Why Quilt?

The question I constantly ask myself is: why do I make quilts?

Why?

I think about the time I spend, the other chores I ignore, the money I spend, the way I arrange trips so I can stop at a quilt shop or sew with a friend.

This is frequently some kind of existential crisis that I just try and live through so I can come out on the other side still sewing. The answer I often give myself is that I am compelled to do it. I am compelled to cut up these large pieces of cloth into small pieces and sew them back together again into large pieces

I often think that if I don’t engage in this seemingly pointless exercise, something really terrible will happen.

I thought about this a lot when I went to the EBHQ show. I walked around and looked at the quilts and wondered why I was at a quilt show. I enjoy quilts, but why was I there? I was looking at a multitude of quilts, but I had seen multitudes of quilts before. I have hundreds of paper photos of quilts and, what seems like, gazillions of digital files of quilts. If you have been a reader of this blog for very long, you have see some of them.

Why was front and center in my mind at the show.

Then I read a recent blog post by Danny Gregory about Senioritis. Answers come from the strangest places.

His son has been accepted at college, but it is only March, so he still has to sit in a classroom and make some effort at doing homework and keeping his grades up. Senioritis. I was glad I read this essay, because one part of one line really hit home:

“…it is expanding your awareness of the world around you…”

Now I know: expanding my horizons. Thanks, Danny.

 

Author: Jaye

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

2 thoughts on “Why Quilt?”

  1. Although it is impossible for me to think of YOU as a senior, I did like that posting you linked to. I got from it that this quilting stuff is my way to keep my mind elastic. The easy projects are comforting. The feedback from others, stroke the ego. The self challenges of finishing a project, keep me going. The excitement of new projects, fabric, or new method of doing stuff, keeps me feeling alive!

    I guess this is why I quilt! Comfort, challenge, ego, mind expanding, and not being kept stale. Who likes stale bread anyway? Unless it is used in bread pudding with the embellishments of sugar, cinnamon, raisins, cream, and heat…like quilt embellishing, it keeps my mind alive.

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