Sunday, April 9, 2017

Quilters are NICE

...but some other people sure aren't. As you may know, my husband also blogs. He writes about our travels, with lots of detail about the things he fixes, maintains or creates from scratch for the boat. It's primarily a detailed record for our own archives, but he does have several hundred regular readers.


Yesterday, he posted this photo of a chain splice that he made. It's basically a kind of braided knot made from very thick, very stiff rope. It's not easy to do, especially if you only make one every three years or so. He admits he's a newbie at it, but that the splice does the trick. 

Quilty friends, that blog post generated exactly two comments, and both people said his splice was ugly! Not just ugly, "butt ugly." That's just mean. 

Now we quilters, we've seen our share of quilts that aren't our taste. Color and fabric combos that don't float our boat. We've seen chopped off points, crooked seams, puckery bindings. Have you ever, EVER read a comment that said a quilt was ugly? No way. For a newbie who is just learning, we always find something kind and encouraging to say. Strange fabrics? "Your quilting is looking great!" Odd FMQ? "I love how cheerful this quilt is!" And if an experienced quilter posts something that we just can't find anything to compliment, well, we just don't leave a comment that day.

Sean is pretty thick skinned, so he replied to each of those commenters politely. But he worked hard on that splice, darn it! It took him several hours to make this important piece of our boat. I'm not saying you have to, but if a couple of kindly quilters visited his post and gave him an Attaboy, I'd be grateful and the world would be a nicer place. Thanks!


And speaking of quilts that may or may not be your taste, here is my latest finish. I'm calling it Fernville Seasons, and it will be donated to Happy Chemo for Hands2Help.


Each panel shows a scene from one of the four seasons. People ice skating in the winter,


flowers, animals and birds in the spring,


folks enjoying the water in the summer (including some NICE boaters),


and an autumn full of pumpkins, falling leaves and little birds. I thought all the fun panel details would be a nice distraction for someone undergoing chemotherapy. The quilting is simple, wavy and straight diagonal lines. The size is about 50"x50" for a good lap or wheelchair size. The binding is scrappy. It hasn't been washed yet, so it will probably shrink a smidge. 


The back is mostly covered with fun, funky chickens and a stripe of mossy green ferns. Those ferns named the little town for me, Fernville. Janice, I thought about your Chicken Poop quilt as I was piecing the back! I think my chickens pooped in the ferns where you can't see it. 

I'll try to post some "glamour shots" after Fernville Seasons gets crinkly in the wash next week.


15 comments:

  1. My mother always said "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all." I agree - those comments were mean and unwarranted.

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  2. It amazes me that knotted rope can be considered ugly and not ok to go on the web!! oh my gosh.... well I have made a comment - not that I have any idea on what a 'pretty' splice should look like but it looks great to me!!! I love your interesting pictures in the new quilt... so fun
    Hugz

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  3. Shame on them! I learned to splice when I was sailing years ago and it's hard! Especially with such thick line. Tell your husband I'm impressed!

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  4. Wow! I can't believe someone would actually think it was a good use of their time to make a rude comment. Sheesh! I laughed out loud when you talked about your chickens pooping in the ferns! By the way, I'll have you know I have never had to struggle to find something nice to say about your quilts. I LOVE your style, Louise!

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  5. I'm sorry bloggers were so rude to your DH, I mean really like you said if you don't like it don't comment! I see lots of eye spy things in your quilt that could help the person using it keep their mind off their treatments:)

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  6. Some people just don't have any class. Glad to learn you're back on board, 'home' again! What a delightfully bright and cheery quilt to keep a little one cozy, 'safe', and busy! XO

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  7. Thanks, sweetie, for drumming up all this support! And thanks to everyone here who commented.

    Just to be clear this splice did not take hours, just about an hour or so. Finding the end of the chain, dragging it across the shop floor, and making the splice at the other end of the rope made it all add up to a couple of hours or so.

    And, yes, it's ugly. I admit. I only needed it to be functional, not pretty. It will spend its whole life, unseen, underneath a half ton of chain. :-)

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  8. There are some mean, rude people out in blogland!, thankfully not quilters! Love this post Louise, good for you!

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  9. Hi, Louise! I tried to leave a comment on your husband's blog but was unable (the "comment as" box was blank and when I clicked on the dropdown menu it came up blank too and wouldn't let me fill it in or post without it). So please share this with him.

    Sean, I am a bit jealous of you and Louise's lifestyle of living on the water and a bit envious of how well and thorough you write your blog posts. They are a good read for us readers who long to do as you do but can't or are afraid to try. Your skills as a seaman are many. Keep up the good writing for those of us who can only live our dreams through your words. Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

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  10. I feel so sorry for those two commenters, they must have very sad and poor quality lives to make such nasty comments. Whereas quilters live in happy land surrounded by beautiful fabrics and colour. And you and your husband have the most wonderful life of all. I can hardly tie a shoelace, I'm well impressed.

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  11. Okay first, I love the whimsy of your Fernville Seasons and will be awaiting it's wrinkling. Secondly, Your hubs commenters obviously don't have an eye for character.

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  12. Your quilt is amazing! And I love your husbands splice! Being an ex girl guide leader I love knots and ropes and I think it looks great.

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  13. Love the back of the quilt. Glad to see you are back in the water.

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  14. Whatever happened to 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?' I struggle with a granny knot so your husband's handiwork looks good to me. I like that you are standing up for him too.

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  15. That was mean . Mean people all over the world. Unhappy in themselves I think . My daughter used to blog fashion , her fashion , then she got a couple of mean things. I was furious especially as one of them was a blogger "known " to her .

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