Who knew?

So while most people would think that quilting is just a fun, bonding hobby with a lot of creative people, really fantastic fabrics, learning, textile creativity, memories, etc; IT’S NOT.

Wow are you wrong, it’s not even any of that apparently.

I mean, yea, when I was new to quilting, I believed that’s what quilting was all about.  Fun, friendship, fabric hoarding…why would I think anything differently?

There are groups, judging groups, “quilt police”, people judging quilters, everything is insane.  I’ll start at the beginning.

Last year around this time there was a big ordeal about The Modern Quilt Guild (The MQG).  They are the group that puts on QuiltCon and they’re “the authority of modern quilting” but, come on, that’s such a fleeting title to try to claim.  Try owning the top of a wave.  Our guild left during what I’m phrasing as the great departure, but it was more along the lines of what we were promised as a guild wasn’t being delivered upon, and we didn’t have much of an incentive to stay.  Our guild only joined initially because they were pressured to join because of the name we’d chosen was really close to theirs.  On top of that there was…an article.  The derivative article.  I have a PDF of said article if anyone’s interested, because after nonstop comments saying how terrible this was, it got taken down.  It was explained to me later that it was taken out of context, because people were blatantly ripping off famous artwork and saying that the pattern was original, so I understand that, but that’s not how seemingly anyone took what the article to say.  Because let’s be honest, all art is a reimagining of something else or a reproduction.  Our guild is probably joining back up for a few reasons, which I completely understand, but I think a lot of people are still keeping them at an arm’s length.

For a long time people kept calling the MQG the quilt police, because they kept saying “well that’s not really modern” even though to call something modern automatically dates it, which makes it not modern, and modern is constantly changing.  So that’s just an ideal that’s just nuts.

On top of these things, there is an infamous instagram account, Quilters without Leaders, that has gone on a bit of a tirade against the MQG specifically.  They were actually the first thing that made me notice anything was awry in this wonderful community of quilters that I’d found.  I like them, because this person has put out people’s fears that they are too afraid to say out there anonymously for them.  If you’re too afraid to speak out against an organization you’re in, you’re basically in a gang.

Another thing that I only recently (this year) heard about since I am not really on Facebook is that there were secret quilting groups where people were gay-bashing and ripping other quilters (mostly men) to shreds and trying to RUIN PEOPLE’S LIVES AND GET THEM FIRED FROM THEIR JOBS.  Uhmm….

1. Haters have too much time on their hands
2. Mind your own business
3. Lifting the community lifts everyone, tearing others down helps NO ONE.

I only heard about this because of Eric the Quilter, who has been posting about this situation since earlier this year, when one of these Facebook groups were trying to come after him.  Here is one of these posts, and I can say that I feel embarrassed for these people who have such sad lives that this is how they choose to use their time.  Eric is an amazing quilter, and he does amazing work, and if you’re jealous, maybe take some notes, but don’t tear others down.

I want you all to know that while I don’t love every quilt that I see, I don’t tear them down.  Maybe I’m like “I wouldn’t have done it that way”, but I don’t tear them apart!  And no one in my guild does that, either!  We’re all so impressed by everyone’s growth as a quilter and people going outside of their comfort zones, or even people making quilts that are very similar to their “style” or something!  We also encourage each other, and we’re awesome.  (okay I’m biased, but we ARE!)

If we’re all living in a bubble where no one is talking about what is wrong, no one knows there’s a problem, and it grows until the wronged are squashed out.  And if you have some hateful rude comment about someone’s hard work they’ve done, think if someone said that to you, and keep it to yourself!

I hope y’all are having a nice week!  I’ve been working on a WIP list that’s just insane, but I’ll probably have some updates on it next week!  Until next time, happy sewing!