Monday, June 30, 2008

Freeing the form....

is a "catchy" phrase, I think. I've never thought about it that way, at least not in regards to quilting. It was a painful discovery to realize that while I really wanted to be a quilter, I didn't want to be the "kind" of quilter my teachers were expecting. If everyone around you(i.e. other quilters)are all doing pretty much the same thing it doesn't matter if its traditional or liberated. Personally I think 'liberated' is better, but it would still be THE SAME as everything you are seeing. Now it happens that utility quilting and I are old friends. Even before the current trend. The idea of "quilting a piece" the direction your mind and hands take you works for me. I like to "meander" and that has NOTHING to do with what the machine quilting process by the same name is about. To meander..."to wander, where you will, without a destination in mind".....THAT is meandering. Like a bear *VBS*Last evening while browsing, I came across a link to a You Tube video on Comicbook Ladies blog, Quilt as Desired. Please understand I'm in VIRGIN territory when I appoach "You Tube". I've been very skeptical about it and what it probably stands for....apparently I MISSED THE POINT...and that happens.Who knew there'd be quilting there??? I will go back to "You Tube", but will be very careful what I click on...think QUILTING.
The video blog of Margaret is wonderful. Type in atree3, and watch her "Making a Quilt" videos...about 32 entries of them. The approach is "free form" ala Gee's Bend. I've subscribed to Margaret's feed, and look forward to seeing more of her work, as well as her words.
The VERY best part for me was when she gets to the hand quilting. Do you know how hard it is to find someone to watch hand quilt???? I'm in accord with Bonnie, who demo'ed hand quilting at a recent quilt show....where have ALL the hand quilter gone???? It's like the dinasours....what happened???? Are we to become extinct???
In Margarets quilt, which she complets during the 32 episodes(short ones),she talks about being a quilter, what it means, and what it means to her. She is NOT a lady to be taken lightly. She's elderly, as am I. It matters. Often it's your best chance of finding someone who knows, loves and practices the whole process of hand quilting. She includes a clip by Joe Cunningham( Gwen M's former husband). His vidoe is about free form quilting and why you'd want to do it. He and Gwen have impressed me over the years with their dedication to hand quilting. Before she got so famous, Gwen used to hand quilt ALL her own quilts...alas, times change.
At least she still hand quilts SOME of them.
What I'm showing today is the outer borders of a very utilitarian quilt, a strip twist, ala Quiltville.I'm sorry, I know the pictures aren't the best. I've machine quilted the center(it's for a rowdy grandson) and am doing "my own thing" on the outer border. I hate marking quilts. Just thread a needle with perle cotton and have a "go" at it, let the adventure begin. Free form? Yes, it's also called "choices". It doesn't have to be as labor intense as Baptist fans!

14 comments:

Sara said...

I think it looks great!! Don't worry, I'm young and don't get the point of YouTube either!

Anonymous said...

My friend and I tried to machinequilt a few simple circles yesterday: we both had hot flashes, became very stressed and had NO fun at all. On top of it all: the quilting looked terrible.
So....hi!: we're 2 surviving dinosaurs *lol*

Norma said...

I am so liberated I am not sure what I do is even considered "quilting" by the so called experts. I want something to put on a bed.........period. I will never be in a quilt show and I would give the quilt police fits but hey, as we have said before, makes me happy! Thank goodness there are ones like you, Lazy Gal and Bonnie that encourage us to do our own "imperfect" thing.

Amelia said...

I quilt to please myself...Like Norma I am going to make a piece of fabric art, enter it in a contest or what ever. Yes I hand quilt and find lots of satisfaction in that. From what I read about in other blogs about machine quilting they sure do have a lot of trouble...that is not anything I want at this age.

Question, you mentioned quilting with perle cotton...I have heard of it, but never used it...does it work as well as regular hand quilting thread?

Have fun...stay out of trouble.lol



Amelia

Amelia said...

Oh I meant to say I WOULD NOT be entering it anywhere.

Libby said...

Ahhhh - hand quilting *s* It relaxes me and I just love the look. Sadly I don't feel like I have time to make all the quilts I NEED and hand quilt each of them. So I choose the special ones and set my thimbled finger to them. They make me smile even more!

Tonya Ricucci said...

I hear ya. there will still be hand quilters around, just not nearly as many of them as there should be.

meggie said...

This is a good free post! To hell with rules etc. We all need to do as we wish, which is what quilting used to be about! I love freedom!!
HugsXX

Kieny The Dutchlady said...

I'm happy you blogged about hand quilting today. I started quilting last year and I hand quilt all my quilts and little wall hangings. I know Tonya quilts by hand but sometimes it feels I'm the only one who doesn't use the machine for quilting.

comicbooklady said...

I confess I do both machine and hand quilting. For the summer I save up a bunch of projects to handquilt as I don't have a/c in my sewing room and do little sewing up there. I've been handquilting along with Margaret's vlogs and find it very relaxing and inspiring!

Holly said...

I love handquilting. My handquilted quilts are my favorites. I did some liberated once in sashings before I knew about liberated. Gonna check out that video. Thanks for sharing the link, Finn :)

Lilly said...

I wish I were more "liberated" in my approach to handquilting, but I am too anal retentive I guess. Will try to lighten up in the future. Sounds like it would be fun to just let the quilting go where it wanted. I love how yours is looking. I have made a hand quilted quilt for each of my four kids, and one for each of the four grandkids. Also one for my husband and one for myself. I recently started to machine quilt, but don't enjoy it like I do hand quilting. TTFN...Lilly

Unknown said...

Hand quilting is the best!!! That's my preferred way to do it!

Elaine Adair said...

I still hand quilt, on occasion - mostly in winter, when I can curl up under that quilt, keeping warm. So cozy! And I am attending the State convention class given by Ami Simms, teaching "Improving your Hand Quilting" Actually, I think I do OK, but wanted to be 'with' other hand quilters!

You tube? I like the video with the 4 year old machine quilting with a stitch regulator. Hey, if a 4 year old can do it, anyone can.