Rotary cutters represent quick quilts to me and though I know that making things quickly is sometimes necessary it's a wave that has swept over quilting world, well actually it is more of a tsunami! How many books and magazine articles do you see exhorting you to make a quilt in this or that latest rapid technique? Absolutely countless! Sadly there is no voice encouraging us to take our time and praising the therapeutic qualities of making things slowly.
.
Most of us probably have several projects on the go at any one time - I know I do - so we can make quilts at all different speeds. All my quilts are slow quilts because I cut out with scissors (Yes remember them?) and piece by hand but some are even slower and are only worked on spasmodically when the mood takes me.
The one above has been put on the back burner because I can't decide whether to finish as it is, which would make it a manageable size for quilting or to add another border? I have three others in a similar state of indecision and I don't know when, or if ever, they will be finished. (Looking at this picture here now I think it needs another border, but what type?)
I don't mind doing things slowly because I don't need quilts, I just love making them, they are my creative outlet and I am extremely lucky to be able to indulge myself and work at the speed that suits me. Of course I do get frustrated because ideas flow and I know I am running out of time.
Just as a matter of interest, I saw in the current Quilters Newsletter magazine that the quilt market is now worth $3.58 billion and I think that in just in America. I expect this figure would drop significantly if we all made quilts more slowly! Maybe this is why we are not encouraged to take our time and make things by hand?
