Why do YOU Quilt? Process or Product?

104 responses to “Why do YOU Quilt? Process or Product?”

1. 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 $).

2. 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.

   1. Well said, I couldn’t add more so I won’t.

3. 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!

   1. 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!

4. 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!

   1. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 🙂

8. 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.

9. 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.

   1. 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.

10. 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!
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11. 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.

12. 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.

    1. Exactly! It’s like putting a puzzle together and how good it feels once the puzzle is done!

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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).

17. 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!!!

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.”

22. 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.

23. For me it’s the product. But that doesn’t mean all of my quilts are finished.

24. 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.

25. 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!

26. 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

27. 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