To quilters, it is obvious why handmade quilts are important. They are the product of creative vision and of our diligent work. They cannot be bought, unless we decide to sell them. They express our thoughts and feelings, and our mood at the time of choosing the fabrics and design. Quilts are a testimony to our abilities to follow through and see a project to its completion. When that last stitch is put into a quilt, it is sort of like saying good-bye to an old friend, for if we have been sewing the quilt, one or two stitches at a time, we have become intimately-connected with its surface.
We always leave a quilt to go onto the next one, knowing that it will be better just because … it will be. Every quilt we make has something to teach us. The lessons vary and sometimes, we do not even comprehend all of them until long after the quilt was made, if ever.
Asking a quilter to put a price on his or her work is like asking a mother how much money she will take for her baby. There is no real answer. Some quilters make quilts with the idea of marketing them, and that is a different story altogether. I doubt that they allow themselves to become as emotionally-attached to their work as the grandmother who is making a quilt for her first grandchild, or the niece who is making a quilt for her terminally-ill uncle.
There are times when quilters make quilts, knowing that it is ok to think that the quilt may be “used up” and possibly discarded. Utilitarian quilts will always be present. Other times, quilters want our work to outlast us, and perhaps be passed down to other generations. We can never, however, expect the recipients of our quilts to treasure them as much as we do. Quilts are like a beautifully-groomed garden of flowers that a gardener has taken the time to prepare, plan, plant, fertilize, and weed. We can imagine the work that went into such a creation, but then again, since we did not actually DO the work, we have no idea of what was involved, or what the work meant to its creator.
Handmade quilts can be tangible reminders of our ancestors, if we are lucky enough to still have their textiles. I was not that lucky. Although I know that there was at least one quilt, in the family, it never made it down through the years. It is recalled only in a couple of photos: a quilt with “Flying Geese.” The black and white photo does not even offer up the quilt’s colors.
Some unknowing people call quilts, “blankets.” Quilts can be bed coverings, but are not necessarily something with which to keep warm. Many quilters make small wall hangings or large wall, art quilts. I don’t think that people generally hang blankets on their walls, unless they are some special kind of tribal weaving of bright colors and graphic design. Every day that I am a quilter, I am thankful to the person who first instituted the idea that quilts could and should be viewed vertically, at times.
Viewed as “ART,” quilts have more of a chance of survival than as something for the dog to take a nap on, or the cat to scratch and leave his fleas on. Now, I realize that some people make quilts specifically for their pets. Hey, whatever crumbles your cookie! I just believe that some individuals who have been entrusted with the care of quilts inadvertently violate a sacred bond between quilt giver and quilt recipient when they neglect to care for the quilt in a proper manner.
Quilts are special commodities, made with love, and shared from the heart. I am glad that my quilts, large or small, reside in the homes of friends and families, around the world.
Patricia Cummings, Quilter’s Muse Publications
