Quilt Survey

1. What is your name and where are you from?
Henry "Donnie" / North Carolina
2. How, when, and where did you learn to quilt?
I began quilting a little over a year ago after being interested in quilting most of my life from watching my grandmother and grandfather quilt.
3. Why do you quilt? (tradition, expression, for family, etc)
I quilt because it is family tradition and because I find it to be peaceful and relaxing.
4. Have you taught anyone else to quilt?
Yes one of my nieces.
5. Are there differences in quilting from when you first learned and now? If so, how do you feel about this transition?
There are differences in my work if thats what you mean. I have gotten much better at it.
6. Are you part of any quilting groups/communities? I am a member of this board and thats all. 7. Do you feel that quilting is a part of your heritage? If so why?
Yes it is part of my heritage because my Paternal grandparents quilted together and my grandfather learned how to do it from ym grandmother, who learned it from her mother as she learned it from her mother and so forth.
8. What type of feeling do you get out of quilting? Why do you enjoy it?
I get a sense of peace and relaxtion. I enjoy it because it takes me away from the world for a while and lets me be creative. 9. What different type of quilts have you made? What was the most difficult, easiest? Do you have a favourite style?
Applique has been hard for me and strip piecing the easiest. I do not really have a favorite style.
10. Who do you make quilts for?
Family, friends, recently made a couple for charity
11. When quilting, what happens if you make a mistake? If I make a mistake it stays a part of the quilt. I do not rip out the mistake. I let it stay in because it makes the quilt more unique.
12. What is your favourite feature about a quilt?
Depends on the quilt.
13. What makes a quilt different from other blankets to you?
The thought and love that went into making it.
14. Do you feel that contemporary quilting has lost some value? If so, why? Or do you feel it has gained value, and again, why?
Not sure
15. Does the history of quilting mean anything to you? If so, what do you know about its history? The history of quilting means to me family, my family history because quilts played a big part in my family history. It helped bind the family together by bringing family together. How to quilt was passed down from one generation to the next since my great great great great grandmothers time.
16. Do you have anything you would like others to know about quilting?
Just how fun it is to do. How also it is not just a woman's art form/craft. Men quilt and can be pretty good at it.
17. Do you quilt alone, or together in a group? Is quilting a social event or a chance for some alone time for you? Or both?
Quilting is both for me. A chance to create alone and a chance to get together with others to quilt. I will be teaching quilting soon to a couple of my friends every Sunday and this will be a time for us to get together and socialize as well as quilt.
18. If quilting is in your family, do you feel you are carrying on a tradition? If so, why is this important to you?
I do feel that i am carrying on a tradition and its important to me because it represents where my family has been and what they have accomplished. Its important to because it helps to continue the love that was put into all the old quilts we have from generations before and creates that sense that the family spirit is continuing even if some are already gone on.
19. Do you have any memories of others quilting?
Do you have memories of specific quilts in your past? If so, please feel free to share. I remember my grandmother and grandfather quilting my quilt together when i was 10 years old. My grandfather died shortly after it was finished and that is the one quilt I have that I hold most dear to me.