spoiler alert: this is going to be a long one. i’ve been working on it for quite some time. it all started with a quilt show…
Shasta County quilt Sew-ciety put on a show in Anderson. can’t say much about that particular town. they have a super walmart. ew? that’s about the most significant fame they can claim.
that and the fairgrounds. in one of their big warehouse things was the show. there were some amazing quilts. there were a lot of ho-hum quilts. saying nothing of the time and effort put into them, there seems to be a significant lack of color theory knowledge in the greater northern California craft community. i’ve been spoiled as i was introduced to the art by
Marge. she puts these fools to shame, yo.
but onward. i learned some things. first, hand quilted items are a thing of the past. i saw about three, and they were vintage. everything is done by machine now. tragic. second, silk thread is the best for hand quilting. it’s fabulously strong and doesn’t tangle like cotton. (whatever.) third, people mostly copy designs. rare is the quilter that actually designs.
now for the social and i guess spiritual commentary. know how at a gun show there’s a ton of shady folks with militant bearings and scruffy appearances? know how they unpack the back of their ford ranger covered bed with it's boxes and chests of relicky junk to sell and show? know how many vendors are just downright arrogant know-it-alls?
(my fave is when my hilarious husband asks a straightforward, albeit difficult question, and a guy will give this elaborate opinionated answer after which, walking away, my hilarious husband will say under his breath: “that guy was full of crap. he has no idea what he was talking about.” And then proceed to explain the real answer to me. He’s sort of an instigator, I suppose.)
well quilt shows are just like that. but it smells better. um. to clarify, gun oil is rather lovely smell. old men? not so much. old women? well... take yr pick (read: choose yr poison.) in this instance the doors were open and the breeze smelled of sweet grass.
in both venues you have a bunch of very lost people looking to express themselves through their life work. which is, may I say with all respect, quite futile. read song of solomon. you’ll get my point. gor the second amendment freaks, it’s their right to defend and the love of firearm mechanisms. for the quilt ladies it’s the sweing machine snobbery and the need to make pretty textiles. but it’s all vain. and that leads to me to my point… while I enjoyed myself (or was visually overstimulated to the point of a headache), there was indeed a prevailing spirit of sorrow and darkness. a palpable futility that left my heart sad.
but here are my favorites:
the third one is all of old testament stories. it was fun to figure out which ones. and the last i dug because of the salmon at the bottom balancing the mountains on top.
one booth inspired me to make something. but not the way it intended, i’m sure. i was looking at this pattern (by
pink fig) of this girl’s tiered skirt. now, at a quilt show it is very faux pas to touch any of the work, so i asked (who i’m pretty sure is the owner of this vendor shop thingy) if i could handle it to see the work underneath. long rant short: she tried to sell me a serger telling me it was the ONLY way to make this garment.
lies. oh the lies.
so to prove her wrong. i decided: “i’m embarking on a knit garment sewing challenge. i’m going to turn an old super worn and soft organic cotton t-shirt into a summer dress.” for my elite model. you can guess who.
on project runway (the and only reality show on television i watch), they always freak out when they have to work with knits. i’ve always laughed at the drama with the overlock machine. blah blah, people. suck it up, i would say.
well… we'll see how it goes.
