R-E-S-P-E-C-T

So a lot of people have written these posts about what Modern Quilting really is, so I know I’m not bringing up a new discussion. The thing is that every once in a while I need to get things off my mind and find this is the best way to do it (worked well when talking about the Quilt Police)!

Recently I heard a quilter talk about her disdain for Modern Quilting, but her love of Contemporary Quilting and it really got me thinking, what’s the difference? I see pretty clear differences when looking at modern and traditional quilts (most of the time), but contemporary? I just don’t know. It may be that I’m just not overly interested in classifying what I do (although I know I’m not exactly traditional- HA!), but I thought I would look into it a bit more.

First a little quiz! If you feel like playing along, pull out a pencil and paper and see how you do! Below are pictures of 10 quilts and 6 patterns I found online. Based on the maker/sellers classification I noted which ones were called contemporary and which ones were called modern. Can you tell the difference? Take your best guess and see how you do (the answers are way at the bottom). 

Okay, all done? Good. Hold that thought.

Before we get to the answers I should probably tell you why I did that. I am simply trying to show that style, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. If I create a quilt that I feel is contemporary, then I have every right to call it that. If I create a quilt that is modern to me, I can call it that. If I want to lump them together and say my quilts are contemporary modern I can do that too! Just look at the KeepsakeQuilting pattern section. They made life easy and just throw all the patterns in one big group together! 

Now, there is a but (isn’t there always). I say these things based on the fact that I am a personal (not professional) quilter. I’m not entering shows with any expectation that they need to be classified by ANYONE. If that is your aim, then ignore me and do what your doing because I’m sure it’s beautiful! I make my quilts for fun, for relaxation, for gifts and to bring smiles to faces. If I give my mom a quilt and call it modern or call it contemporary I will bet you $100 she doesn’t care. ;)

So all this came about when I heard ‘hate for modern quilting’ and a ‘love for contemporary’ and I really needed to understand that. What I have found is that these are not black and white categories, they are very very grey. Even within contemporary and modern quilting there is a huge array of quilts. 

My personal opinion is to do what you love! Do what makes you happy! Continue to explore different mediums and see what fits. Visit a guild or a sewing group with people who love what you love. I wouldn’t join a traditional quilt guild and expect them to love what I do, and visa versa for a traditional quilter in a modern quilt guild. I may check out a contemporary group because it seems appealing to me, but could just as easily decide it’s not my cup of tea and should not feel bad about it.

Quilting, like any art form, will continue to evolve, change and grow.  We will continue to agree and to disagree, but I feel it is vital to remember to welcome new quilters in with open arms rather than pushing them away because you don’t like everything they do! We all know the amount of thought, time, care, and effort that goes into this wonderfully crazy hobby that we love, and that should earn nothing but respect from and for each other. 

"In time we hate that which we often fear."  William Shakespeare
#RantOver

Now here's those answers! If your feeling brave leave  comment and let me know how you did and what your thoughts are are this!

African Print (32 x 40)

Anne R. Parker; Contemporary Art Quilter

Grass (96cm x 139cm)

Brenda Gael Smith; Contemporary Textile Art

SPARKLER (38" x 46“)

The Modern Quilt Studio

Weeks Ringleand Bill Kerr

Red Green Color Blind (48x31)

Anne R. Parker; Contemporary ArtQuilter

Indie Vibrations

Amy Friend - Seacoast MQG

The Modern Quilt Guild (Gallery)

ICED COFFEE (38" x 46“)

The Modern Quilt Studio

Weeks Ringleand Bill Kerr

Sing It Out Loud

Karen Anderson Abraham - Santa Barbara MQG

The Modern Quilt Guild (Gallery)

Alinea #4

Kathleen Probst

Front Range Contemporary Quilters

HAPPY ACCIDENTS (40x40“)

The Modern Quilt Studio

Weeks Ringleand Bill Kerr

unplugged! (100 cm x 125cm)

Brenda Gael Smith

Contemporary Textile Art

Pattern Spot Patterns

Houndstooth Heritage & Houndstooth Magic Quilt Pattern by The Tulip Patch

Paisley Pear Quilt Pattern by Michelle Lizcano

Loose Change by Hunter's Design Studio

Birch Bark by Hunter's Design Studio

Danish Delights Quilt Pattern by Little Louise Designs

Gateway To Paradise Quilt Pattern by Little Louise Designs

I have cited each and every quilt and pattern in this post. Please remember that all artists work hard on these projects and deserve proper credit. Thank you! 

I'm back! (i think)

I'm slowly but surely getting the blog back in working order. I apparently had more issues than I realized that came about from the app I was blogging with on my iPad. Oops. So now to try and catch up!

My true addiction online at the moment (for a while really) is instagram. I like the ease of it, and I really like the visual aspect of it. It keeps me connected to my friends and family around the world and allows me a peak into their lives. So that's how I will catch you up on the past few weeks!


Wrapped up my mojo quilt



Enjoying the backyard and our giant tree that makes us look like we live in a doll house.



Spring cleaning and book organizing. Loving the color gradient that I'm trying out.

 

My parents came up to help reasemble the family dining room table. It's finally made it's way to me after 35 years!





 

New/old dining room table = new light fixture shopping.
It's a little overwhelming, but I'm in love with this store!!

 



New dining room all set. Love the new light and so glad dad was here to hang it! Valuted ceilings look
great, but man they make things more difficult! It feels much more like a home now.



The latest project I'm working (at my 'real' job) is on the CFVMPF Memorial Groundbreaking.
Honored to be designing all the 'paper' for the event!

So as you can see it's been a busy few weeks around here. Looking forward to it slowing down a bit and getting some sewing done! As I'm catching up now I will hopefully be posting the pictures and recap from the Central Florida Modern Quilt Guild Meeting this month later today. If you just can't wait to see, you can hop on over to the CFMQG blog and check it out there!

It couldn't have gone far!

Something happened these past few weeks, I lost my creative mojo. I cannot put my finger on exactly what happened, or when it happened, but it did. There’s a conversation in an episode of my favorite show ever, The West Wing, where two speech writers are talking about losing their talent. One of them says to the other something along the lines of: It must be in the building, it couldn’t have gone far. That’s what I felt: that my talent, my inspiration, my love for making had flown the coop.

I wandered back into my sewing room a few times to survey the scene, and it wasn’t pretty. Well that’s just it, it was pretty. It was clean and organized and all ‘put together’. It was not at all what I am used to with WIPs strewn across every possible surface and scraps from my last 2 or 3 or sometimes even 4 last projects littering the ground. There was nothing. No life. So that’s where it stayed.

So I’ve spent a lot of time working my day job at night, sleeping, reading great books, sleeping some more and generally feeling pretty glum. Until finally I just said enough is enough. The next CFLMQG meeting is right around the corner and I need to get a few projects done for that, so as much as I hate forcing myself to be creative, I did.

I started working on a nametag….

FAIL.

I tried again…

FAIL.

One more time because third times a charm….

FAIL.

I threw that aside and tried working on the BAM-BOM that we are participating in….

FAIL.

Nothing was coming together. Nothing was working. I actually cried. I was officially pathetic. I was forcing the fabric to go together and look like it “should”, which is not what I do or have ever done. I do what I want. I sew what I want. I don’t follow directions well, and I hate to measure and be precise. As these thoughts drifted back into my mind that’s what I decided to do (or not do).

So I grabbed a pile of solids and randomly cut some squares and strips and went to town. There wasn’t a plan, there wasn’t a size, and there was nothing in mind. I just needed to sit behind my machine, blast some Dinosaur Jr. and drift away. So that’s what I did.

Then it happened. Slowly (very slowly) by surely my creative mojo came back. I sliced and stitched and sliced and stitched late into the night Friday, and these wonky little haphazard blocks that emerged made me smile.



As I laid them out on my ‘Design Floor’ I realized I had stitched myself up quite a puzzle. No worries. I grabbed the pile and threw them next to my machine and just started piecing them into larger blocks. Once I had it down to about 6 sections I went back to the floor, sorted out the mess and got the final layout. A few quick passes through my machine and I ended up with 30 inches perfectly square. Exactly.



I have only started to quilt it, but that’s ok. This is my creative mojo wrapped up into one project and I will cherish this more than any other beautifully precise masterpiece I have ever made.