To me quilting is a lot like coloring, just like the person in the previous post...there is the design and then filling in the design. Piecing makes the lines, whatever the style, technique or inspiration and the quilting, longarm or hand effort, is designed and executed to highlight the design and artistically marry the top, filling and backing and create a beautiful whole. The problem is always balance and, like life in general, sometimes things get a bit wonky. Critics seem to always feel that that means you have to find something negative. I used to be a writer and one critic bashed his preview copy over the layout and never mentioned the content and it was mostly a book about content and directions...talk about missing the point. I get constructive criticism, but always finding something wrong because that is your calling...maybe you need to chill a bit?
The same thing holds true in quilting. Sometimes less is better, but it seems as though a lot of “ quilting technicians” feel that if there is a space it needs to be “filled” and suddenly a quilt becomes a battlefield between the two camps...maker v quilter. When I look at a quilt or anything that combines various elements to create a whole, I feel it should be harmonious and that does not preclude its being bold, even bodacious and incredibly complex, but when the “coloring” between the lines overpowers the initial design...then maybe this should have been a plain cloth quilt. I am in awe of what people are able to create by hand in stitching and dazzled by what these new longarm machines and their operator’s can produce, but when the background overpowers the foreground...you need to find another person to better interpret your vision.