In dubbing myself a “free-range” quilter, I have developed my own parameters for linty behavior. It seems dichotomous to mention parameters when discussing free-range anything, but quilting and needlework are my metaphor for life. It’s more common to overuse sports metaphors, but sports-related topics always make me throw up a little in my mouth, so I don’t go there.
Being free is only interesting when I also consider the world around me. Philosophically, it’s a good place to be, too. The result of “if it feels good, do it” is all too often, “I thought it would feel good, but someone else got hurt, so now I feel worse than ever”. Having a choice doesn’t mean all choices result in circumstances of equal value. The first choice people have is the one that determines their own bottom line, and hopefully eliminates what goes against their core values.
Putting parameters around freedom allows us to stretch our brains into a bouquet of creative blooms. Take the whole concept of a challenge quilt. The quilter receives a fabric choice or two, and a set of rules. On the surface, the rules sound like they limit our creative flow, but the paradox is that they stimulate it. The last thing you want in a new crop of challenge quilts are projects that look alike. Observers should have to figure out what the common denominator is among the quilts, and then ponder what was going on in the fiber artists’ heads during their design stage.
I call my style “free-range” quilting. When The Dot and T-man were young, Hubba and I set the rules for acceptable behavior. In doing so, we found it was best to set as few rules as possible, but to make them count. No hitting, respect others, be kind. Similarly, my rules for free-range quilting are few but important – the quilt must have an original artistic concept and yet be used as a traditional quilt. I like quilts that do something, not just sit there. That’s Midwestern of me, dog-gone-it, and if a bed quilt can double as a wall-hanging or an original table covering, that’s fine.
Sort of. Most of the quilts I make fall within my “nap quilt” size guidelines. I prefer to adorn beds with my quilts, but they don’t have to be queen- or king-sized for that to work. About the size of the top of a queen-sized bed, nap quilts can decorate a bed on top of a neutral coverlet or bedspread, displayed flat or at a jaunty angle. If the sun shines in through a non-northern window and threatens to leach color from a 100% cotton creation, it can easily be folded up and moved out of harm’s way. If you take a nap under one of these quilts, it is large enough that it won’t be kicked it off, hence the name. Research, or experience, tells us that naps are more effective under a hand-made quilt.
I inwardly cringe when I see a hand-made, heirloom quilt hanging on a wall, unless it is a temporary display, such as in a quilt show or short-term public exhibition. Quilts are made of fabric, usually 100% cotton. They will attract dust and are prone to fading from the sun or fluorescent lighting, all of which will weaken the fibers and eventually render the quilt useless for any purpose. Hanging will distort the painstaking efforts of the quilt maker, who worked so hard to provide a piece of family history. That care goes unappreciated as the quilt deteriorates, and subsequent generations are denied the heritage that fiber artist had planned for them.
Next, my free-range quilts need to be constructed in a manner that will encourage careful but regular use. If appliqué is used, it needs to be sturdy enough to hold up to napping, and within reason, laundering. The same goes for embroidery or any other elements used to embellish a quilt. Decorative pillows are another way quilting can be used, and not sit there doing nothing. Ribbon embroidery and non-traditional quilting techniques may lose their integrity in a working quilt, but such fancy-schmancy elements work fine in a pillow. I am careful when using embellishments that may itch, stab, or create discomfort for the user. It’s hard to resist the temptation sometimes, but freedom with limits challenges me to consider the world around me.
I’m making a challenge quilt right now, as a member of the Piecemakers quilt guild of Spring Grove, Minnesota. We received one fat quarter of the challenge fabric, and instructed to use it and no more. We are allowed three more fabrics to complete our project, and although we can make anything we want, it must be quilted. Other than that, we can do whatever our brains and imaginations allow us create. If every single person added my guidelines and made a nap quilt, viewers would still have a time figuring out the common denominator – the challenge fabric. The limits don’t come from the rules in life. They come from within the person.
Go “free-range” with your quilting and your life. Give yourself the license to broaden your skills, widen the scope of what you believe about yourself, and conquer what seems impossible. It’s you, unique, principled, and a boundless joy to the world around you.
Amen. Cha-cha-cha.
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
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