I can sometimes be my own worst enemy. My alarm went off this morning, and I felt tired, but I jumped out of bed. I came downstairs and sat at the computer to write the blog. Good grief—2:00!!! Oh shoot—when we were in Hawaii, I had to set an alarm for 2 AM so we could get up in time to see the sunrise on Haleakala!
How many weeks ago was that? And the alarm was still on my phone for Wednesday morning? Let's say the alarm is gone now! And I went back to bed and to sleep!
Yesterday was a long but fun day as I got to be in front of people and share my samples and knowledge with two different groups! I was so used to being on Zoom that I almost lost the ability to remember how to pack a suitcase! Hello to everyone who was there. I met people I knew from Zoom calls!
I struggled a bit to get the projector connected, but I wasn't using my projector, and the darn things are all slightly different. Anyway, we got things working, and all was good!
I had two events, and there was a two-hour gap between them. Although the store wasn't far away, it was a long day for me, the girls, and the boy. Everyone, while very happy to see me, was just fine. They were hungry and needed to pee!
I've read a couple of disturbing books lately. These were quilt books, and yes, they were disturbing. Why? Because of the author's attitude—I may have mentioned that before. The author mentioned that she was a modern quilter and was NOT going to be one of those who learned how to quilt at the hand of her mother or grandmother; she was branching out on her own to learn.
She was a younger quilter than I am. Hey, I did NOT learn to quilt from my mother or grandmothers! While they dabbled a little bit in quilting, none of them were quilters.
There has been this vibe in the modern quilt world that they invented modern quilting. Yes, ageism is a thing in the quilt world.
So, I was extremely happy to see this article in the latest issue of Quilting Arts, Spring 2024, Issue 121.
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| The current issue of Quilting Arts |
The article is very interesting, and let's face it—what Frances is saying is NOT new. The quilters in the know—the ones who have been around for a while and are OPEN to the YOUNG HISTORY of quilting and the OLDER HISTORY—know that what's happening in the MODERN QUILT WORLD is OLD NEWS!!! What the modern quilters are doing is perhaps reviving life into the quilt world, but they are merely regurgitating old ideas. And many of the founders of the modern movement are older! And many of those founders came from the YOUNG HISTORY side of quilting.
Words on quilts? Bold colors? Solid fabrics? No borders? Asymmetrical designs? None of that is new, and there are many amazing examples to back it up!
I think younger, modern quilters wanted to think what they were doing was innovative, new, daring, and edgy. However, I also think they were living in an isolated world. Those quilters need to read that article! It is very enlightening.
If you really study the "modern" quilts being released today, many of them are NOT modern. They follow traditional styles but use "modern" fabrics. It's a whole complicated world! The line between contemporary and modern is very thin!
Now, here's something to credit those modern quilters with. We have been on a tear with technology, and how can we marry all the new technology in the quilting/sewing/crafting world? That's me—I don't care so much about the end product, but how can I use the available technology to learn something new and still make quilts?
Many modern quilters are quite happy with a small sewing machine with basic stitches. Heck, some of them are even going back to hand quilting, which is sometimes referred to as slow stitch or big stitch. Machine embroidery? How dare! They are happy to do hand embroidery!
So, the article that I wanted to write on the ageism and "smug" feeling among modern quilters? Well, I didn't want to write it—Frances beat me to it!
The above is a bit convoluted as I haven't done much "research," and it's just ideas that popped into my head at 4:30 in the morning when I had no other topic to write about! I would still like to lay my thoughts out more logically to help me understand the "modern" world!
But here's another example that happened to me in person. I won't mention any names, but when I worked in the fabric industry a few years ago, a very senior person in a fabric company alluded to quilters as NON-techie people who wouldn't understand complicated processes. I do NOT remember the context of that statement, but that person more or less said that the quilters of the world were not smart enough to complete some technology thing that was being discussed.
WAIT a minute—the "older" quilters are way more technologically advanced than the younger modern quilters. YES -- we know how to post on social media, we know how to make and post videos, we can set up technology to do Facebook Lives, and we learn how to use sophisticated software packages for digital cutting and machine embroidery—and we know how to marry them together!
So, do not put an egg on your face and think the little old quilters are "dumb." We may not look as cute and pretty as the young ones, but we are SMART, and we're not afraid to show it!
On that note, I'm off to the gym. I won't have time for a full spin class as I have to drive DH to the train. I will say that our one-car arrangement is working out just fine! I drop him off at the train a couple of days a week - he insists even though there are days when I don't need the car, which is most days. But today, I'm back at Sew Productive, and we're making MONSTERS today on the embroidery machine! So I'll get on a bike by myself and then won't feel guilty as I sneak out a bit earlier than if I stayed for the entire class.
If you've never been to Sew Productive, you should go. They are in Acton and a full Husqvarna Viking dealer with all the machines on display, so you can give them a try. They have nice selections of machine embroidery thread and notions, and it's also a quilt store, so they have loads of fabric. I shall be making a few purchases today!
Have a super day!
Ciao!!!!
I scanned that article in quilting Arts on Libby a couple of weeks ago but just went back to read it completely. VERY good article. I remember also going to the exhibit of Gees Bend quilt in Houston. I was mesmerized by the work, the story and felt at that time that this exhibit would have a wide influence and I was so pleased that I saw the quilts and the video presentations in Houston.
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