First impressions

First posts seem important, as important as first impressions. One word too many or too pretentious and I've lost your interest and you're gone forever! But if you hang on for a few more words then I would like to discuss my first impression of quilting. My Mom tried for YEARS to get me to quilt with her and honestly I was too snobby to really take to it. I have a BFA and MFA in painting and drawing and to me quilting was too crafty for my attention (notice the word "was").  As she urged I played a bit, every time I went home to visit she thrust some beautiful fabric in my hands and I joyfully built a quilt, it was always fun, I enjoyed it thoroughly and returned home with big ideas to continue on my own. But then my paint and canvas called, I felt guilty not painting, which led me to abandon all thought of quilting within a day of returning home. Every time she mentioned my joining her in business, showed me a quilting magazine, or took me to a quilting show I thought it would be a great thing to do, in the future... but... for now I'm painting.

Quilting, in my mind, was for older women who sew stars in squares in a wallpapered room with lace valances in the countryside; I was way too urban and young for that. I also had trouble acknowledging that quilting can be art, in my world oil paint is luscious and sexy and can change the world and I never thought of fabric as holding the same potential.

That is, not until after a year of what I'm calling a painting sabbatical, the clouds opened up on an opportunity and I was sucked into the quilting world to the point where I now own my very own 12' Long Arm quilting machine, have filed for a business license to operate a business making quilts, patterns, and providing long arm services. I am, to say the least, soooo excited to be embarking on this journey. The ideas I've long suppressed are thrusting themselves out so fast I've started carrying a journal in my purse to jot them down! I've realized quilting does not mean stars in squares, it can be anything I want it to be, it's a two dimensional plane- just like canvas- and I'm ready to throw my thread to the wind and wholeheartedly redefine my preconceptions of quilting. I am after all young and urban and quilting...