Without Electricity

Early in my quilting life, I met many quilt police (QP)…well at least “THEY” thought they were the QP. I have since realized this variety of “law enforcement” is a figment of their imagination. Who gives them the power to judge me and tell me what I’m doing is wrong? Now I realize if I enter a quilt show, which is a competition, I must stand by the rules of order or be critiqued accordingly. This fact is true for all competitions, not just quilting.

I remember one incident in particular when the QP were in a shop of primarily machine quilted quilts. There in a corner was a lovely hand-quilted wall hanging. The self-professed QP patrolwoman jumped at the chance to pronounce her authority, “That quilt,” she said, “is the only REAL quilt in this entire shop. REAL quilts are hand quilted.”

I was taken back by her comment. My thoughts were “OK, now that you’ve insulted every quilter in this shop, what do you think these other things are? Silly Putty? Of course, they’re real quilts!” I have pondered her comments and share the story every time I teach machine quilting.

What I think this imaginary patrolwoman was trying to say was that the hand-quilted variety was a “traditional” quilt. But that doesn’t sit well with me either. What makes tradition? I personally think anything that can be documented for more than 100 years is a pretty traditional thing. Sewing machines have been around longer than that.

And this year I proved it, I bought a treadle sewing machine. Yeah…the kind that doesn’t plug in the wall and runs totally on foot power. She’s a lovely little Burdick machine sold in the 1890′s by Sears and Roebuck, Chicago. Why a treadle? Because I want to sew on it, why else? I was fortunate enough to find a copy of the owner’s manual online. Imagine my excitement when there on the very last page of the manual where the directions on How to Quilt…YES!!! on a treadle sewing machine. I now have proof that the patrolwoman in question, is truly a figment of her imagination.

And now I ask myself, even though the manual shows a straight-line crosshatch quilting pattern, can I do free motion quilting? I’m sure I can. I’m going to take on the challenge and have Lady Burdick quilt with me. Originality and creativity comes from stepping outside the boundaries and facing our fears to try something new. I’ve done that very thing more than once this month, good things are coming. I can be innovative even without electricity.