Ellen Anne Eddy's Thread Magic Studio: The Whys?

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Whys?

12:03 PM |

Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy |

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Recently I've asked quilters to send me animal quilts that I might use in an upcoming lecture. (See Thread Magic Events).

What an amazement to see all the wonderful work people have sent me. I'm waiting for a couple of weeks until I have everything in to choose. It's going to be hard. I will post up a Picasa gallery of everyone's work, just to celebrate the fabulous things people have sent me. Then I'll have to choose, or else offer an 8 hour lecture. I do think the group would shoot me if I did.

The Beautiful Beast lecture is all about the whys. So often, in a group, the question is how. What needle did you use? What thread? What machine? On what setting? As valid as those questions are in some settings, there's a whole class of quilter who really isn't based that way. She wants to know why.

Now why's are funny. Sometimes they're incredibly personal. Or noble. Or funny. One woman said, "I'm sorry this isn't about curing my neighbor's kid from cancer. It was a design challenge."I love it.

I love it all. The whys are fascinating, but they're never wrong. And why shouldn't we tell why? The things that move us to pour out time, energy, passion, fabric and thread deserve illumination. And they make great stories.

Why is there a big bug on my quilt? I'm still working out how I ended up not looking like Barbie. If the bugs are beautiful, maybe I am too.