same here

Dawn said, "But, this a cool discussion. Kind of like the one where we were talking about; Are you a Quilter, Quilt Artist, Fiber Artist, Art Quilter, Piecer, or Quilt Maker. My answer? YES, I am! "

Me too!!

I just found this thread, and find it VERY interesting, to say the least! I have quilted all of my own quilts, so am probably a quilter by anyone's definition. Fortunately, I do not have to experience an identity crises at the moment! Whew! That being said, I do envy those who have the funds to send their tops out to be quilted! I have a wonderful, original quilt top in my profile, that will probably never get quilted! Sigh! My time will be spent on this year's BOM, HSTs quilts, my strips from the "Strippers" exchange, some ATCs to trade in Houston, and who knows what's next. I love to move forward with new ideas. It is hard for me to go "back" and finish an idea I had years ago (like my profile quilt top).

When I move into a new area and learn of a quilter that I should meet, and she whips out all of her lovely quilts, and I ooh and ahh over her multitude of creations, then find out she has sent them all out to be quilted, I will have to be honest here, she will slip a little lower on that pedestal I originally had her on! It is just a feeling inside me, or like Tina said, how I am wired. I cannot help it, nor am I trying to judge her. In my mind she is a "piecer, creater of quilt tops, artist, red worker, embroiderer, appliquer", but not a "quilter" if she has never quilted a stitch in her life. Yes, she creates TONS of quit tops, but she does not quilt.

But, this a cool discussion. Kind of like the one where we were talking about; Are you a Quilter, Quilt Artist, Fiber Artist, Art Quilter, Piecer, or Quilt Maker. My answer? YES, I am!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

Margo wrote:
Totally with you, Margo, though the little fair I was involved in was also changing at the time I moved away. I displayed at a show in a prior community where their entry form stated: Made by, quilted, by, owned by and a whole raft other information. Next community thought I had sprouted horns when I suggested they implement something similar.

Like everything else there are no "industry standards."

Margo wrote:
Unfortunately, there are shows that are now going back in the other direction. Since I quilt for hire, my clients may not enter a quilt they paid me to do. There's one show here in NY that "lets" them enter but they cannot be judged. A couple of years ago, another quilter's customer lied in order to get her quilt in. Houston says only collaberative quilts may be entered-no money can change hands.
I think it is so sad that these shows seem to be going backward instead of forward.

I totally agree with you, Margo. I've only been to one quilt show - and I've never entered one - so I don't know the ins and outs of how quilts get entered, but I've seen in quilt mags when they list show winners and it seems there's always a category for collaborative quilting and they list the piecer AND the quilter and I just assumed everyone was as courteous as they should be. Goes to show how naive I am on such things. I can see where there are gray areas when it comes to listing designers - "inspired by" "in the style of" "part of this design (altered) by this designer, part of that design (altered) by that designer, etc". But if it's a straight-up pattern (Bouquets for a New Day, for example) it definitely should be listed. And even those gray areas should be listed as much as possible IMHO.
Perhaps, for those in the business of quilting, it should actually be stated in your work order that you have to be listed whenever entered into a show and notified of any awards won - those awards would help business! I don't know the legalities of cash awards , but they'd at least get great advertising of their work. And maybe could start charging more
-Tina

Spitfire wrote:
I wish that were always so, Tina, but there are still shows that only recognize the person who enters the quilt as the quilter. If the actual quilting is done by someone else it is often times not even mentioned, and there is usually only one ribbon awarded....and it goes to the person who entered the quilt. I have friends who are in the business of quilting who sometimes learn that their work earned big ribbons and big money prizes, but they only heard about it from someone who happened to see it at the show and recognize the quilt. That doesn't seem fair to me. You would think that if a quilt won an award, the person who entered it would be courteous enough to share the good news with the quilter!

That is beginning to change, and personally, I think that anyone who contributes to the quilt should be recognized. For instance, on all of my quilt labels, I state who the pattern designer was (Sue Garman?) the source of the pattern (TQS?) and that I personally did the piecing, applique and quilting myself. I think that information should be available on every quilt in every show!

OK...I'm off my soapbox now!

That's funny - I had an emotional reaction to the term "blanket" - I don't like it. I don't think it describes what we, as quilters, do at all, and I don't allow my quilts to be called "blankets". Everyone is wired differently...
I think that unless you are entering competitions, actual definitions don't mean much. I think for most people, "intent" matters more than an actual defintion. If you piece fabric together and you "intend" it to be a quilt at some point (whether you do the actual quilting or not), then you are a quilter. For instance, if you piece fabric squares together, intending to then cut the fabric into a jacket shape and make a jacket - you are a clothes maker. But if you piece fabric squares together, intending to quilt them or have them quilted, THEN cut them into a jacket shape and make a jacket - you are a quilter AND a jacket maker.
Also, I know I *felt* like a quilter even when I was *just* piecing tops. So feelings play a part, too. At the time, I didn't enjoy the actual quilting part, but I still considered myself a quilter. I think that's fine. Again, everyone is wired differently. Some people don't like piecing - those "quilters" need the beautifully pieced tops to quilt from the "quilters" who only enjoy piecing. At the quilt shows, aren't there categories for quilts that are pieced by one person and quilted by another? The piecer isn't considered any less the quilter than the person who stitches the layers together - they both get the award, right? -Tina

I just have to say that I didn't find the question that started all this talk insulting at all.I thought it was legitimate and has generated quite an interesting discussion.

I like this discussion. It raises a lot of points.
So my take on this is that I like the term "Quiltmaker" as it applies to the whole of the process. You could say "Quilter" just refers to the quilting of the quilt. As in "I am looking for a good quilter to quilt my quilt".
Of course I myself have always thought of everyone who makes a quilt as a quilter whether they quilted it or not.
But hey I say call it what you want. We are all in the business of making quilts and having a great time doing it.

Lorchen wrote:

Love it! I am a maker of blankets and wall decorations too!

Then, what is a quilt? The definition has changed over the years, even since I've been quilting (approx 17 yrs). When I started, it wasn't a quilt unless it was hand quilted. Thanks to Caryl Bryer Fallert, that changed.

QUILTER
Century Dictionary (2 definitions)–noun
1.One who quilts; one who makes quilting.
2.An attachment to sewing-machines for executing quilting upon fabrics.

QUILT
WordNet (3 definitions)
–noun
1.Bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together.
–verb
2.Create by stitching together.
3.Stitch or sew together.

QUILTMAKER
Wiktionary (1 definition)
–noun
1.A maker of quilts.

These are some of the literal definitions. I think your friend qualifies.

Literal questions are often thought-provoking, and very difficult to answer.

And now - very tongue-in-cheek.... : In the spirit of new-found confidence that anything goes, even if the terms get a little mixed..... I am now standing up and proclaim (lovely English with very strong German accent): "I'm a maker of blankets and wall decorations!"

By the way: I highly recommend you all visit and look at the "Bayeux Tapestry" if you are anywhere near it. It's an amazing piece of needlework!

chessiesoul wrote:
Why Not be literal?

What is insulting about asking how others interprete the term quilter? Different people mean different things using the same words.

Take for instance the term 'TAPESTRY' - a much abused word in embroidery circles because actually a tapestry is a woven technique whereby the design is created by weaving different coloured wools (or silks) around the warp threads, but invariably if a stitcher tells you that they are doing some 'tapestry' what they really should be saying is that they are embroidering some woven canvas fabric with wools - commonly known as canvas work or petit/gros point.

To throw further confusion into the usage of the word 'tapestry' there is an Anglo-Saxon piece of embroidery from 1080'sAD in France called the 'Bayeux Tapestry', yet as I said, it is technically an embroidery.

There is nothing wrong with trying to be accurate in your usage of the language, OR trying to discover how it is currently being used.