Covered Porches and Wooden Screen Doors

The journey has to have a starting point.

I went to a quilt show today. The quilts were beautiful. There was a time when I thought machine quilting was a cheat technique to crank out quilts. I’ve eaten the words several times—over and over again. Machine quilting and truly brought another art form to quilting.

There wasn’t and ugly quilt there. OK—is there ever really an ugly quilt? I don’t think any quilt made with honest effort and a good heart can be considered ‘ugly’. Seams may not be perfect, color schemes may be less appreciated, the entire pattern may not be an obvious choice, but any quilt made with a good heart in effort, made to keep someone else warm stands with beauty alone. It’s not up to the quilt to be appreciated, but the person that holds onto it to appreciate the quilt.

I went alone. My daughter says “Mom—how sad”. No way… It was great therapy---No one to rush me, no one to be critical of other quilters or their work. It was a chance to get lost in something without worrying if someone else is entertained. Sure, I chatted with others admiring the same work-- some I knew, some I didn’t. The great thing about quilts is your grandmother’s rule “Do Not Talk to Strangers“doesn’t apply. When you are admiring the same quilt…. it automatically gives you a small bond with another person looking at the same quilt.

I made no purchases—other than the raffle tickets for the quilt the guild was raffling (that I really feel deep in my heart I quite deserve to win). It is part of that resolution to use up fabric I have.

But I did leave feeling inspired. I felt contented with my style of quilting. And I left feeling glad that I participate in a craft that I heard others make comments like, “I just wish I could buy a quilt like that because I would never even attempt such a feat….”

God bless the quilt makers and their quilts….