The ways you all have expressed what I feel too is wonderful. For me it is the feeling I get when i see there is a cherry and whipped cream on my ice-cream. The atmosphere of the penny candy shop in 1956 when I could choose from all the treats in the mahogany framed glass counter. How I felt this morning when 3 pink roses were blooming , not there yesterday, and I walked over and put my nose into the big petals and smelled perfume. I love the feel of fabric, I touch it before I really 'see' it. I love the prints and lines and colors that make each one unique. It's like someone miles away created an experience and I receive it like a gift. I delight in the geometric balance of patterns, engineering and drafting just make me want to say Wow. I like putting colors together, like a chemist likes to see what happens --.that aha!!! moment when they are so right together. I like books with directions that lead me down a path one line at a time so I say ' I see what you are doing:)'. People amaze me when they make a quilt and it is so personal and they share that with me and you. It's like opening a kitchen window and calling out "Come in here. I want you to
be with me for a while" . I want to do that for others. I like to see something that wasn't become something that is. Like there wasn't a geisha kimono and now there it is on my quilt. Today I saw a wall hanging with a bee the size of a cantaloup and multi colored wings a foot wide on either side heading down into a bullseye on a daisy center the size of a microwave. See, words cannot express what the actual quilt could, wimsy, movement, color, spaciality, fun. Making a quilt is making happiness in a way unique to the endeavor. I've often thought God must be a quilter because He thought up hummingbirds. One quilter thinks up a city with rectangular parts, another swirls batiques into pomegranates. I want to take my thoughts and make a quilt that someone will enjoy as I did the city and the pomegranates and I want to feel the joy as I make it happen. ...I didn't know I had so much to say, sorry for being long winded.

Zoeytoo... beautifully put!! I love what you said about chemists... while teaching HS science for many years, my colleagues and I would often find ourselves "playing" after school to "see what happens when..." So often the phrase, "well, look at that!!"... I was reminded of that... but I can hear myself saying that when I see a quilt with fabrics I would never have put together, or a pattern I never would have or could have thought up...
Loved your long windedness!!

Thaaaaaaaank you. I like when you read my contribution and find a part you relate to. Nice to know I share your feelings too. None of my dear friends are into my pleasures, knit, crochet, quilt, etc. But we go to movies, dinner,
sports, etc. Here I can be me and you know how I feel. I went to Cape Cod and you can guess what I was thinking as we site saw " this would be a good quilt pattern" or "where are the quilt stores" but they were thinking "where is
the beach" or "where are the clothing shops" now if I went there with you or
the forum members we would be on the "quilt wave length". Time to get food for hungry family. Talk to you later I hope. I know how to do this. It's contacting personal reponsers I can't do I think.I tried to go to a book site looking for tesselations and got a talk group who were insulting one another
big time and I could not get deleted cause they said problem try later. Here people are so nice, there they like to fight. Too bad for them I think. By now.

I love the creativity of it, I don't always follow the pattern exact. I love that I can do my Quilt from beginning to end. I love the challenge of making my own patterns and designs. And i love to help newbees with their projects. I love it ,when "They Get It." It's my Mental thearopy.

Pleasure and satisfaction

For me it began as a hobby (after admiring so many beautiful quilts) but now I'd have to say it is a way to pay back the world for all the incredible blessings I've had. After the first about 40 quilts I now mostly make quilts for raffling (trips/projects my grandkids are involved in), donations for churches and schools to auction off, or special projects for schools.... I made a USA quilt with every state a different fabric so a choir school would have a place to put state decals of those they had performed in! I made quilts for Japan and wish my commitment load was smaller so I could make quilts for the tornado areas.

Oh, did I mention it is an addition? I'm trying to walk quickly past fabric shops; my stash runneth over.

for me, it's something I can't help...it just flows out of me. In years past, I'd judge the quality of a date by how many quilts I would design during the date! Now, it's therapy, love, avocation, passion, the ability to create beauty. I work as a forensic psychologist with juvenile delinquents, parents who have abused and/or neglected their children. It's a respite. It's time to myself. It's a way to give back to others. I'm sure there's more about what quilting is to me, but that's a pretty good start

I'm in my own little world, nothing else matters. So relaxing and always awesome to see the results, good or bad!!!

couldn't have put it into better words if i tried!