comments and controversy

Typically I have peaks and troughs of work depending on my creative streak  but I do remember the words of a very wise if not fashionable philosopher .... Gene Simmons from Kiss.... he said you can sit and wait for inspiration or you can just shut the ..... up and work .. as long as you are working you are doing something but don;t expect something brilliant to come out of nowhere . This seems fair enough to me .



This is a statement I make about myself .

My work
My words. My belief .

When you put yourself into a public forum be aware it will turn and bite your backside at some point .

Don;t go out there and ask to be judged if you can't take the judgement

Don;t go on X factor if you can't sing sort of thing

SO when you make and post or make and sell or make and exhibit be ready for someone to turn around and go............... "Meh .. not my thing"

They have NOT said they are going to scream yr name around town as some wierdo  or felon,  They have NOT said all your work is terrible and you should give everything you have to charity /goodwill... and never make again ...   They have not threatened members of yr family.

They have expressed an OPINION

now as am as I am aware that within the UK  and probably that within the USA and Canada , Australia .. well.................. you lot have funny rules .... but we'll let you play on this occasion ....

that asl ong as you do not threaten , threaten to harm, threaten to overthrow a government ( shaky ground here )  not are deliberately libellous  then you can express yr opinion and be free to do so ....

Many won;t like you for it but then again that's life

So where am I going with this .... well  would you believe a quilt has raised this topic ... this quilt won Best in Show hence typed BIS  at the Modern Quilt Guild  QuiltCON .... now whoever thought QUILTCON  was good name really was taking the piss ... I;ve had it thrown at me that yes Modern Quilting is a CON !!  Tempting though it is to bite at that you rise above it ... you hope ...

So anyway BIS was a "reworking of wedding ring in some highly unusual colour combination.

Now until I opened my big chops ... all I had read and heard was ohhhhhhh it;s marvellous ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so wonderful.... so unique............... the quilting was amazing ....

OK you had your say and I will now have mine and you can agree , disagree  whatever but yr opinion is yours and I WILL have mine .



That quilt was a mess .. a hot mess ...  such a mess I refuse ot even show it's image but you can go look on the Bernina site or the Gen Q site ...

MQG is trying to raise it;s profile to raise appeal and awareness.... I don;t think that quilt helped at all .

The initial appeal of MQG was accessible , clean , fresh approaches almost heading into a minimalistic pared down ... clean  from farm to fork.. designed at home , cut and pieced and quilted at home ... quilting by cheque ohh come on ....

Elizabeth Hartman was helping us all  get to grips with free motion quilting .... funky ideas , Red pepper was bright and vibrant piecing to give rippling colour , film in the fridge was super simple but let fabrics sing .... all done by the individual.... so what happened MQG what happened ???

Now I had a chat with a friend who is an artist ... a well known artist .... and they said ...... it might be the Emperors New Clothes... everyone is so scared of not getting it that they say they do get it ... like a class f kids and a physics forces lecture... all look mystified but won;t own up to being completed baffled. .... yup i am baffled.  Maybe my science and tech and medicine background has cleared out any Arts empathy I might have .

so if you feel the need ot clarify please do so on the back of a $50 note and send to me in the UK /