Triangles, Triangles, Triangles!

Now, with the sewimg machine back I was able to start on the triangles I had cut last week. I am ptting them into hexagons, and I am facinated wtih the array of design possiblities that this shape offers. I have slapped 100 hexagons onto the design wall, and are having a play with them. The photos are of different combinations.

NZ Bush Scene

Well I finally finished the NZ Bush Scene that I started way back in Oct 07 in Hamilton.

I am really pleased with the moss (detail) created with wool and wash away stablisher. The techniques that I wanted to try in this wall hanging, I incorporated into my weekly challenge quilts, so I worked with Angelina fibres, machine embroidery, bead soup in my weekly quilt, to be confident in the technique before working on this quilt.

Size is important?

"... but have you made any quilts lately".

I had just shown her 4 quilts, A5 size, and 2 that were 30 cm square, but in her mind, they were not quilts. I quess she was thinking about bed size quilts, of which I had made four in the last year. At the moment though, me learning new techniques and growing as an artist are more important than the size of the quilt. At least I was making one a week, even if it was only A5 size.

I know when it comes to house, car, diamonds, - size is important, but is it really that important when it comes to quilts? Why is there a need to prove that you can make a bed quilt? Personally I am more interested in quality than size.

Traditional, Contemporary, Modern

"She was one of those Contemporary quilters," her tone of voice indicating what she thought of those quilters. Perhaps the speaker was even looking down her nose.

Why is there a division between quilters? Doesn't sewing 3 items together, a front, a filling, and a backing together make it a quilt?

When does a quilter fit into the headings? Does a traditional quilter template hand cut everything, hand sew around papers and hand quilt. The rotary cutter, ruler and sewing machine must make this quilter a "modern' quilter.

Do you have to use the settings or blocks to be a traditional quilter? I have seen Drunkard's Path and even Nine Patch in amazing "Contemporary" quilts.

If you use colour or the blocks in an unusual manner, the quilt is described as "Modern, with a twist".

Why, when the pieces/blocks are machine sewn together, the top is machine quilted, is the border then hand sewn down at the back?

And where do you fit into this. If you make a nine patch quilt, you are a "traditional" quilter, using a traditional block. But then if you make a nine patch quilt with the colour moving from dark to light diagonally across the quilt, you are now "Modern". Then if you hand print your own design onto fabric, and applique repeating designs across the nine patch, you are now "Contemporary".

How can you be all three, aren't you just a quilter?

What will I do without him?

Sewing machine broke down. Will take a while to be fixed. I have already cut out 660 triangles for a quilt, and had wanted to started joining them up this weekend.

Instead I had a tidy out of the room, it's amazing how much stuff one accumulates in such a short while. The desk is now clear, just waiting for me to mess it up again.