Took my packages to the post office, clerk asked the usual questions....fragile, perishable, hazardous....I said no, I am a quilter and they were quilt blocks being sent out for a block swap. Lady behind me asked if they hand or machine quilted. I replied, machine. She said, "Well, that really ISN'T quilting."

Let me clarify, she asked if I machine or hand quilted my pieces....

Again, I definately know there is a skill in hand quilting. I truly admire anyone who can do it....I just haven't reached that level yet.

She definitely knows NOTHING about quilts or quilting!!

Did you ask her if it isn't quilting, what is it??? Curious minds...
Rose Hall

I have learned that there are tacky, rude people every where you go. And this one showed her true colors--and her ignorance!!

In her opinion machine quilting isn't quilting. OK. I have an opinion on what she IS for saying something like that. :evil:

I'm willing to bet she doesn't appreciate my opinion any more than I appreciate her opinon!

Some people may feel that way, :roll: But quilting is quilting you are doing the same thing only in a different way. To each his or her own. :!: :thumbup: I prefer Machine, I would love to do 2 done by hand quilts,Actually Machine quilts are done by hand. SOOO I am going to rephrase my comment.
I would love to do 2 quilts without the aid of a sewing machine for my 2 daughters. TWO is all I want to do. Sewing by hand takes to long for me. :wink: :thumbup:
The lady as stated befor didn't know what she was talking about. My opinion :!:

Sounds like another quiltzilla strikes again. She needs to remember the old adage "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Wouldn't it be nice sometimes to have a stamp marked "STOOPID" that you could smack people on the head with?

Ditter

Ditto that.

If they were just the blocks for a block swap you could have come back... "They aren't quilted yet just pieced." That would have shut her up as well as let her know she didn't know what she was talking about. Quilting is the process of combining the layers of top, back and batting and it is really quilting whether done by machine, by hand, tied, tacked whatever. The part of the process where we make the blocks is called piecing.

Ask her if she rides a horse to work. There used to be a pony express for mail too.

She is welcomed to her opinion but she doesn't need to force it on everyone else. They are both quilting to me.

You're better than me...LOL. I would have been inclined to ask her how many quilts has she made and did she hand quilt them?.....but then....I would have sunk to her level I guess.....definitely would not have wanted to do that.

How dare she force her opinion on you?? That's just plain rude, crude, and socially unacceptable!! To try to make you feel bad about something you've made is seriously wrong, and the woman has mental issues with her own feelings of security!

I'm sorry you ran into such a rude woman, but don't let her words hurt your feelings.

I've heard of some hand quilters that look down their noses at machine quilters, but I think they are few and far between. There are also a few that critisize longarm quilters as not being real quilters. Everyone has their opinion I guess.

Fortunately, you are a member of this group where we celebrate all quilts and the members that make them.

I really admire quilters that quilt by hand because I appreciate the time and practice necessary to perfect their stitching, and the patience to work on a quilt for months or years.

Some of us are unable (medical reasons) to do a lot of handwork, or just can't devote the time to do hand quilting so we use our machines. The goal is to create a beautiful quilt and whatever means you use...it is still quilting.

Like someone mentioned........ they were blocks only and not yet put into a quilt... If she knew anything about quilting she whould have knowen that they would not have been quilted at this point........... Dahhhhhhh where is that stamp marked stoopid?????

She is an ignoramus. If they were quilt blocks, they would be pieced but not yet quilted.

Which begs the question: Are stupid people too stupid to know that they are stupid?

Love your statement. I do feel better and I knew all of you would know where I was coming from.

Isn't there a statement to the effect of, "Do you walk to work or carry your lunch?"

Just "thunk" her on the head with the palm of your hand like in the commercials about people who dont' eat their vegetables!

I guess it wasn't called baking or cooking unless they used an electric mixer to mix it all up. Same goes with quilting on the machine. It's just a faster way of doing something you enjoy doing.... That woman was very ignorant, I'm sorry you had to run into her. I dont think I would have been as nice as you.

Oh my goodness, can I ever identify with that one!

After we moved to our new condo I found a group of ladies sitting outside in the evening, chatting (gossip I suspect!) and was invited to join them. I told them I spent a lot of time quilting, and of course they said "bring some to show us!" I was eager to take them up a few days later. The oldest lady there looked at them and said "you made these on a machine?" and I answered that I had and even used my quilting machine. Everyone thought they were great until she spoke up again and "Well, I have quilts too, but they are REAL quilts!"

Dead silence. Mine were not real quilts? Of course they were, and I consider the fact the lady was "ignorant of the fact" that today's quilters are using new, time saving methods, and their quilts are every bit as good (maybe better) than some of the hand made ones. So is it a matter of opinion as to what is "real" about a quilt or is it the ignorance of some people, like the lady at the Post Office? All I am gonna say is " Some People!!!"

As a kid, I grew up next to a lady who had bees at home. Quilting bees. Everything by hand. They believed handmade was "quilting" and machine-made was "sewing." To them, their way was the only real method. Period. It's just an opinion (I probably echoed it in my youth).

No worries. Just remember for every one of them, there are thousands who disagree. You're a quilter who quilts quilts on a machine.

And, it was very rude of that woman to make a negative statement to a stranger in public. The nerve of her.

:lol: :lol: :lol: DITTO!!!

I thought that times had changed. I remember quite a few years back when machine quilting was just coming into it's own when "hand work" was considered the only TRUE way to quilt, but as more and more people started to use their machines to get into this wonderful way of expressing themselves, the view had changes to encompass both the methods. I feel there are fewer and fewer folks doing an entire quilt by hand. I have pieced a sampler quilt by hand and should get it layered and quilted. I'm torn about trying to handquilt it since it was hand pieced, but I'll be dead before it gets done. I think the woman at the post office should be pitied because she cannot recognize the exquisite work done by those whose method is using the machine. She, and others, are uneducated and should avoid making comments they know nothing about.
Wendy

We should listen to Bill Engvall and carry signs to hand out!! :lol:

Thanks for the laugh. Love it.

Good one! Don't worry about MaryMaryOhContrary. Just know that your swap partner(s) will be jazzed by the package.

When someone gives me that line, I tell them that if our grand-grands would have had sewing machines in their day, they most likely would have used them.

Some of those ladies still exist here in Maine too lol. I was at the quilt show last year, asking if I could take a picture of one of the raffle quilts. The lady nicely replied that I was more than welcome to, then added that "after all, this is the only realy quilt here. All the others are machine pieced". I just kept my mouth shut, took the picture, than walked off without saying a word.
I must add....alot of the quilts on display were machine pieced, including many of the shops' quilts.

I have an idea the original quilters would have been more than happy if they had the modern conveniences we have that enable us to finish quilts in much less time. They used what they had available. We do the same. If sewing and quilting machines make it possible for more of us to enjoy creating I'd say that's something positive for the quilting world, not negative.

Just shows how foolish she is :cry: :cry:

Well that was just plain rude and harsh. The nerve of her. Im sorry you had to deal with that rude comment, and proud that you kept yur wits and didn't smack her upside her head.

You are such wonderful witty quilters.
To be perfectly honest it scares me to think of machine quilting....I know that the look I want requires patience, precision and practice (hum....the 3 "p's" of quilting) (grin) and I don't feel that I am ready to try. I love and admire the hand quilted items , however, I love and admire the machine quilted items also. It is the quality of each of them that is what sets them apart. I am not a good hand quilter,but feel I have better control. The two things that intimidates me about machine quilting is learning the control and working with large amount of material. Sorry to digress....Some people who try to start conversations in an area they don't understand or are educated about, should keep their mouth shut. ....oops....soap box again. (grin)

We had friends visiting from Australia and they wanted to purchase large amounts of good fabric so we went to a quilt shop (now out of business) and M was prepared to buy. She saw a color that was up higher than she could reach and really wanted it...first thing out of his mouth was...are you going to buy some or am I wasting my time? Her face got very red and she said no that she wasn't going to buy anything and we were leaving. She had previously heard him tell a class that the pure way of quilting was by hand. We went to another shop and they went out of their way to help us and needless to say she spent a LOT of money and shipped the stuff home.

I guess I just don't get it. I've never seen hand quilting as the "real" way, but more of the "old" way. Machine quilting to me has seemed like the newer and prefered way to quilt, but certainly not an inferior way.

Most the people that voice their opinion about machine quilting not being "real" are people who couldn't do either type of quilting if their lives depended on it. :P

RUDE!

Oh for pity's sake. She should mind her own business.

I recall reading in quilt history that women used sewing machines for piecing their quilts from the very beginning of the machine's invention. Think what a boon that was to those who made their own clothes. I often wondered how they wore those tight bodices without the seams popping! (or was that for the benefit of the camera in the western movies?) I might have tried to hand stitch one dress and after that? I would have wrapped myself in burlap. Whew! Hand sewing a long dress with yards and yards of fabric was not me.

I would have said something like, "Well, they were pieced by candle light on a tradle machine, does that qualify them to have a bit of 'real quilt DNA'?"

Or, "Do thoses cookies you bake in the oven qualify as cookies or should they have been cooked over an open fire to qualify as 'real cookies'?"

Or, "In my universe,it's real quilting, thanks!"

awww, sorry that you had to go thru that but at least you have a great support group here. I am giggling because I hand quilt everything & am trying to learn how to machine quilt. My grandma hand pieced her quilts but took them to the church ladies to quilt for her. Grandpa was a taylor & made quilts to keep the family warm with his leftover scraps...those he tied. Quilts are like people~ no two are alike.