care enough about the world to make it a quilt.
May my essays inspire you to do just that. The world needs us. We are the quilt makers. We are the piecers of dreams.
When this sort of thing happens, remember what Mother Theresa said to the Assembly of the United Nations. She said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love,” and she changed the shape of the world. People started thinking about small things they could actually do that would bring massive change to the world as we know it; and they did. They changed the world. In our world, where we are just small things, nothing you or I can do or say is going to end world hunger, bring peace to nations, fix the ozone layer or cure cancer; and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to make the Olympic diving team, either; but I can make quilts, and so can you. My quilts, and yours, may never make the cover of a national magazine, they may not always win the first prize ribbon, but at least they’re done, they’re out there, circulating and doing the world and some of its people some good. When we make quilts, we accomplish what the great majority of people will never even try to do, and if the quilts we make don’t work out quite like our visions of them, IT JUST DOESN’T MATTER! We “did the best we could with what we had,” just like our mothers and grandmothers did, trying to keep their children warm and add beauty to their lives. Unfortunately, many people think that that’s still the only thing quilters do - make nine patches from cut up feed sacks.
The women in my family have been quilters for generations and I have a deep and abiding love for the art and craft of quilting; but I am not blind to the fact that most people regard quilting as a hobby, a harmless, sedentary occupation that grandmothers do because they have far too much time on their hands. When you say you are a quilter, people expect you to be 65, gray-haired, rather plump, wearing orthopedic shoes and a hairnet, and they expect all of your quilts to look just like Grandma’s. Most people don’t see a lot of sense in cutting up fabric in little pieces just to sew them together again, and think that people who think that this is fun are not quite right in the head.
I am all for people who love quilts and make them in spite of the skewed world vision of our art, and persevere in the face of adversity. When you get a little down and discouraged, remember this essay and know that we’ve all been there, done that, got a T-shirt. We’ve all had running colors destroy a finished work, we’ve all cut holes in a finished quilt top, we’ve all had the sewing machine jam up just when we needed it most, and we’ve all made the jacket sleeves two inches too short; but we’re still sewing, we’re still quilting. The important thing to keep in mind is why we persist, why we continue to challenge ourselves with this often frustrating art form.
I make quilts to keep my children warm and to create the Art that keeps me whole. Sometimes I make a quilt for a contest, or as a commission piece, but mostly when I make a quilt it’s because I have to. Once I get a vision of a quilt in my head, it haunts me until I make it real; I can’t NOT make it. It’s all connected for me in quilting - the beauty of the fabric, the strength of the tradition, the challenge of making and doing, learning and trying, all caught up in the attempt to make Art that moves and stretches, challenges and changes.
I make quilts because I believe they are important, in and of themselves, and I don’t let ANYBODY tell me they’re not. So, WORK! DO! FINISH IT! Make quilts for your show and make the effort to display your work in other shows. Make baby gifts and wearable art, make dolls and crazy quilts, take classes and teach others, spread the word and cover your little piece of the world with color, grace and beauty. You never know when the quilt YOU made will touch someone, bring someone hope, or just say something to them that no one has ever said before in quite the same way. Making a quilt is just the beginning - it’s when you share it with others that you really know what it means.
If you make your quilt with love, if your quilt helps someone through a rough patch, if you learn something new from it, if it keeps someone you love warm - then you have done something, added something to the world that wasn’t there before. Your work, even if it isn’t perfect, can touch people in ways you cannot fathom, bringing comfort and remembrance and inspiration. Quilters are constantly “making small things with great love.” It’s good to know that so many people are out in the world, seeing visions and bringing them as close to reality as they possibly can; it’s good to know that lots of people care enough about the world to make it a quilt.
May my essays inspire you to do just that. The world needs us. We are the quilt makers. We are the piecers of dreams.