Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Odds & ends

There's an interview with Cia Blum (of Cia's Palette) posted on whip up which touches on the issues I was trying to write about the other day:
When I first started working in this business, Kaffe Fassett had just introduced his first fabric line. Most everyone I worked with thought it was an amazing collection, but it really didn’t sell very quickly for the first year or so — at least in our shop. Thank goodness Rowan knew enough to stick with it and make it available for several years (very unusual in this business) or a lot of people would have completely missed out. The quilting craze has really caught on with a younger group since that time and the fabric industry is changing to reflect that influence, but slowly. Amy Butler was truly a breath of fresh air and now I think Denyse Schmidt is also having a profound effect by providing what a lot of quilters and crafters have been looking for.

I wasn't thinking that the dichotomy I was talking about was between older and younger quilters, but it may be, because in quilting terms, I am youngish. I feel much younger at quilt guild than I do most other places I go!

(In case you're wondering now that the subject of age has come up - I'm 45. For exactly one more day, because tomorrow is my birthday.)


Also, I think I may have to plan one of my future trips to Ohio (where my in-laws are, so we go pretty regularly) so that I can take a class at Nancy Crow's quilt barn. Because that is just too cool.


Added, because I keep finding cool things today (this one is meant for knitting, but I can think of some quilting-related uses for it): The Random Stripe Generator. (Found via in a minute ago.)

2 comments:

Balwearie said...

Happy Birthday!!!

I totally agree with you in your position on where you stand as far as traditional-vs-modern quilts and I am a couple of years behind you (literally) in being a "young" quilter. IMHO, I like modern or art quilts if I feel that the maker/designer has put a fair amount of effort into it (whether it's design or technique). I don't like to see things slapped together without a thought to either design, technique or practicality. Case in point, a friend and I saw some pillows in the gift shop of a museum which were very raw applique with a single line of a rather large running stitch. It would have taken 1 squirming teenager about 2 hours to totally demolish the thing. I honestly don't see any point in being that primative and then calling it "art" or "modern". On the other hand, a simple design, well-executed, is always a good thing.

Mel said...

Thanks!!