supreme slider

[Constance G.]

Lisa, thanks for your insights. I agree with you that anyone who chooses to piece/applique/quilt is part of this big family of quilters. Personally, I find modern quilts to be very appealing, and I welcome the influx of a younger group of quilters into the fold. Innovative art pushes the boundaries to places that some find uncomfortable, and that's OK. We all just need to be respectful of the effort and emotion that went into the creation of ANY quilt, even if it's not our cup of tea. I know this is a good reminder for ME before I head to Paducah next month. You never know when the maker of a quilt is within earshot!

[Rita C.]

Lisa, congratulations on your awards at Quiltcon. Beautiful quilts. And congrats on your pink hair and your reason for it. Happy days.

[Rita C.]

Pink hair - so what (although I am delighted for the reason behind it) Now I had better go & have a look at the blog....

In UK The leading teacher of embroidery at Goldsmiths College and one of the leaders of 'Modern Embroidery' from at least the 50's onwards was a lady called Constance Howard and she always had green hair. She was a HUGE inspiration to hundreds of students and is one of the major names of the British embroidery & textiles world for the 20th century. http://www.gold.ac.uk/constance-howard/constance/

An interesting side story was that a lady who was attending one of CH's lectures had to take her small son with her, and to avoid any loud embarassing comments about her hair colour, explained to her son that there would be a lady with green hair there. Well the time came, and her son asked 'Where is the lady with the green hair?' - it turned out that he was colour blind and nobody had realised until then.

[Margo C.]

LOL!! We could probably all learn a LOT from a color-blind child!

[E.M. T.]

ops: I'll try to keep my humble opinion to myself in future... or express it more clearly. :? Hooray
for survivors every where !

[E.M. T.]

Talk about a rabbit trail! I asked a simple question about a quilting aid called the Supreme Slider and now we are onto the topic of modern quilts, censorship, etc. LOL and Yikes!
So here's my opinion on the aforementioned trails. 1. There is plenty of room for all kinds of quilts. 2. There is plenty of room for all kinds of quilters. 3. There are plenty of reasons not to judge someone based on their appearance. 4. I can appreciate individual aspects of a quilt even I don't like it as a whole. 5. I can appreciate your style of quilting even if I don't aim to emulate it. 5. If I don't like any part of your quilt, I do not have to look at it. 6. And finally, if I don't like a quilt and feel the need to express that, I can do it politely.

All that being said, I do have to add that when my girls were young, I frequently took them to quilt shows with me and I would not have appreciated having to answer questions about a quilt with words on it that I don't allow in my home. There's that fine line again between rights to free speech and not purposely being offensive. That will never be agreed upon. It is my personal choice to avoid certain language and actions.

Now about that Supreme Slider.......
Still lovin' the Sew Slip II and I imagine the Supreme Slider would work just as well, it's just more expensive.

[Lotti D.]

i for one am very happy about the turn this thread has taken as it caused me to sidetrack from my tasks at hand and go read Lisa's blog, find out more about the quilt and find completely couchy. definitely worth the time it took me - and i don't really care that i'll be at work till the security guard throws me out!

yes, i do agree that we should try to get the whole picture before we act - however sometimes we just don't feel we have the time - and as it in this case - the follow-up can turn into a very informative and lively discourse giving a whole bunch of us the opportunity to learn more.

congratulations Lisa!

[E.M. T.]

8)

[Margo C.]

[Susan B.]

Quilting is my comfort. I certainly wouldn't want my grandniece asking me why a quilt has bad words on it. Maybe I could tell her that our brains are like "supreme sliders", we can let offensive language slide right on through.

[Rita C.]

Now we are getting into a philosophical debate - and I hate philosophy :x 'Bad' word or just a word? I think it's just a word. I come from a nation of people who curse at the drop of a hat. And even if you don't have a hat to drop we can manage to drop an eff word into any sentence and sometimes insert it into a word itself like philo-effin'-sophical or anti-effin'- social. Personally, I think that the quilt is doing it's job when it makes people think and react to it, wasn't that the intention? Feckin' right!

[Nancy R.]

I hope I don't offend anyone, but I do want to say that I don't believe in censorship, and I believe that that extends to what I'm able to say about a quilt. I personally don't think that I should have to say only kind things about a quilt that I see in a show. If something doesn't appeal to me, I should be able to turn to my friend and say so. There are some beautiful, incredibly made quilts out there that just don't appeal to me personally. I've also seen quilts in shows that, because of the workmanship, I've been surprised that it was included in the show. I have no hesitation in turning to my friend and commenting on that, either. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the degree of negative comments that we're talking about, but any time you display something in public you should realize that there will always be someone who doesn't find it appealing for some reason. When I show a quilt, if I'm hanging around the quilt at the show listening in on what others are saying, then I expect to hear good and bad. It may hurt my feelings, but that's the way it goes. After all, I'm eavesdropping on someone else's private conversation that just happens to be in a public place.

That said, I should also say that what I might say about a quilt when talking to a friend or companion is different that what I might say about a quilt online. Online, I'm not talking in private anymore and I try to be more careful about what I say. I still feel that I can say negative things, but I'm less likely to say something negative and more careful to remind people that it's an opinion and nothing more.

As for exhibits in shows, I want everything to be considered by the show organizers. While there are some genres that don't appeal to me, I try to look at everything in every show because I always find pieces that I like and I think I can learn and get ideas from everyone and everything.

I know it must sound like I'm a negative person, but I'm truly not. I really love quilts of all kinds and have a lot more positive comments than negative ones. I just don't want to feel like I can't honestly express my opinions to my friends as I'm viewing a show.

Nancy

[E.M. T.]

Rita...like your creative spelling ! I must say I don't have occasion to write that word much ! I use it
prob'ly too much ! ops: However ...while I'd defend the right to use it....I personally find it neither graceful
or polite...and, tho' oft times to the point ! , there's usually a better way to say something. Shock value
seems to be very big in our world today....wonder what happens when the words no longer shock? :|
What I said....kick that hornets' nest...be prepared. Try not to complain !

[lsipes]

I'm sorry this turned into a debate on the use of the "F" word. Though, not really. I think open discussion is fun!
However, I want to point out that no one takes issue with anyone disliking a quilt for any reason. It's to say that the quilt should never have been made that is the problem. And even still, THAT was not the problem.
The maker(s) of the quilt were told that they were horrible people, not fit to be mothers because of their usage of the word, etc. Completely off base. And THAT is why I wrote that blog.

[Susan B.]

think open discussion is fun!
The maker(s) of the quilt were told that they were horrible people,

This sure didn't come through on the blog that I read!

Sometimes, our words may come back to bite us. I'm reminded that the first words my mother ever heard my son say were Sh** Sh** Sh**
at his ripe old age of 2.