Quilting Magazines

I don't usually pick up the quilting magazines off the stands because they will turn up at the library within a month or two. I have so many projects going that looking at the new ones is simply a distraction.

However, browsing can bring insight and fresh ideas, so every once in awhile, I look. Funny thing was that in this latest issue, there were examples of the "blackwork" for a Halloween project (even though it is just black thread on white or beige and not the authentic / historical stitching), a pattern for a bed runner (see the circle insert), charity quilts, and some new ideas for embroidery chain stitches. Each of those ideas represent various projects I was already working on. This gives way to the notion of collective consciousness, which loosely defined, is a theory regarding the expression of shared ideas within a group of people doing similar things. ("Yah, what she said!")

Quilting, and most art forms, are very solitary pastimes for many of us, and like other artists, I tend to think I am doing something unique; and then come to discover that there is this 'energy' swirling around the fabric arts community with many of us on the same creative page. Without being in the same room or even the same building, I am part of a group-think. Its not like I read the magazine first and then started working on these projects. 

I sit here this morning, smiling and shaking my head. The world is huge and small at the same time. Quilting magazines show us what the art community voices promote, and sites like Pinterest give us opportunities to tell the world what we appreciate and want in our lives. The artists among us see what would sell if we were to market our projects, and also what folks would appreciate if we sent them a gift. 

When I see the new issues and trends, I evaluate my stash and start to think of what it needs to make my quilting projects pop. Sometimes its just seeing ideas for different combinations. I love knowing that I can use what I have to express my creative force my own way.