Art quilter or quilt maker?

Here is today’s finished quilt…count down is at 23.







I woke extra early this morning. 1:30 am. The neighbors had their music blasting. It’s too early to go to work. Not able to go back to sleep I spent time on the computer looking at blogs of quilt artists. I wanted to see what makes a person a quilt artist compared to a quilt maker. There is a difference; yet, if I were to describe either of them they are the same.

I am equally happy looking at bed quilts in a quilt show and looking at art quilts on the walls of a gallery. It’s the way the quilts are put together that fascinates me most. I love seeing the bits and pieces of fabric that are used in both bed quilts and wall quilts; but, it is the stitching that draws my eyes. I look at a quilt of any type and immediately focus in on what thread was used, what stitch pattern, how well executed, and how did it enhance the quilt design. It doesn’t matter if the stitching is done by hand or by machine. The fascination is the same for me.

On an outing with one of the Nice Ladies a few weeks ago we went to an art gallery across the river in Indiana. It was hard for me to focus on the art of the quilts because I wanted to get up close enough to see the stitching. Dollar store glasses are no help. My prescription glasses are still not right and I can’t see with them. My daughter said to me once; “Mom your work is really great, imagine how much better your work would be if you could actually see what you are doing?” Yes, I do spend a lot of time bent over very close to the machine needle watching what I’m doing and using a magnifier above the needle. It’s just hard to go get my eyes dilated then try to cross a busy highway to catch a city bus.

I have a few hundred books and magazines around my house. My books are a full range of quilt types. I pick most of them up used at various places. Some have been given to me, some I have bought. I have traditional type quilt instruction books from the 70’s to a book I bought a few weeks called journey of an art quilter which is all about surface design.

When I pick up one of the books to look at the quilt pictures my fascination is with how the layers were put together. I’m constantly asking myself why the maker may have chose one stitch pattern over another. This is rarely discussed in any of the books. Most say quilt as desired. Even the blogs of quilt artists don’t talk about why they choose one stitching pattern over another. Why is that? Is it because they believe the stitching is less important than the fabrics used and how it’s pieced?

I bought two used books a couple of weeks ago; both deal with the use of thread and stitching design to enhance a quilt. One book shows the use of metallic threads to add sparkle to an art quilt and the other shows how different the same bed quilt looks with the use of different stitching designs. I find both these books fascinating.

I guess this fascination with stitching patterns is why I have a desire to be an art quilter. I want to use the thread and the machine to create art like this….

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/551950128fMKNij?start=24

Sorry but it's not on my computer anymore. I had to go to webshots to get the link for you to see it.

I love to draw. I’m not very good at it; but, I love to do it just the same. My drawings are very cartoon like as you can see. This is because when my kids were young we all watched an elementary school TV art class. It was for a school class but we watched it at home. The teacher’s drawings were geared toward an elementary school student. You know; circles for eyes, simple lines for noses, etc. So that’s the way I learned to draw. Hmmm….maybe the library has some drawing books. Naw, I don't have time to take on another hobby right now, maybe later.

Ok, enough talking about art, I think I will go mop the floors or something until time to start working.