January 17, 2009

Finger Cots


Definition of Blanket: Large, warm, covering for sleeping, that pee, barf or popsicles may end up on and can be trashed by children.
Definition of Quilt: Large, warm, covering for sleeping that is intricate in it's design, took hours/years to make, may be an heirloom. It has a decorative top, fluffy batting for the middle and generally has a simple fabric on the back. The three layers are kept together by a series of stitches called quilting.

In my very narrow opinion, machine quilting is beautiful in a quilted wall hanging or handbag, but doesn't belong in traditional quilts. Chinese factories put out millions of these machine quilted knock-offs and they get peddled through big-box stores all over the world.
Click on this fabulous site that describes The History of Quilts. I love to make quilts by hand. It is truly a dying art. I went to a quilt store today. The word "quilt" is actually in the store's name. This store contains lovely fabrics; juvenile children prints, 1930's/civil war/revolutionary war era reproduction fabrics, batiques, etc...

I need supplies so I can hand quilt. This shop carried no hand quilting supplies such as a thimble or.....

..... finger cots! I think they were named that because they look like little pieces of dried apricots. Apri-cots, get it?

Anyway, yes, they also look like miniature condoms. I wear them on my index finger and they help me to grip my needle and pull it through the fabric as I push it through on the other end with my thimble. Incidentally this cute shop didn't carry basic thimbles, either.
Most modern quilters aren't looking for warm bedding to keep their families warm in their little house on the prairie. They are trying to make art with fabric. They love the traditional blocks and geometric shapes, but are unwilling to take the time (hours/years) it takes to produce a REAL quilt. A machine-quilted quilt can take only a weekend to make! Ah, could this be a description of the lives we live? It takes time to make a masterpiece and we live in a food-served-in-styrofoam, where's-the-remote, type of a world.

Where did our desire for tradition go?

1 comment:

  1. Well now with the CPSIA, your beautiful baby quilts will be "hazardous waste" so all we will get are the nasty foreign pop-outs. Grr! Unless we're all sneaky and "break the law" by buying your gorgeous quilts!

    ReplyDelete