Texture

There’s a lot of talk on quilting social media these days about texture. Just try a search on #TextureTuesday and you’ll see what I mean. What is texture, anyway? Dictionary.com says this:

Texture was what drew me to quilting.

I have no quilters in my family. My mother taught me to sew at a young age. But the intention was garment construction. She made our clothes, (my sister and I), until we were old enough to make them ourselves.

We had no quilts in the house as I was growing up. (Sad, I know). My grandmother knitted and crocheted. We had afghans, from dictionary.com: afghan: a soft woolen blanket, crocheted or knitted, usually in a geometric pattern. They were scratchy to this little, allergic to wool, girl. I kind of hated them, but oh, what I would give to have one of them today. I had no appreciation of my Gramma’s artistry.

Every year at Christmastime, we would get a card from a woman that worked with my Dad. They were the most imaginative cards with moving parts and they were embossed. I was enchanted by them. The Christmas tree branches had needles and the little girl’s sweater had knitted stitches. They were the most beautiful things I had ever seen. The design elements of not only image and color, but texture. And I thought the lady who sent them must be some kind of princess artist with the best taste in things ever.

Later in life, I really can’t remember when, I saw a wholecloth quilt. The emotions and thoughts I had about those Christmas cards came flooding back. A practical item with gorgeous texture that you could enjoy every single day of the year and it wasn’t scratchy! I was in love!

Making quilts

When I started to make my own quilts, my greatest goal was to make a wholecloth. I started hand quilting my tops, I quilted two. However, that was taking way too long, so I tried machine quilting on my domestic machine. That was hard, and uncomfortable, and not very much fun. Then I discovered longarm machines. And when I bought my first Handi Quilter I knew my goal might be in reach, someday, after lots and lots of practice.

And that’s my story about how I ended up here, writing to you about quilting. Texture drew me in and never let go.

Here’s some quilt texture eye candy for you. Next week I’ll write more about how to achieve great texture on your quilts.

by Mary Beth Krapil