Monday, August 18, 2008

Educating the public & The Quilt project

On Saturday I sat in a furniture story as the "quilt answer person" for a display of nearly 100 quilts. The project is a traveling display called The Quilt and is about breast cancer.

Anyway, it was a slow day. My most interesting conversations were with two of the store salespeople. They admitted knowing very little about quilts and it was informative hearing their comments. One of them, a man, said that he liked some of the quilts better than others. He pointed to a brightly colored medallion style with lots of white background and lovely feather quilting in the white. He said he liked the way they used that "embossed white fabric." I explained to him how that was done and he was totally surprised. He thought that the fabric was purchased like that and then cut into pieces to sew together to make the quilt. He had no idea that the "embossing" was done by the quilter.

This was the first time I've ever heard anything like that, and am now even more aware that many people have no idea what a quilt is or how it is made!

The Quilt is a Canadian project that raises funds to provide support for people with cancer, and their families. The quilts are made and donated by individuals and guilds, then sold by online auction. In just a few years, they have raised over 1.5 million dollars. The quilts have a reserve price, but if they are sold at those reserve prices, the new owner will not only have a lovely quilt, but a huge bargain. Many of them are really lovely, and some are hand-quilted. Have a look by clicking on the link above.

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