Claiming Your Own Style

For most of my life I have avoided categorizing or labeling myself.


Probably because I never found one that seemed to properly fit. One-size-fits-all-never worked for me, and this has been very true in the years that I have been exploring the art of quilting and stitching.


It's all been a long and wonderful learning journey for me, trying a little of this, and a little of that, seeing what I liked and what I didn't...


until finally arriving at this point in time, where after many years of exploring I have developed my own personal style that fits me comfortably.


Yesterday I met my eldest daughter in the city for the day, and during lunch we got on the topic of what style my stitched work exactly fell under.


"Hmmm" I said. "I really don't know!"


"They certainly don't fall in the traditional category" I continued, "and they aren't something that you would likely see in a contemporary art quilting show..."


"I most strongly identify with the modern quilt movement, but most of my work really doesn't fit that category either."


"Truth is" I told my daughter, " I don't think there is a category that my work fully fits in."


And that got me to thinking...


After all these years of learning my craft, honing my skills and developing my own style, I am ready to define my work, even if that means creating my own term and definition.


So I looked at my work...


and the photos I take of the things that inspire me...


I thought about my attraction to old time, make-do sensibilities...


And the beauty of off kilter lines and shapes...


And I decided to name my style Rural Retro.

So, after many years of avoiding labels, I have now created one for myself... and this excites me!


Since I am creating a brand new category of quilting, I now get to explore more in depth my definition of it...

What it means to me, and how I wish to express it.


A sort of place to hang my hat, and call my home...

A clearer view of what I want to say and how I want to say it... from creating a stronger and more cohesive look, to choosing fabrics, (it even makes this solid loving girl think more closely about what type of prints would fall into this style) to various projects and collections.


Branding my artistic style will help me move forward in a more focused direction, and I am very excited to begin this new journey.

And if I may, I'd like to offer this... If you find yourself on the newer side to quilting, (which is where I felt I was for many years as there is soooo much to learn) I wouldn't at this point concern yourself with defining an absolute style for yourself. This is a time to learn from everything that inspires you. Don't be afraid to take a bit from one esthetic and a bit from another, and mix them up. Ask yourself a lot of questions as to what attracts you and why. Don't follow trends blindly. Eventually something uniquely yours will emerge, and when it does go ahead and name it, claim it, embrace it.

Happy stitching!