Wednesday, February 25, 2015

The Purpose of Quilts

      Please never forget the purpose of quilts for you. In all the choosing, cutting, sewing, design wall, finishing processes, keep it in mind. Angela Walters today has a video on what quilters should not do, but tells a story of her husband's grandpa who was the one who got Angela hooked into quilting. It is towards the end of the video where she shows two special quilts.
      No matter how much joy or frustration I get working on quilts, the purpose has to be central. For myself, the purpose is to be used to bring comfort and coziness with an aesthetic anchor. My purpose is to use all my art skills, my quilting abilities, my design and perseverance to this end. Even a wall quilt has this purpose. 
      My husband's grandmother, Grandma Okie, whose machine I just refurbed, taught me this purpose, how to treadle and a lot about life. I miss her so much even though many years have passed since she died in March 1986. 
     One of the things she liked to do was thrift shop and find orphaned blocks and fabric which she would then treadle and hand quilt together. One of those quilts I used to keep packed away, however, I know what the purpose for this quilt was. Recently, my husband was not feeling well, and unusual for him, was resting on the couch. I put the quilt over him and he was joined by Tugger, the trouble cat. I had to take this photo and post it as a reminder of the purpose of quilts and the people who make them. Let us not make things more complicated and lose the joy.


2 comments:

Vicki W said...

Amen! Occasionally I see people post rants about calling quilts "blankets". I love it when someone refers to one of my quilts as a blanket. I know that they love it and are using it of they refer to it as " my blanket".

Linda Swanekamp said...

I don't care whatever they call it as long as it brings them comfort.