Art...

Here's a question for you. What is ART? I mean really... What is it? According to various dictionaries, art is the creation of beautiful or significant things; the products of human creativity; a superior skill that you can learn by study and practice and observation.

So, doesn't that mean that art can be just about anything we want? It just needs to be something "created."

Sit back and listen to what people say about quilts. Painting is already an acknowledged art form. But quilts. People say, "It's just a blanket." Umm... sure, whatever. It's taking several pieces of fabric from different bolts of cloth, cutting each piece to specific measurements, and then carefully sewing the pieces back together to form a delightful image. Whether it's a 4-patch, 9-patch, or something more complex like a New York Beauty block. Each one is an art form.

Even quilters can be snobs about what constitutes as art in the quilt field. We look at the quilts that make it to Houston or Paducah and say, "Oh, yeah. That's art!" Then we overlook the 'lowly' quilts that our children and other relatives curl up in. No one would ever dare cuddle up in a quilt at a major quilt show. And yet, those quilts we cuddle up in mean much more to us than the others.

I recently repaired a vintage quilt. It was made probably back in 1960 or maybe even earlier. It was machine pieced and hand quilted. It was obviously meant to be a "utility quilt." To be used up. However, it was the first quilt I ever repaired for my parents. Not the fancier ones that still need repaired that they have. Nope. It was the beloved quilt in our family. I loved running my hands over those patches. Heartbroken at the horrible restoration it went through previously. I then carefully matched the colors and types of fabrics and restored it the way it was supposed to be. It came out beautiful. When I returned it, no one could tell which patches I had replaced. That is the way it should be. Even though it was a "utility quilt," it's still art. Hand quilting is rare these days. We reserve it for our finest quilts. Back then, it was used for everything. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

So, never let anyone tell you that your quilts aren't worthy of being called art. Even our "lowly" scrap quilts are beautiful. Even we "look down" on our scrap quilts. But they're still beautiful. The same amount of time goes into those as we put into other quilts. Maybe even more if we have to carefully sort out our scraps to get the right color combination or the right size to cut out that square or triangle. Nope. Every quilt, every wallhanging, everything we create out of our fabric is art. Then, with love, we give them away. Very rarely do we accept money for our works of art. Maybe in all realities, they should be called "works of heart" for that's what they are.