Good Morning, Quilters!
Please indulge me…I’ve been quietly quilting and thinking….
Why do we quilt? Why do we cut apart large pieces of fabric into small pieces only to sew them back together again?!
Why don’t we just go to a department store and buy a blanket?
Why do we spend hundreds of dollars making a quilt, when we could buy one for less?
Is the desire to be creative innate?
Do we do it because we enjoy the process or the product?
After writing about the comfort of quilting yesterday, I realized that I often enjoy the process more than, or at least as much as the product.
But then…if we enjoy the process more than the product, is it necessary to finish our quilts? What if we love making quilt tops, but hate quilting them? Perhaps the process is the important part…it’s challenging and comforting. Is that enough?
Or is that an excuse to skip the hard part of finishing?
Maybe this is a month of Open Line Fridays?
Quilt Process or Product? I think there’s room for both!
What do YOU think about when YOU quilt?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Your Puzzled-Piecer,
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
104 comments
Louise
How wonderful to quilt! It is both the process and the products we produce. I always loved colors (crayons, embroidery threads, paints) my mother loved linens ( we believe she called it a “fabric fettish”. So I guess I combined the two because I love colorful fabrics and I enjoy the process of trying to expertly cut and piece them together! What a gift to participate. Thanks. Louise
Melody Cerra
I love both. First I love picking out the fabric. Cutting not so much. But then sewing and seeing things come together is my favorite, but when I’m about 75% through I just want to finish so I can get on to the next thing that catches my eye. I’m pretty disciplined so I only have 1 UFO
Michelle Owens
I enjoy the process and the finishef product. I am a new quilter, and I get into such a relaxed zonr. I love everything about quilting!
Lorraine Doyno Evans
I also have a lot of UFO’s so it must be the process I enjoy. I rarely make the same quilt pattern twice and enjoy learning new techniques and being creative. A lot of love is poured into one of my quilts when I am making it for a specific person (especially those healing quilts) and hope that the recipient feels the love.
Joy F
For me it’s the product. But that doesn’t mean all of my quilts are finished.
Melody Lutz
Great insightful question. Presently it’s what I DON’T think about while I quilt. I need to idle my stress levels on a daily basis at some point each day. I started because I had a lot on my mind, while trying to learn how to forgive myself, and needed a distraction. I had always wanted to learn. 28 years later…I’m now a caregiver for my mother, it calms me, it saves my sanity, it keeps me from buying bullets for my gun-if only to go to the shooting range. Quilting rewards me with seeing the delight in recipients faces and surprising myself at accomplishing what I want to create. A friend recently said it’s what helps keep me heathly at 58 and taking no medication…a real ah-ha moment. Great prescription and might even be cheaper in the long haul. Why they sit idle is like a TV program you’re no longer interested in…but when nothing else is on…it suddenly looks interesting again. Thank you Lori.
mommaquilts
It’s more than either for me. I love choosing the pattern and colors, the construction in all it’s stages. AND I love sharing the process because, like you, I am a teacher. I love watching my students learn, seeing that light bulb go off. I love seeing my students leave me in the dust! One of them is a national educator now but I taught her Quilting 101, a baby quilt from fabric choice and care, rotary cutting, machine piecing and quilting and binding. For me personally, I love all the fabric. It’s why one of my favorite quilts, which was given to my youngest daughter, is named “The More, The Mary-er.”
Doris N Gould
I love the process, too. Selecting the pattern, selecting the fabrics, gearing each selection for each recipient… I love the math of assembling squares, triangles etc. I have just gotten into quilting with rulers and LOVE that process, too…. I have also spent a year making purses and that was a totally different concept that I really took to. It is my solace from all the other bothers of the day… and I love having a completed product at the end.
shoshana
hi Lori! again, i’m so glad you’re back….. i quilt because, i love the colors and feel of the fabric, because i love the rhythm of cutting, or sewing or quilting, because i can make something beautiful that someone else will feel more loved, appreciated, cared for because i took the time to make them something, and yes i do need to finish them, not at once [ evident by my pile of wip’s!] but just to make myself some busy work….no thank you.
Bernadette
After reading and thinking about process vs product and looking at several of my own ufos I think the process is more important than I knew.
I also love to listen to other Quilter’s and to see their works in progress. It never gets better than to see several Quilter’s work on identical patterns yet different color combinations. The variety of depth,and creativity is exhilarating to me.
I do love to see the face of the recipients of a quilt wether I completed the quilt or someone else has had the pleasure.
It is the combination of people ,fabric,projects and shared knowledge that keeps me in stitches.
GLORIA OLSON
I’ve often thought about that question like so many of us have from time to time. In fact my husband says that almost weekly…. I think it is a wonderful hobby. I do mine for pleasure not a business. I love to see the expressions on people’s faces as a gift most away from an ols heirloom quilt someone needed finishing to wedding and baby quilts. Besides mothing I’m the store compares to our quilting…not even close!!!
Kathryn Smotryski
I enjoy the process which allows me to think about all that is important to me. My family , friends , husband, etc. When I put on my headphones while quilting, it is even further relaxing to me. Great stress reducer (even if I make a mistake).
Michelle Markling
After three years of healing from brain damage the creative aspect of quilting has been a part of that healing. It brings back lost memories of sewing and quilting with my Grandmother as we chatted and I absorbed her wisdom.
Joy
I telling my sister recently about making a memory quilt from a loved ones clothes per the request on a lady/friend. She ask if I prefered the regular way of making a quilt and I had to say I actually enjoyed both. The one from clothes is in it’s onway challenging to the creative process. I like that. The regular from a pattern has its on set of challenges and I also try to put my on stamp or interpretation on those too. What is not to enjoy about quilting.
Cheri
When I was around 19, I visited my then boyfriends house and his mother was hand quilting a quilt. I was stunned that anyone would do this without a machine (my mother being an incredible sewer of everything, but never any quilts) and never by hand. I married this boyfriend, going on 48 years ago now. Then two babies followed, but from that first moment I wanted to try to do what my mother-in-law had done with that quilt! I kept thinking I could never do that!
Fast forward a couple of very busy years, and my incredible in-laws were gone. Now I’d never learn. Then northwestern fabrics had quilting classes and I jumped at the chance, hand piecing and hand quilting! I loved the choices of fabric, learning how to secure stitches, quilting, binding, I was SO HOOKED! I love the entire process, it helps me through many ups and downs so it is truly therapy for the mind and soul.
Thanks for that question, Lori, it’s good to think about this hobby and maybe focus more on the enjoyment and the process than the end result always! Blessings.
Pam Holt
I love this question and reading everyones replies. I assumed they would all be similar but everyone has such different reasons for why they quilt. I love a good puzzle and quilting often feels like a fabric puzzle to me. I love the challenge of a finished product. I really love to spend time thinking about, loving on, praying for the person or family that the quilt is intended for.
Lorraine Doyno Evans
Exactly! It’s like putting a puzzle together and how good it feels once the puzzle is done!
Granny G.
I wonder how many of us never thought to ask ourselves this question?
My mother started teaching me to sew about 60 years ago because I was a kid who loved working with my hands. My favorite class in school was art; glue, scissors, crayons and paper were my friends, so I guess the creativity of sewing was a natural progression. I love color & fabric and have sewn everything from handbags to wedding gowns but had never quilted. When I retired a few years ago, my best friend invited me to join our church quilting group who make baby quilts for new parents and cheerful pillowcases for children in the local hospital. My first thought was that I had no idea how to quilt – so how could I join a bunch of experienced quilters? But I went with her anyway and after my first (somewhat awful) quilt, I was hooked. The process is so much fun and so creative! I’m now making my 9th quilt and I’m even doing FMQ. Most of them have been the baby quilts but I’m now working on some lap quilts as gifts.
My husband even bought me a great new long-throat machine to work on and I can barely step away from it, I’m having so much fun. I love all of it, the planning, the piecing, the quilting, the binding and even what I learn from my own mistakes. I love experimenting and making “scrappy” style quilts with leftover bits and pieces. I love having a finished product to look at, so I’ve been photographing everything I make before giving it away. I’ve learned many helpful tips and techniques from experts like you and others who generously share their talents on Pinterest and You Tube.
I still sew other items too. Dresses for my great-granddaughter, wallets, purses, microwaving bowls, placemats and other décor items to be sold at our bi-yearly church Christmas bazaar. It’s all satisfying and rewarding, especially when I give something away and see the smiles I get in return.
I thank God every day for the ability to sew and I hope that in some small way the little quilts and pillowcases we make help to demonstrate His love.
Thank YOU Lori, for sharing your talent and may God continue to bless you with His loving comfort as you go through the process of grieving for your beloved mother.
Tabitha Harrington
Most of my quilts are made for other people I enjoy matching the fabric and design to the personality of the recipient the process is fun but mostly enjoy the happiness of the person who received a lttle peice of love to keep from me!
In
Bev Hastiings, Ottawa Ontario
Mine is both, process and product. I guess this a a rather negative way of putting it but I just know that if ‘life’ is getting in the way of me getting to my sewing room it affects me. I get cranky and out of sorts. I love choosing the fabrics and then putting them together. Sometime the product gets changed mid sewing and something else turns out!! I just know I have to quilt.
Granny G.
You’re not alone Bev and I don’t believe it’s negative. I get a little cranky too if I’m away from my machine too long. Someone else commented: “Why does a painter paint?….a writer write?” When you find something that soothes your soul it must be your calling. Enjoy it and share it.
Rita Long
I love working with color. I need the creative process and seeing the end result. I think for me also it is the memories that I have of young and having quilts. They are comfort.
Barbara Frank
Ever since that day in the late 1960s when my beloved grandma took me on the bus downtown to the Chicago Loop and then up a fancy elevator to Marshall Field’s fabric department, I’ve had a love affair with fabric. That day opened up a whole new world for me. There is nothing like the look, feel and smell of high-quality cotton prints and solids. Putting them together is sheer joy, which is why I have never tired of piecing quilts. Thanks in part to you, Lori, FMQ has added even more fun to the process 🙂
Alexis Gardner
I enjoy the process, watching all the elements come together and evolve. While the finishing not my favorite part, I still enjoy it. I try not to let UFO’s get to far ahead of me, though there are some lurking around. My husband likes to watch the car refurbishing tv shows and remarks that they will never get their money back out of it. I try to explain that they are doing it for the enjoyment of the process, not a monetary return. Not being a “crafter” himself he doesn’t quite get it. I do! I think I will go do some sewing.
piecefuldays
How interesting that you’ve asked this question. I’ve always said that I enjoy the process so much that I have many experimental blocks and projects started just to try out a process rather than to have a finished product. I do finish many, but for me it is process.
Bonnie May
I have had a love for fabrics since I was young. My mother sewed all my clothes, my costumes when i danced, and made curtains for our house and even recovered our furniture. I found quilting one day when I was bored. There was a quilt shop around the corner from my house & I decided to visit. I bought some beautiful batik & went home to make pillows. Well needless to say i not only returned to the shop but I began quilting & I was fortunate enough to work there for 2 + years. I learned so much by observing & classes , more than I ever would have otherwise. My life has been enriched by quilting. I am blessed to be able to make these ” surprises” for others. It has become my ministry. I love the fabric, cutting, sewing, quilting & even the binding!
worldpresscom986
Hey, how did you get in my head? I started quilting to have something to do when I retired, and I joined a quilting group. I seem to always need something to do while watching TV.
Elaine Walizer www.elaineinarkansas.blogspot.com
I seem to need something to do with my hands; even on the phone I doodle or make notes. Quilting seems to combine all the elements I most love in creating–having worked my way through various crafts and an art minor in college. I can draw, use color, design, construct, embellish (or not), AND turn out something useful and lovely. What’s not to like? The river of quilting is deep and wide. Oh! the Joy!
Chris B.
Elaine, I love your words “The river of quilting is deep and wide.” There are so many perspectives to quilting: learning piecing techniques, playing with colours, learning new quilting and FMQ techniques, welcoming and providing comfort…
Although I make some quilts for a specific purpose like a baby gift or a comfort quilt, many of what I make are to learn. I have found that I really like modern quilts (what a surprise that was!) and the options for creativity they offer. I most enjoy finishing a quilt because it means accomplishment and closure. I least enjoy basting a quilt and can procrastinate doing it for a long time.
We are lucky to have so many resources available to us. The internet gives us access to some great teachers, but also to some great inspiration from seeing other quilters’ work.
I am just back from leading a weekend quilting retreat of 30 women making baby quilts for a local charity. For them, it is all about learning and love.
My quilting cup is full and overflowing!
Darrel Alexander
Process or product? Why does a painter paint? Why does a sculptor sculpt? Why does a writer write? Why does a woodworker carve, cut and assemble pieces of wood? Why does a quilter quilt? Because people have an urge to create something that says this is me. This is what I feel, think, see, feel. A friend of mine paints, sculpts, makes pottery, etc Why, because he must. He sells his work to pay the bills and so he can produce more works. Craft or art? Both are personal expressions. During the creative process the product takes on a life of its own and will live on, unless it is destroyed, long after its creator has left the scene. My wife inherited a double wedding ring quilt top from her mother when she died which now must be about seventy years old. I, her son -in-law, am considering having it finished. It evokes memories of another time and place. I could call it “Stolen Moments” because the piecing must have taken place between chores of canning produce from the garden, washing, cooking and cleaning. The product lives on.
worldpresscom986
Well said, I couldn’t add more so I won’t.
Jean
I must enjoy the process because my stack of UFOs is growing and I do NOT need any more blankets. I thought about this recently while buying fleece for baking a charity quilt. I could have just bought a blanket which would probably hold up better to the use it will get, but that would be just an investment of $, not me (and $).
Jaymee
I think ‘creation’ and ‘problem solving’ are an innate human qualities. They one of the highest levels of thinking and Quilting has so many steps required for a beautiful, warm product that it keeps me entertained all along the process. I feel satisfaction from the “doing” and the “having” of quilting making.
Gayle O’Grady
I like the creative process. I do a number of other types of art as well (painting, throwing pottery, wood carving, basket making, etc). Quilting is another type of art where fabric is the paint.
My mother did many forms of art as well. As she is no longer with us, many of my cherished things are things she made for me. I guess I have a desire to leave pieces of me behind for my loved ones as well.
Brenda Wall
I enjoy the process from touching the fabric and envisioning what I can make from it, to the actual piecing, and then I give them away. Yes, last year I gave away 14 quilts from baby size to king. It is such a joy to create for someone I admire or love.
Linda
I feel very guilty.
BARB EMERSON
I loved reading everyone’s comments, and honestly, I have to only say, “All of the above”. It is joyful!
Linda
I love the challenge of picking just the right colors and pattern. I do not like the quilting part. I am not good at it. I have a Sweet Sixteen just sitting in the corner covered. I now have over 100 tops. I feel very quilt.
Dawn Spero
The creative process is the best part for me and that’s why I have so many unfinished quilt tops. I love going to quilt stores to see new fabrics or viewing websites with new collections. Sometimes a pattern or idea is the spark that sends me on the hunt for the fabric. Sometimes it is fabric that inspires me to look for a pattern or to sketch an idea. Then seeing how my ideas and choices come together motivate me to keep at it. However, I am getting more and more out of the quilting process because I love what quilting does to enhance that quilt top. I do have quilted pieces throughout the house and I do enjoy having them, but it’s definitely the process of creating and making that holds my interest.
Linda B
Great topic and love everyones answers. I think I got the needlework bug honest. My grandmother always had something going, and her hands were never idle if we were sitting somewhere. I have tried a number of creative mediums…painting and other crafts. But the fabric is so compelling. So is yarn. They are clean, do not have fumes or residue to deal with, can be carried with us almost anywhere, and we have so many more options with fabric now than in my grandmothers day. I have always done a few little things through the years, but more mending in front of fhe TV than stitching, but when retiring a couple years ago, started to think about my fabulous idle sewing machine in the basement and some unfinished projects. Had planned to do much more gardening, but our midwest heat in the summer made me pare back that desire. So sewing in the basement where it was cool all summer seemed the answer. I love learning, have so many books, and with the internet and the learning platforms that Craftsy and Creativebug provide and our wonderful quilt shops, it is just a wonderful world of learning and creating. So much inspiration everywhere I look! And I am in love with the FMQ you have introduced us to, Lori. Right now I am still thrilled to have created a few table toppers and runners to spread about my house or to give as gifts, as I try to learn how to piece and applique and FMQ. Don’t think I will ever do a full sized quilt for myself, as I already have four or five from my grandmother…but maybe for a grandchild? So for me, learning the techniques and incorporating them into a project must be the biggest draw, and using these things to add beauty to our home (or giving as gifts) is a close second. Very thankful!
Kari
I quilt because I want people to feel LOVED!
Susan T.
I love to sew, and play with all the colours. I love to finish a project. I love the machine quilting process, quilting on my domestic machine. I love playing with different patterns, techniques, etc. I love finding the perfect colour of thread to add to each project. This is the only “hobby” that has kept my interest, as there is always something to learn, a new pattern to try, a new technique to challenge my skills. I love sharing quilting with friends, and I am happiest with fabric, needle and thread in my hands.
Susan MacLeod
For me, process is first, altho I do love the finished product. I’ve been sewing since I could reach the pedal. Mostly I made clothes, then discovered quilting after I finished nursing school. My job takes most of my life and energy, but I have continued to collect beautiful fabrics and patterns for retirement. I do work on small projects and have a few quilts in process which I work on when I have the time and energy. I have many more plans than time.
I can relate to many of the comments above.
Maureen B. in B,C.
Hmmmm, no one so far has expressed the obvious … we quilt because of the masses of fabric in our sewingrooms. The stacks call to us in the night. “You’ve bought the fabric, and the rulers, and the cutters, and the mats, and the sewing machines, you NEED to do something with them!!!!” Guilt is a strong motivator, ask any Catholic 😉
I love both the creating and the quilting. I just finished a Christmas quilt for my sister with many pieced stars, and quilted it with 190 free-motion-quilted snowflakes, in 12 different designs. If that isn’t madness and obsession, what is? I do admit to a bit of OCD 😉
cheriec12
I love being creative and making something original from my own heart. Whether it be for myself or a girt for others. I feel like there is a piece of me in every creation. I love the product as well don’t get me wrong, but once it’s complete, I’m always anxious to see what the next one will be.
Mrs. Plum
Hi, Lori! For me, both the process and the product are important. And, the best part is that it involves fabric! Every quilt is a new challenge, in terms of design, fabric and thread selection, quilting decisions, etc. Every quilt, no matter how simple, has lessons to teach.
catpatches
I quilt because I cannot not quilt. I write because I cannot not write. I cook because I cannot not cook. I don’t need to know the reason. I just do what I’m driven to do, and it makes me happy.
Rosemaryflower
It is such a pleasure to read all of the comments here. I adore each comment and I imagine I would love to meet all of you. We would have so much happiness to share.
I have found throughout my long life (eek I am 63 now) that I do things to keep myself very busy and out of trouble. Yes, this is, for me, God’s will.
I like the cutting piecing part of quilting. I do have a mountain of quilt tops in the dining room. I did finish one quilt last month, a baby quilt.
I have been sewing since I was 8. My mom taught me, we made things together, as a teenager, she just let me use the machine to make whatever. She gave me old sheets to cut up and make practice stuff.
Anyway, then I had to grow up and go get a job. I worked as an RN for many years and there was no time for sewing. Life was boring, I took up painting but that was not good. Drawing, that was fun
When I married, I went on a sewing spree. I made everything and tried everything, even re-upholstery
Now I am a gramma, and also taking care of my 95 year old daddy, and hubbs too.
I have two design walls and a very messy sewing space in the open morning room right next to my kitchen. I could stay in this room forever, but that does not happen very much. I just discovered EPP, covering hexigons with little bits of fabric and making flowers. I am preparing work boxes to take to grand babysitting adventures.
Ellen
Wouldn’t it be fun to have an Inbox Jaunt quilting retreat?? There are enough of us to take over an entire hotel, (or even a small town!). There are so many of you I feel like I already know because of reading your comments–I agree with Rosemaryflower, it would be wonderful to meet each other in person!
Rosemaryflower
Yes, Ellen, it would be heavenly to meet and sew and sip and talk and even have some “wait staff” to monitor our needs, more soup, help us find that missing piece we just had a second ago, wind bobbins just perfectly etc etc
Ellen
For me, it is definitely the process. I am learning to take advantage of quilting’s ability to get my mind off my troubles, instead of stewing about them. It is takes enough thought to be soothing, and I can choose a project with the right amount of challenge to suit what I need at the moment–some thoughtless, easy sewing, or something challenging enough that I have to really focus and concentrate. I haven’t finished many quilts yet–I haven’t been at it that long and work full time–but I have a number of them in the works! Finding space and being able to sandwich a quilt without killing my knees has been a stumbling block in terms of making progress in the quilting part, but I helped sandwich a charity quilt with my quilty friends a couple weeks ago, so I’m looking forward to trying it at home. I probably have too many quilts in progress–when I’m looking for a creative opportunity, I often start something new. Then I will get a bee in my bonnet about finishing something eventually and come back to it. I guess that, for me, it satisfies so many needs–creativity, mindless work with my hands, challenge, and joy seeing someone enjoy what I made for them (or imagining it, if it goes to charity).
arkady62-Rhonda
There are so many reason I quilt:
It releases my creative soul, my inner designer if you will.
Quilting keeps me from snacking mindlessly. So, weight loss or maintain in my case.
I am in a long distance romance and quilting keeps me from obsessing about the whole separation part of the relationship. He has his physics research and I have my quilting.
I love puzzles and quilting is quite like a puzzle. It all depends on how one places the blocks on the design wall as to which pattern emerges.
And last but certainly not the least, it helps me feel closer to my Mamaw. She was the quilter in the family and I miss her.
arkady62-Rhonda
I forgot to add, I love making the tops. I have only finished three but with that fear conquered, I will finish many more.
susan hilsenbeck
Interesting set of comments … “Process” seems to be the winner although I’m a little worried about the frequency of “I quilt so I don’t kill people”. 😉
Arvilla Trag
Susan – look at the statistics of murders committed with rotary cutters, Dresden rulers and batting: none. Proof that quilting saves lives.
Maureen B. in B.C.
👍😂😂😂😂 Arvilla, that made me laugh out loud, while all around me sleep.
Mary B
I was struck by the question you asked, What do YOU think about when YOU quilt?? I just realized I don’t think of anything. I can definitely be an over-thinker at times. Quilting gives me a chance to let my mind rest. I think I rest when I quilt. It’s probably good therapy for me. Thanks for asking these questions.
Ellen
Oh, so true!
boe77
Quilting is a creative outlet. It is not long since I started, but it did not take long before the quilting started to feel like pen and ink and the fabric like paint. I will try just about any techniques time permitting. This makes me a jack of all trade and a master of none, but I am not into mass production, so I have to explore. My projects are finished, unless you count the labels.
Holly
Definitely…the process. I love everything about quilting. I find sewing row after row meditative. I like the challenge of trying a new technique with each quilt. I pick the pattern based on the technique/skill I will learn/perfect. I often select the pattern based on the machine quilting I will learn. I recently completed a semi-whole cloth quilt, quilting many of Lori’s Christmas themed motifs. I especially like the packages, simple, impressive and darling in a row.
mary pat
I had a chance to stop at the International Quilt Museum in Omaha this summer and bought a t shirt that says “I QUILT SO I DON’T KILL PEOPLE”. I seldom wear t shirts but I have that hanging in my sewing room and enjoy looking at it. My kids agreed with the sentiment.
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