Yesterday I spent the day making test pieces for my new quilt design. A traditional American Rose in the traditional red and pink. Originally they would have been solid fabrics not prints.
Working with a traditional pattern made me wonder if we quilters have become too lazy? Laser cut applique, die cutters, fusible applique, the list could go on and on. It took one hour for me to cut and pre-assemble the Rose.(and that's with no stitches) Cutting the small red flower from the large red and did the same with the pink. You can see how it looks from the back. Thrifty and less fabric bulk. Now had I used a die cutter I would have used more fabric and don't forget the fusible, but I'm pretty sure it would have taken less than 15 minutes.
And these stars take about 30 minutes a piece just to cut and press under the edges, no stitching. Because of the white on blue I had to cut two stars for each one. One thing I did to speed up the process was to blunt the tips of the stars, points are a pain! About 8 pm I sat down with the best of intentions. Thinking that I should be able to finish hand stitching this down while watching TV. WRONG! At 10 pm I had finished 3 stars. What can I say other than I'm lazy . Today I'll put the pedal to the medal and finish them on the sewing machine using the invisible machine applique method.
In my defense I'm not a total lethargic blob. It took some thinking and the use of another handy modern tool to line up those stars so perfectly. EQ7 made the 13 spoke circle, I painstakingly printed and added the longer spokes by using an real pencil and ruler.
A longarm circle ruler made the perfect template.
So tell me do you think we've become lazy? Do the quicker applique methods win big prizes at the quilt shows? Will our quick methods stand up to the test of time? Should we pay more attention to quality not quantity? I read that it took Sharon Schambers 4 years to make a quilt. HOLY MOLY! Sure I've UFO's that old but not because they are beautifully pieced, it's because I'm to lazy to finish them. Her quilts are made for show and prizes, I quilt for fun but I would like for some of my quilts to outlast me. As long as we enjoy what we do it doesn't matter, that's my humble opinion.
~ Lea Anne ~
Border tutorial here
 |
| http://rebeccamaedesigns.com/homesweethome/ |
I agree with you - if you're enjoying it, then it doesn't matter if you use traditional techniques or modern conveniences. There are some folks who still like listening to vinyl, and there are folks that are happy with MP3s. There are folks who still have a land line, and there are folks who only have cell phones. Something for everyone!
ReplyDeleteI'd never finish everything if I had to do it the old fashioned way. I look at it as a compromise, without the modern tips, I'd not have the time to finish anything.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree with you that enjoying the process is the most important thing, but I'm impatient so I'll use whatever modern tools/gadgets are available too!
ReplyDeleteway above my head how you made the flower it is very pretty. I would be lost without the gadgets, mind you some of the templates I have bouight I never use! no doubt there are lost of us that have done that
ReplyDeleteI think modern communication has opened up a world of possibilities for us. We've seen so many quilts, techniques,fabrics, etc that we have a very long list of quilts we'd like to make. Our ancestors mostly made quilts because they needed to be warm. Of course, they made special quilts too. They worked very hard, but their lives moved at a slower pace than ours. I personally love to "slow down" and stitch. Our culture enjoys immediate gratification....we really do have it great. We have so many options!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the process, not matter how I chose to do it.
ReplyDeleteI greatly admire the gorgeous quilts I see at quilt shows, but I know me well enough that making something that would take years to make would not happen. I don't have the patience.