And who can't relate to this...
Funny how cats always seem to find the perfect spot to curl up for a well deserved nap. Here Felix finds a little respite in the middle of Mary's Urban Amish.
Quiltology
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Mediocre artists borrow" said Picasso, "great artists steal."
It was bound to happen—someone ripped off my Urban Amish pattern. Sure, they can claim that this is a variation on a theme—that they’ve created something substantially different—in this case adding on a big honking (and dare I say ugly) border—but I know and they know—this is the same quilt—my Urban Amish with their big butt-ugly border.
Okay, what to do….
1. I could fire off an angry email fueled with indignation and peppered with a few choice words!
2. I could compose a very business like cease and desist letter gently reminding them that there is such a thing as copyright law in the United States of America.
3. Or I could take the high road—accept the old adage that “imitation is the highest form of flattery” and simply move on.
Bingo…this snowy morning it’s number 3. As I thought about this, I realized that I’m not in the pattern business—I’m in the teaching business. I designed Urban Amish as a project for my intro to patchwork class. It was intended to be copied by my students and customers. Beginners follow in the footsteps of more experienced quilters in order to learn the craft and perfect the technique—it's how we all learn. When I started quilting, I was inspired to recreate the quilts I saw and loved. This is the way it works!
Case in point—Jill Zenoff’s new queen sized Urban Amish! This is a wonderful new quilt made from a gentle mix of Joel Dewberry prints and batiks. I always say, there are the “wow” quilts we hang on the walls, and then there are the “ah” quilts we live with on our beds. This is a Zen-ah!
Jill has turned into quite the power patchworker. She's now helping me with store samples and teaching the Sewing Machine Basics class. And the amazing things is, Jill just started sewing and quilting a little more than a year ago when her friend Anne talked her into joining the beginning class. Since then she’s made a bunch of quilts including a Blooming 9-Patch as a wedding quilt for her friend Katie, another as a gift for her new niece and now a charity quilt for a fundraiser she’s organizing in March. You go girl!
Want to make a copy of your own Urban Amish? February classes are starting up next week. Come join us….
Stay warm and dry everybody!
Colette