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Last week I posted a series of questions to the quilters who lurk out in the world...quietly enjoying their stitching. I decided to give voice to all of us customers and maybe take a look at what is going on in the quilting world. By no means was this an official tabulation or census for some big brother entity who is keeping track of us quilters. No, this was just for me...as I have an inquisitive mind about things in my world.

So, here are the results as paraphrased by me! I received over 100 responses to my questions and I appreciate each and every one of you who took the time to answer. I read each response (sorry I couldn't answer each one personally) and kept a running tally for each question...not only the answer, but the commentary that many of you left with your answers.

From over 100 responses only one, thank you Renee...was under 40! Now, this could be that the demographics of The Daily Blog readership are aging, or it could be we need to do more to attract the younger generation into this soul satisfying hobby. It also makes me think that life is busier for this age group and their financial hobby outlay goes more to day-to-day expenses. But, maybe the industry needs to look at what might attract this age group to simpler, faster...and...and maybe classes that include a bit of emotional respite.

With that said, more of you like to figure patterns out for yourselves rather than take classes. It may be that we all have had many classes and those are best for enticing new quilters to the fold. On the flip side, you do like to take classes if there is a new technique! Especially one that makes a quilt easier or faster to make.

As for bed size or small...almost split down the middle. We are still making quilts for family and friends and those tend to be on the larger size, but smalls allow us to practice or expand a new technique. Many, many of you are still having a love affair with your machines but your day is split. Machine work during the day and handwork in front of the TV at night :)

Travel for classes or no? About equal. Many like to travel to the "high-end" classes but finances, physical and family responsibility keep just as many at home. I wonder if local shops offered "retreat" like classes that are local if that would be popular?

The next question was interesting, brick 'n mortar or online? All of you like your brick 'n mortar. But, what leads you to turning on your computer is proximity to a quilt shop. And, if you have a quilt shop near you they might not carry what you need. But, your support for the brick 'n mortar was evident. We like to touch and see our fabrics/tools but totally understand that any one shop cannot carry it all.

There was more of an emotional response to the next question Kit or No Kit. No Kit was answered as in, "NO KIT!!!" LOL. More of you were in the No Kit category, and if you did buy a kit, it was as a starting point and you mixed it up???!!!

More of you quilt alone for a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons I loved was when you quilted in a group there was rarely any stitching accomplished, LOL. Isn't that the truth...we love our groups for the emotional support and camaraderie, but we rarely do it to actually make some progress or finish a quilt!

And, as you might have guessed the answer...more of us quilt for the sheer joy, even if we know where the quilt is going. One of the responders to this question, Bernadette, in her answer summed it up perfectly... "Liz Porter once said that most of her quilts would probably be donated to charity after she was gone from the planet. I love that idea: holding my work close now for trunk shows and display, but releasing it to the homeless/needy/friends and relatives after I die."

Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to make this inquisitive mind happy...Oh I hope we continue this journey together because it is a wonderful life!

Stay tuned and travel along with us on Quilt Roadies.

Click here for Anna's blog.