I'm sitting here at Algonac State Park, wrapped in a flannel quilt made in 1998 while I lived in Portland, Me.
I told my boyfriend that it was OK for me to take it as it was an early "practice" quilt. It's made from flannels (when they first came out), typical 90's fabrics (I was poor), and used 3D techniques (my first attempt).
I looked around and realized most of the quilts around me were "practice" quilts - early paper piecing, snails trails, fussy cutting.
Where are my good ones? Well, I made them and gave them away. They went to good homes. So I started thinking of my legacy. Decades down the road, as my good quilts were handed down to those future generations and all that's left in my trunks are the "practice" ones. What will the historian say?
"Well, she was willing to experiment, but she wasn't very polished." Interesting? I wonder how many long-gone quilters we've judged based on the few examples that remain? How do we know we are judging by their best work? Those quilts stored in their trunks may be their early work, work with inexpensive fabric and shaky stitches... the only examples of their work that remains because they were rarely brought out to light.
Deep thoughts at the campfire.
