I am rather new to Quilting Board and have found most of my postings to be ignored, i.e., not commented on. I have sent several personal messages and got wonderful, quick replies. I love the QB and have kept my mouth mostly shut and learned a lot. But this subject is near and dear to my heart. I am a fulltime RVer, 62 years old, who learned to quilt in a campground recreation room several years ago. I am told the quilts I have made are beautiful and even sold one for $300, which totally blew my mind. We had a JoAnn's closeby. I had never sewn ANYTHING prior to the quilting and was amazed at the beauty and quality of fabrics from JoAnn's. Then, I got to go to a real quilt shop and was just in awe...still am, usually, when in a quilt shop. I am also amazed at the differences from one quilt shop to another! And, of course, we also bought fabric from the local WalMart. Now, I am on a very low, fixed income which prevents me from most activities. Making a quilt, even with WalMart fabric, is quite an expense for me. What I was taught was to look at the fabric, feel it, and choose good fabric...wherever I might be. I, personally, think that is the key. I do join a few swaps on another board, but usually go to a quilt shop for fabrics (fqs) I send in, if I possibly can. If I make blocks to swap, I use a combination from my stash (a lot of that was gifted to me by other quilters when I first started quilting). When I join a swap, I always wonder if what I send in will be good enough. I wonder if my blocks will be good enough. (I often include a note saying if they don't think my entry is of good enough quality to either keep it, toss it, or return it...they never have.) Judging by what I have gotten back, my blocks are as good as most I receive. My fabric is, too.
Having said all that, I might also add that I know exactly what Patrice was saying and was so appreciative of someone else saying it! Moving around a lot, I try to find local groups to quilt with. One thing I have found over and over are the quilters who are authorities in their own minds. For instance, I walked in the local Sr. Center a month or so ago to check out their quilt group. Three ladies were there...one was labeling pictures in photo albums, one was sewing buttons on an old shirt, and one was actually handling quilts (not sure what she was actually doing!). They welcomed me and wanted me to start coming to join them. And the only one handling quilts let me know in no uncertain terms that she would teach me how to quilt correctly. Now, she had not seen any of my work, my fabric, or my tools, yet she assumed I needed her to teach me. Don't get me wrong. I learn from every quilter I meet. Mostly from the ones who are not trying to teach me anything, but are just doing a wonderful job on things they are doing their way. Or sometimes from the ones who are doing a really poor job on something, I learn what not to do. And I have even had some thank me for what they learned from me!
There are all qualities of fabric, tools, quilts, and quilters. But I find you have to pick and choose among all of those.
Thanks for listening. I hope I haven't talked too much or offended anyone. I find the folks on this board to be wonderful, friendly, and helpful and I appreciate every one of you. Right now, I am not getting to do much sewing or anything else and it's wonderful watching you folks and getting great ideas from you.
Happy Holidays to all with warm, quilty hugs!