Monday, October 4, 2010

in·spi·ra·tion



in·spi·ra·tion  

–noun


1.an inspiring or animating action or influence: I cannot write poetry without inspiration.
2.something inspired, as an idea.
3.a result of inspired activity.
4.a thing or person that inspires.
5.Theology .

A divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.
b.the divine quality of the writings or words of a person so influenced.
6.the drawing of air into the lungs; inhalation.
7.the act of inspiring; quality or state of being inspired.

**

Janet asked last week,
Do you ever feel like other people disapprove of your free scrappy style?
Do you care? 

No, it's totally silly. This whole notion of quilters styles against quilters styles, is absurd.
Everyone is on their own journey, and the personal process is so important to the creator,
it's not, to me, acceptable to carry baggage like that around...
Really in this world?  
Where people are judging people, 
and religion's are judging other's religions, 
we have to judge each other's processes as well?
NOPE.
I have no room for that.

I appreciate all kinds of quilts.

We are all influenced by so many things all around us... 
Things go in, they percolate, they formulate, they come out...
Colors inspire, patterns inspire, people inspire.
Sometimes it's hard to point to what inspires you.

And sometimes, you just know where your inspiration comes from.
his is my grandmother's quilt above.
This recent top I am working on, came to me when I was looking at my grandmothers quilts and wanted to make a quilt that was ME, but based on my grandmother's work. The long strips that  run through this quilt, and her process of taking scraps that were pre cut and adding them together like a giant puzzle.

I can also see that colors in her quilts really resonate in my work as well. the Red's and brights...

That's pretty much what I love to do. Straight up.
These quilts have been made for centuries...Everything has been done, and re done... 
that is what fads are... that's life.

This star quilt that sold on ebay in the spring, (which I did not win! drat!)
Has totally inspired me to work on stars.
Tonya's HUGE Star, was in the back of mine,when I went to see her, 
and asked her to pull it out.
To fab to be left in a box, inspires me.


Something that is totally inspiring me today,
is Amy and I run the 

We have a new blog, you can check it out here...
These folks inspired the daylights out of me this weekend.
The energy in the room was addictive, 
and we all went about our days
with itchy sewing fingers...


This is our first group quilt.
About 17 of us, all brought a strip to add to this quilt.
We laid it out together as a group, the only requirement was the length, 65".

Look how Fabulous it turned out?

That's inspiring.  

So many talents, so many different approaches, 
and together, it all looks fabulous together...



Go be inspired.
;-)

Happy sewing!




28 comments:

  1. Inspiration - cutting up fabric, especially shirts.

    Love your inspiration.

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  2. Great post and I love that guild row quilt!

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  3. I am sitting here and just breathing! What a wonderful post.

    Art has no room for judging. It is one's expression of absolute inner self and a true personality. How and why should anyone judge that?
    Besides, it would be just another person's opinion.. Do we really care that much?
    No. No time for that.. Much of goodness to pour into the quilts!

    Love your grandmother inspired quilt! Love the star quilt. And the NYC MOD quilt too!
    Okay.. back to the sewing room!

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  4. Love your quilts Victoria. Thanks for expanding on your response. It's nice to have others who work in your genre to relate to.

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  5. Thanks for the message from your heart and the pictures of quilts in progress ... a feast for our eyes and souls.

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  6. Wow! Love your new crazy!!! The group quilt is gorgeous too.

    I agree with your talk about judgement. What could anyone else's opinion possibly have to do with our creations?

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  7. Oh Victoria I'm loving the star quilt - it makes me so happy. Wonderful post too, couldn't agree more.

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  8. Very well said. Thanks for clarifing this point of view. I'm so tired of people wanting to classify quilts styles and tell me what's a real quilt. and... I love the guild quilt!

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  9. I love your attitude and your quilts!

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  10. Everyone walks to the beat of their own drummer. I appreciate all styles because of the creativity. LOVE the word percolate and I LOVE the scrappy blocks with the stars in the first photo. WOW!!!

    Many long years ago I did a row by row project with a group of quilt friends. Fun and now I want to do it again. Thanks for always providing so much inspiration.

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  11. Echo everything Sujata said! And LOVE all your new quilts (the bee blocks look great around your star!) Don't you find that if you try to find something good to say about something you are not keen on, you end up inspired by seeing something you hadn't originally notced? Similarly,when you don't get something you want (the ebay quilt!) you end up inspired to create something even more amazing! And THANK YOUfor all your inspiration!!

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  12. I think Webster's forgot #8: Victoria! Your work and reflections are endlessly inspiring. I lovelovelove the scrappy blocks around the stars. Lots of fabulous things to gaze upon here!

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  13. Inspiration indeed! I'm a great believer in the 'we are the sum of all we see, meet, do, experience...and therefore this is the sum of our creativity! Great post V! LOVE the scrappy blocks around the stars, inspired!

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  14. I very much love your post! So true. Your blog inspires me - even though it may just be in little ways, not seen by others.
    What a great group quilt!

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  15. Yes, yes, yes! Inspiration abounds in the quilting community. And it's all beautiful. Inspire to inspire and pass this creative juice all around.

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  16. Thank you for that beautiful post. So well said. Creating is a gift we give ourselves and each other and should be treated as such. Every photo is beautiful - one wow after another!

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  17. the slashed border really works on the star quilt.. amazing. your energy is flowing out to all of us, thank you.

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  18. GReat job with this post. If you are enjoying what you do then you should be appreciated for it. My own quirk though is that it is hard to like dead brown repro quilts. I love repro quilts, just not totally brown ones where everything is mush. Out quilting ancestor loved color too. Bonnie

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  19. Great post. Also, very interesting to investigate what inspires us. You gave me a lot to think about.

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  20. Great post, you are an inspiration. I really
    liked that group quilt. I'm trying to be
    less concerned with planning after seeing
    all of your wonderful creations.

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  21. Well...all I know is I'm a first class 'quilt junky'!!! I LOVE every style and if others criticize
    the 'free scrappy style' it's like
    critizing the whole history of quilts. Utilitary quilts through the ages are most certainly scrappy! There are some styles I may like better than others but I'm interested in trying some of all of them!!!
    That's sure some great scrappy 'starliciousness'you have going there girlfriend!!

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  22. Well put, Victoria!
    I love your grandma's scrappy quilt top and the way it has inspired you. She must have been a very patient lady to put that gigantic puzzle together; amazing!

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  23. You know, it all makes me go back to this book http://www.amazon.com/Papa-Pioneer-Quilt-Jean-Leeuwen/dp/0803730284 . It is a great children's book , however it is true about quilting and how it all began, and if you read this book you see how and where the girl was so happy to find her scraps for her quilt. They were little peices of treasure which she worked with and made something warm out of it. I know we dont need to be this way anymore, but the though is still the same, we work with what we have in our thoughts and there it is ! LOL ! no judgement...

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  24. great group quilt.
    Looks like you ladies are having fun!

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  25. ooh, those bee blocks would make an awesome border for the big star. that quilt of your grandmother's is DIVINE. love it love it love it. do you own it? I can barely begin to figure out how she made it. wow.

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  26. Your group quilt is amazing!! What a great idea!

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  27. That group strip quilt turned out great! Gotta love your grandma's quilt too :- )

    So much inspiration in the blog world!!!

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  28. Hi Victoria, I'm not a quilter (yet!), but love to look at quilts. Thank you for inspiring me to think about my inspirations - I haven't really thought about it too much before this.

    Your group strip quilt is wonderful - you obviously inspire each other.

    Elaine

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