Thread: Quilt Guards

I've been to several shows lately, most were modern quilt guild shows, that don't hang quilts back to back. They hang them singly so you can see both sides without harm...or help. It's very effective and the backs were all beautifully planned and executed.

Shortly after the kids started playing hide and seek in among our quilts we went to the organizers and said we would shut down unless they moved the kids. They did but WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???

They probably thought that if all those 'old' ladies didn't have anything better to to than look at 'blankets', they would love to watch someone else's brats for a while. I wonder if the parents realized that their children would not be properly supervised when they left them at the day care area.

I too like to see the backing of a quilt and love the paper idea. I was thrilled to see my non quilting friend enjoying a quilt show with me recently and using her gloves if she wanted to touch. But then she is a scrapbooker which I have always said is quilting with paper.

I found a great way to unofficially enforce the DO NOT TOUCH rule at quilt shows: I bring my own white gloves. As I wander the quilt show, if I see someone touching a quilt, I go up to them and ask if I can turn the quilt for them. They assume I'm a White Glove lady, but I very gently make a point of telling them that no, I just know that it's against the rules to touch the quilts, so I bring my own.

You can buy white gloves at your local pharmacy for $2-$4.

when my son, now 25 was little, he had his own white gloves to wear when we went to quilt shows.
everyone got a kick out of him, but he loved to touch fabrics, so I had to do it.
It taught him to respect others work also.

I do NOT touch quilts on exhibition for all the above reasons but I would like to. Quilting is not just a visual art form it is a visual and tactile experience, why else do we enjoy wrapping ourselves? In addition to esthetics, we prefer to work with natural fabrics because they are pleasing to the touch. Worn jeans might be a fashion statement but my old indigo dyed cotton jeans, stretched in all the bulgy places, just feel good. Some of us are primarily visual persons, others auditory, and some very touch-oriented, all three of course to some degree. That's why teachers don't depend on one mode of communication if they are to be effective because learning strengths vary.

Shows that are held in tight quarters are a danger to the exhibits and even more spacious displays need chickenwire to keep the pecking in check. I bet some fabric stashers are in love with color, prints and motion--just look at their rainbow displays of organizing and storage. I too love color and pattern but my fabrics are sorted by kind--upcycled shirting, jeans strips, crispy batik, flannel, etc. which I pet, stroke and handle.