Saturday, April 14, 2012

Those Damn Quilts!


I have a blog reader who says this blog would be great if I could leave out "those damn quilts!" Hahaha! I know what he means, as he is not a quilter nor is he a connoisseur of quilts. (I wouldn't be drawn to a blog on cars, so I think I get his "damn quilts" comment.)

My blog has evolved over the years. I started out just blogging about quilts, and as a new quilter, I had to find my way in that journey. Even my beginnings as a quilt blogger morphed as I grew. With time I was less obsessed at every moment with quilts and found that I wanted to write about normal, everyday things, too. So now that's my blog: a mish mash of quilts, knitting, and stories about my life and my world.

Maybe my "damn quilts" reader will learn a tiny appreciation for quilts, eventually. Maybe my quilty readers won't mind my occasional forays into Deep Thoughts. Jumping between topics suits my ADHD personality, so it works for me. I'm grateful that a few readers have stuck with me and sometimes even leave comments.

Here is a great quote I borrowed from Me and My Quilts...Exploring the Possibilities. I love this quote. I've always felt that quilts are more than just blankets and more than just a bunch of scraps sewn together. This quote pretty much captures it, don't you think?


Feminist artist Miriam Schapiro, in her 1983 essay Geometry and Flowers, asks:

“What is a quilt? Among other things it is the history of women,
a receptacle of passions, attitudes, largess and anger.
It is a reassembling process . . . . It is inspiration, a connection with self,
the dogged will to make something extraordinary in the midst of family routine . . . .
It is also discovering that making something beautiful heals exhaustion.”

3 comments:

Andi said...

Thanks for sharing the mishmash! I'm interested in it all...it's like looking in a mirror :-)

Sextant said...

Who was the no good S.O.B. that called your quilts, damned quilts? Tell the rotten so and so to get a life!

Carol, your blog is exactly that, your blog. Some of us like your writing from the heart, some like your quilting from the heart. Either way it is your heart that shines through in your writing, your quilting, and your compassion for humanity.

Too much of the world today is designed to attract the consumer for the almighty dollar--glitz and pizzaz but no substance. Your blog offers us Carol's heart with all the raw emotion and passion that you feel for a subject...not a polished and careful veneer of pleasant good cheer.

There are 32 billion blogs out there featuring photos of the perfect 1.7 tow headed children enjoying their birthday party, by the pool in the back of the McMansion, featuring lovely recipes, and news of hubbies promotion to district manager, and what pious believers we are, and how we are enjoying our new BMW.

Then there is this rough and tumble woman from Minnesota who grieves over her son's divorce and quilts blankets with stars on them for a poor family to bury their dead child.

I have yet to shed a tear over a McMansion, BMW, or a recipe.

Keep up the good work and let your ADHD be your guide. It has served you well. It Carol's heart that brings us to this blog.

BTW, I was a one time a serious member of a car forum. I got tired of endless debates over oil changes, and the best car polish. I wanted to write about something with substance.

Nicole said...

Such a well said quote!

Keep on quilting, Carol!