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I will take opinions, advice and insights from anyone, mull it all over and use the parts I like for a project. You can add or dismiss any information that comes your way.
It takes time to become self assured about your own creative ability. I would suggest an on line class or LQS class that will challenge you. Also try making a shortlist of three to five things you want to put in a quilt, for example: 1. use only three colors that are contrasting 2. use three different blocks 3. set on point 4. use red cornerstones Now make it work! I saw this tip in a book a while back and it helped me to start designing my own stuff. Don't dismiss any help, advice is just that, use it or don't, but keep the info tucked away for the future!:D peace |
You are creative enough to be making quilts. I think your sister's suggestions were meant in a kind way. Just because she shared her ideas does not mean you have to change from what you were planning. When she makes her quilts they will be her way. Make yours your way. If you like her idea, you can always make another one her way later if you want to.
My sister and I were complete opposites and we both made pretty quilts our way that our family loved. |
Consider the possibility that you may be wrong about yourself. My fifth grade art teacher had me convinced that I was not in any way artistic or creative. Forty years later I designed my first quilt. Who knew?
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Originally Posted by kellen46
(Post 6899216)
Of course you are creative. If you weren't you would be dead. It is your human heritage to be born creative, if you weren't you would not have been able to maneuver the day to day tasks needed to travel down your life's path. Your sister is creative, in her way. You are creative in your way. Comparing your self to her is like Picasso lamenting he wasn't creative like Rembrandt. We need all visions, yours is just as wonderful as anyone else's. Never tear down your own inspiration by comparisons with others. Be what you can only be, uniquely your self, only you can make a quilt in that way even if you follow a pattern or use a kit with fabric provided. If you draw inspiration from a source, don't feel guilty just remember this, All artist borrow, great artists steal. Someone very creative said that, I can't remember who exactly but it is true. We stand on the shoulders of the artists who came before us. Picasso would not have painted as he did if he had not been inspired by the way Rembrandt used light. Now aren't you tired of beating your self up? So stop already.
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dont compare your work to any one you are your own person and you have your own ideas i feel blessed to be able to do what i can and i dont try and compare to anyone else you have to do what works best for you.i would go with your original plan
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Go to some quilt shows, look at some magazines, find Pinterest and scroll through the quilts and then think, "WEll, my ideas are as good or better than these" and then go for it Put those squares you have ready together the way you planned and the item you create will be a hit! froggyintexas
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All of above comments are spot on!!I'm 71 & been there too. Big sister,little sister & had our labels also. I've learned to love the song "Let it go". Just throw up your arms & sing it away! Life is too short-make quilts & Be Happy!!
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I had to grin at this thread--my sis is very artistic and creative. And while she excels at handwork, her machine piecing & quilting is so/sew! I am more of "technician"--which means more exactness in piecing and it sure helps with maintaining my long arm! That being said, I too would like to be more "free" in my design work, so really appreciate the ideas given for resources.
I did buy EQ7 and have 2 future designs saved that are mine and I think pretty creative. I'm also talking to some quilting buddies about starting a group that does exchanges of blocks/quilts--I heard a group present to our Guild on this and it really seemed to have opened up their thinking about their designs--and isn't that what creativity really is? |
As the saying goes..Opinions are like A**holes, everybody has one, but your is yours alone, I am a beginner and have to usually buy kits, my grand daughter then goes through my "kits" & other scraps and comes up with a beautiful quilt that all happen to be left overs from my kits. She doesn't know this & I'll never tell her. She is excellent at matching fabrics where as I am not. Your quilt will be just as wonderful as you planned it to be with or without your sisters opinions. I have cried right along with you with all of your wonderful comments here on this awesome Board, follow your heart and these advices you will do GREAT!
Jeri |
Meaningful and truly thoughtful responses - they grab my heart! Just be true to yourself and go with the flow.
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I am sure that there are areas where you excel and your sister doesn't. Don't question the talents that GOD gave you. Just enjoy the talents that you have and Happy Quilting.
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Yes its Yours and Yours alone... You are the one who chooses what color to start with, what color Thread and the stitches and Fabrics so don't worry about what your Sister Thinks... I have a Younger Sister who tries to steer me too..
Can't wait to see pictures of your finished project... Hugs... |
The fact that you make things is creative. Perhaps your color ideas are still developing. I have been to classes where I like other peoples color schemes better, but mine are good too. Diane C
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My husband is always wanting to make changes in my quilts when they are on the design board. some times I allow it other times I just say this is my quilt so it will stay the way I'm doing it. Be brave do it the way you want, it's your quilt.
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Was it your sister's intent to coax you into doing it her way, or was it merely an idea? Thoughts from others can be good, but you have no obligation to take her suggestions. You might be selling yourself short and underestimating your creativity. Or you may be like me.....I love to quilt, but I don't have a creative bone in my body and I can't come up with original ideas at all, so I just look for pictures/patterns and follow them and just accept that I'm not creative, but that doesn't need to prevent me from enjoying quilting.
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Relax. You may just be trying too hard. You didn't say there was a time frame you had to work around. You can be honest and tell your sister you really love her idea and maybe you'll try it another time but you think you'd like to try this one on your own. Look around in nature while you're walking......let your mind wander...think about what makes you happy... I've found you just can't force an idea. But you WILL get one and when you get do, just jump in with both feet and don't doubt yourself. If you add something and you don't like it you can frog stitch like the rest of us....you know...rip it, rip it, rip it. LOL Happy sewing!
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Having a big flannel design wall triplezippled my creativity. I can't vision anything in my mind but on the working wall I can switch blocks and sashes and borders around all day long and get great options.. Maybe options are just a different form of creativity.
not liking your sisters suggestions is a color of a different kind. |
Originally Posted by KalamaQuilts
(Post 6900757)
Having a big flannel design wall triplezippled my creativity. I can't vision anything in my mind but on the working wall I can switch blocks and sashes and borders around all day long and get great options.. Maybe options are just a different form of creativity.
not liking your sisters suggestions is a color of a different kind. Or recreate them if one has "helpers" that decide to rearrange things ! |
I'm not an original creative type person. But I am really good at changing someone else's ideas and making my own whatever (quilt, food recipe, etc). I especially love string quilts and love to mix really bright colors that no one else would even consider. It's just me. I love the fact that string quilts don't take a lot of time cutting, measuring, whatever - I just cut foundations from an old phone book and start sewing. My daughter, on the other hand, is a match-ie/match-ie type person and this kind of sewing is not for her. Different strokes for different folks.
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i have been thinking about this thread for several days, it's a great conversation that sparks the depths of many quilters!
Unlike others, I think you should go with your sister's idea, BUT, in a different way.... It was obvious to me that you liked "the spin" your sister suggested, because you said, " She immediately made a suggestion that would make the whole thing much more exciting." Here is my suggestion...Perhaps you might think of it this way, instead. Take her "spin" and change it, or add to it. For example, if she suggested adding 4 patch blocks, try coming up with your own "spin", such as HST, etc. In this way, you will realize you ARE being creative, and will come full circle. Getting the positive results from a "spin", but the spin will be your own! Just an idea. I usually try to learn from other ideas or suggestions, because I really do want to learn to be more "creative", too. "Creativity" doesn't come naturally for me, either. I really do think it's a process...I think creativity is born from layers of ideas, not just one. Thank you for starting this very interesting thread. |
I read your post and I want to say that sometimes it takes a lot of switching the fabrics around and adding and subtracting to get the perfect design that YOU like. If you like it that is all that matters. There is no right or wrong. If you think her design is better ask yourself why. Then rearrange your design till you get one that YOU love. Sometimes it can take me a month to get it "just right". Be patient with yourself and try this. You will know when the right design is right because it will thrill you and it is YOURS. Then you won't have to ask anyone their opinion because you have a design that YOU love and it is made by YOU....Just my thoughts.
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Originally Posted by ghostrider
(Post 6898466)
Everyone is creative, let's get that straight first. For some it just comes easier than it does for others. One trick is to relax and let it flow, no stress, no pressure. Find a comfortable seat, enjoy a relaxing beverage, maybe a piece of chocolate (or two), jot down all your ideas...good, bad, and otherwise...and don't rate them in any way as you write/sketch. Any one of them can trigger a new thought and send you off to a whole new idea that turns out stunningly.
There are millions of ways to put fabrics together into a quilt. Your sister suggested just one of them. That leaves you all the others to play around with until your "Aha!" moment strikes...and it will. I promise. :) |
Sometimes I have balked at using a perfectly good idea just because of where the perfectly good idea came from.
A bit like cutting my nose off to spite my face. Doesn't accomplish much positive. |
If we all had and wanted to use what you are calling that Creative gene, do you really think that there would be books and patterns? To me the creative part comes with choosing fabrics and then where to place them. I think it is creative genius when someone does a really simple pattern and really makes it shine and look way harder just with the use of fabrics and their placement. Heck to lot of people just being able to use a sewing machine is creative genius! Don't take your sisters suggestion so hard, some get really excited when they see beautiful fabric and just start spouting out with things you could do with it!
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Originally Posted by Teeler
(Post 6899166)
I feel your pain. I, too, have no ideas of my own. Friends and family SAY I'm the creative one, yet they are delusional. Like you, I love art...love looking at it, seeing the nuances of the artist's work, and trying to figure out where their mind was as they were creating it. I am frustrated that I really CAN'T come up with ideas of my own.
When I was a kid, I was coloring with my cousin (a very logical, accountant-type). I had my crayons...the whole box...I had my coloring book, and whatever was on the page was colored simply with helter-skelter colors- a bit of blue here, some red there...it made no sense to the picture that was being colored, and every color was outside the lines. My cousin felt it was necessary to tell me how it SHOULD be done...she outlined every section with her crayon, and colored inside the lines with the color that every section SHOULD be...it didn't make me feel bad about my own work, but to this day I remember the incident. I liked MY page. ...BUT... ...there is hope for us: it comes in the form of "inspiration" and not necessarily "this is what I have for a vision and now I'm going to build it." You and I can take the world around us and can be inspired by others' work...by nature...by a stiff spring breeze laden with the scent of freshly thawed earth. I, personally, am inspired by characters such as Anne of Green Gables (Megan Follows), and how she sees the world and all that's in it. There is a line in it when she returns home, grabs a handful of flowers by the picket fence, and presses them to her caretaker's face: "Smell them, Morilla...drink them in!" This one simple line is just so incredibly inspiring to me- taking a simple handful of wild flowers, and finding happiness and the ultimate beauty in everything that makes them unique. This is not to say that I'm full of vim & vigor- quite the contrary. Most days I feel very mediocre at best. But I aspire to be like Anne- to find inspiration in everything, regardless of whether it is a happy occasion, or one that brings feelings of despair, and to be able to take those feelings and express them with other people, or in my hobbies. Ever notice that there are times when you are fabric shopping and certain things catch your eye...or on another day when something that was there before but you just didn't notice it, but because of the mood you're in (today), it speaks to you and you take that 'inspiration' and build on it. This is my point in all this rambling: build on it. Take your sister's suggestions as merely that...suggestion...and if you like the IDEA, run with it. Say to yourself: "Ok, that really is a good idea, but I want to make it my own, so if I were to do something like that, I'd do it THIS way." I don't know what her idea was, but for example...if she suggested sashing, ask yourself what kind of sashing style you like best. Go to pinterest or google other sashing ideas, border ideas, outline ideas...wide lines, thin lines, or a combination of both. Take her "idea," and make it your own. Like I said, I have no fresh ideas of my own, but give me a jumping off point, and I can run with it and come up with something that says "I made this." Just remember that more than likely, people who have "ideas of their own" usually have experienced something you may not have, seen something you may not have, or they, too, could be running with someone ELSE's idea. Everyone is unique, and sees the world differently. How YOU see the world and what makes YOU happy will ultimately reflect in your quilts. Don't be afraid to color outside the lines. I've know ppl that would look for "good stuff" other ppl did and copy and claim it as their own. Does it bother me? sometimes a teen-incey bit for the lying part, but mostly I feel sorry for them. I love Anne of Green Gables and her energy and spirit and love of all wondrous things. Some day's I feel like that...lots of days I don't anymore. (health) Keep a pad and pen in your purse or pocket, bc I have been inspired by fabrics in a store, and then later....pffft! can't remember what the awe inspiring, best thing I'll ever do-idea was. I'll "borrow" to my heart's content when other's don't mind, but I'll also give them credit where it is due. Experiment, color outside the lines and love it BC IT'S YOURS! :thumbup: |
Thanks to everyone for all the wise thoughts and suggestions. I'm away from home this week and using my iPad, which I don't find as easy as my laptop for some tasks, eg copying and pasting text into my replies, so bear with me - there's a lot I'd like to respond to, but it may take me a while.
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I know exactly what you are talking about. I am in the same boat. I am not original. I have to have directions and patterns, even tutorials. However, I've decided that's just me and that's okay. I can still create a quilt. I am doing the cutting, piecing and reverse sewing sometimes. I give birth to the quilt. I take it from the flat paper directions and make it into a work of art that can cover a loved one. Sometimes they are even impressed with my "creation"!
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Originally Posted by Knitette
(Post 6898876)
As far as I can see - you've got two options. One is to use the suggestion your sister made, make the quilt, enjoy it and learn from it for next time. Option two is to put it one one side for a few weeks and look it it again with fresh eyes.
I recently went to a lecture by Kaffe Fassett as I'm a huge fan of his work from my knitting heyday and he has an exhibition here at the moment. I went to a private showing too and was lucky enough to speak to him. Although I didn't go to his workshop, my understanding from a lady who did go, was that really, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Your fabrics must have 'spoken' to you when you bought them and again when you cut them and somehow, you lost that confidence when your sister made a suggestion. If you genuinely feel you like her idea, then go with it - who's to say you might not have thought of it yourself at some point? Personally, I think you should go with your heart. Perhaps try and get a couple of Kaffe Fassett books out of the library to inspire you. Please let us know what you decide and happy quilting! :) I agree with you re my options now. There's a 3rd of course, to put the lot in the bin! But that would be a waste of fabric, though there have been times in the last few days when it's been my favoured option. I'll probably put the project to one side and let things settle for a while, perhaps see if I can take my sister's suggestion and adapt it in some way so that it becomes mine. |
A bit more about the project and my sister's suggestion. I was visualising a quilt made of squares in bight pinks with some oranges and reds, then touches of greens, trying to emulate Kaffe Fassett's approach to colour, while only having a few of his fabrics among those I've acquired for this. I'm still playing with design ideas, but was inclining to 9in blocks, using mainly a basic 9-patch. But I don't want it to have an obvious regular pattern so I've been switching a few of the squares around and was also going to make some 4-patch 3.5in squares to include in the blocks and some 9in 4-patch - ad I say, it was stil very much a work in progress. My sister's simple suggestion was to place small squares in the centre of some of the patches. It brought the whole thing alive, and that's when all my confidence and excitement just drained away. The joy for me had been that at last I was doing something that was my original work, which I've wanted to do for so long. But I didn't have the inspiration to see that such a simple addition would make it so much better.
There's rational about this, I know. After all, I'm basing the quilt on Kaffe Fassett's ideas, so it's hardly truly original! But ideas come so easily to my sister and are so elusive for me. It just brought back feelings of failure and of being untalented and uncreative that dogged me for years. |
A big question has to be - what is creativity, anyway? People tell me I'm creative because I make quilts. But my quilts are mostly other people's patterns. There's creativity in my colour choices, but otherwise it's craft/skill rather than original creativity. If I were to use the quilting cleverly to enhance the design that would be creative - but in fact I'm not a good-enough quilter to do much more than a simple design that will hold the quilt together! Which is fine - I can accept that limitation in my skills and work with it. The creativity I yearn to have is that that looks at something, whether fabric, paper, paint, natural objects - whatever- and sees original possibilities. That can play and produce something new, quirky, reflective; that can use that talent to produce work that expresses something I see, think or want to say, or which echoes or enhances some natural beauty in the world. But for me the ideas are just not there. To have the yearning without the ability to fulfill it is very frustrating.
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Originally Posted by Sandygirl
(Post 6898896)
PS: i don't ask for advice or opinions. That way I don't feel obligated to execute others' advice. IF you expect to take their advice, do so graciously. You asked them for their input. You gave permission, in fact. If it always makes you feel inferior, don't ask. Simple..IMHO. HUGZ.
SANDY |
Do the quilt your way and I'm sure it will be beautiful. Don't compare yourself to others, although that is sometimes easier said than done. I don't usually ask advice, I just do it my way. Post a picture when completed. We're all rooting for you!
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"I yearn to do original, self-expressive work, but the ideas are just not there."
me thinks your ideas are there, they're just hiding! eventually it'll all work out! you'll see! if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen...can't wait to see it! |
Originally Posted by abdconsultant
(Post 6898938)
Surround yourself with other quilters, the best way to create is in a group. You will feed off of each other. In no time you will be able to see the possibilities in the process. it takes work and commitment. Make the quilt like you planned.
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Originally Posted by Mousie
(Post 6898996)
I feel your pain...pinterest!
I don't feel like I don't have any ideas...I have tooo many and can never decide. Pinterest gives me tons more ideas and you would think how's that gonna help? Bc you can make your own pages and mix and match blocks that can make it your own. I hope this helps, bc I am surrounded by ppl with very made up minds while I'm swimming in indecision. It helps me :) |
Originally Posted by Pagzz
(Post 6899044)
Here is a quote I like that might apply. I don't know the context this came from ....
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open… No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” Martha Graham |
One of my English professors gave us some very helpful information when giving us writing assignments:
1) There are very few stories/events/experiences that are "new"in this world. 2) But OUR experiences are "new" to us - and that's what we are to write about. Examples: Giving birth, grandchildren, breaking a bone, losing a friend, having a car accident. There still are firsts "available" - such as landing on Mars, etc. - but most of us won't be doing them. By the way - to the original poster - are you also dealing with depression or bi-polarism? That could also contribute to the crashing from happy to not happy. |
Originally Posted by annesthreads
(Post 6901171)
I wasnt looking for advice and, to be fair to my sister, she wasn't intending to offer any. She expressed an interest in my project so I showed her the squares I'd cut out, we started to play with them, and she immediately saw a way to make the whole thing look much better. My reaction wasn't annoyance with her doing that, so much as a painful realisation that I'm not very good at what I've been trying to do, and I just don't have her creative eye. And then all my pleasure in the project just went, i realised I've been kidding myself, because I just don't have that creative imagination that she does.
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Originally Posted by tessagin
(Post 6899098)
First let me begin my saying I love your avatar. It's beautiful. If it's made by you, it was created by you.
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Originally Posted by Sarabela
(Post 6899103)
. I think you should use your own ideas, make it your own even if it's not as beautiful in your eyes as your sister's design. At least it will be yours and yours alone and your sense of accomplishment will be much greater. In the end you may decide you like what you did better than you expected!
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