Quiltingboard Forums - Making "Real" Quilts

Quiltingboard Forums (https://www.quiltingboard.com/)

- Main (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/)

- - Making "Real" Quilts (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/making-%22real%22-quilts-t38774.html)

So if it's not "real", is it fake? Is it the quilt police that determine it's real-ness?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadQuilter

I don't have a problem with her statement because she clearly defines what a "real" quilt means to HER. I don't think that she takes anything away from anyone or makes derogatory statements about quilting per se. It also sounds that she is a regular quilter who makes regular quilts - she just needs to add something special to her arsenal. Nothing wrong with that.

I'm with you.... I get what she is saying... she wants to do MORE than simply sew three layers together, to do more than simply finish a project, or to make a quilt simply to MAKE one.

She wants to dig out of her mind that quilt she SEES but feels possibly overwhelmed by, or she wants to know she has TOUCHED someone deply by what she creates....

she isn't saying she's above someone else, its NOT just pretty (important words)...its very much a promise to herself not to quilt without HEART....

Quote:

Originally Posted by weezie

Quote:

Originally Posted by b.zang

I've been reading a book on quilts across Canada, and found this quote. I'm curious about the reactions of you quilters out there.

"My goal is to make at least one real quilt a year. I define a real quilt not by the standard definition: 'three layers joined together with stitching,' but rather by its importance in my life. If the quilt is calling out to me to be made, it if is for someone I love, or has significant meaning for me, and if I need to spend countless hours making it, then it is a real quilt!"

Hunt, Gail P. Quiltworks across Canada, p. 3. (a great book, by the way)

My reaction is that I would rather categorize my quilts by their importance in my life rather than their "reality". Is this because I'm not an art quilter? Is this because I'm still learning and feel that so far my quilts haven't yet "arrived"? I'm not quite sure. Even the quilts of significance that I've made have their flaws. Are real quilts flawless?

Gail P. Hunt said a real quilt is defined by its importance in her life. You are saying exactly the same thing ... up to a point and then I become confused.

Thanks so much for posting, Weezie, I thought I read the same thing too!

I believe everything that I intended to be a quilt IS a quilt. If I like it enough to hang it on my wall like art, then it's a piece of art (until I take it down, then it's a quilt again *smiles*

If from the beginning I intended to use fabric & thread as the media to create a work of art, then it IS a work of art.

It doesn't matter how anyone else would define what I've created; only how I would define it for myself.