It's All Been Done Before

     I enjoy writing and ever since I discovered blogs, I've been wanting to do one of my own.  I finally took the plunge and started this blog back in June.  I don't know that anyone actually reads it,* but I'm having fun making a record of the quilts I've made.  I don't really have any new insights or techniques to offer, I just wanted to add my voice to the conversation.  And, on my blog, I can tell a story, or ramble on about nothing in particular, and no one interrupts. 😃

     When I started this blog, I added a little section at the bottom of my posts that I called Quilt Stats.  I've seen others do similar and I thought it was a great way to get a quick overview of the project.  I tried to come up with a title that would be different from everyone else.  Quilt Facts and Quilt Details were already taken, so I settled on Quilt Stats.

     Recently, I mentioned a quilt block in one of my posts and wanted to give credit to the originator.  I didn't know who that was, but did a little searching and found that it began with a gal named Jess.  I've since spent some time reading her blog and wouldn't you know that she had the same title at the bottom of her posts?  But, she had it years before I came up with it.  I have since found two more blogs that use the same title for finished quilt posts.

     I just wanted to mention this because I don't want to take things from other blogs without permission or without giving proper credit.  But, we are all birds of a feather in the quilting community and it's only natural that we will sometimes come up with similar ideas without even knowing about it.  How many thousands of blogs are out there just about quilting?  As much as we would like to, we can't read them all.

     The reality is that most of what we're doing now has been done before.  Take quilt block design for instance.  Our grandmothers have already done most of what we see as new designs.  The main ways in which we make something new are:

• by using today's fabrics
• by the way it's put together (updated techniques) 
• and by giving it a modern name  

But, it's the same pattern.  Here's an example:

Air Ship Propeller pattern from 1933.

Found on Pinterest.  Original link to eBay was broken.

Steampunk Quilt made by Thimbleanna

Pattern by Jen Kingwell

     Isn't that an awesome quilt?!  If you'd like to see more of it and read all about it, you can find it here.  I'm gonna' have to put this one on my To Do List.  One thing about an old pattern like this, is that when modern quilters get their hands on it, they are braver in their use of color and layout than their forerunners.  In fact, they are often eager to give it an update, you know, take something old and make it new again.

     I guess the whole point of this discussion is that I would like to keep the info at the bottom of those posts with completed projects, but I'm wondering if I should call it something other than Quilt Stats?  I don't want to take anyone else's title, but I'm thinking that no matter what I call it, someone else out there has probably already used it.  In an effort to come up with something unique, I've been tossing around some ideas.  I haven't settled on anything yet, but hopefully by the next quilt post, I'll have a new title.


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*  Hubs just told me that he was going to start reading my blog.  I said, "No, you won't."  He's an old fashion kind of guy, you know, the kind that doesn't get involved with "women's work."  Yet, he assured me, "Yes, I'm going to start reading it."  I asked him, "Why now?"  He told me that he saw a documentary about a woman who published a book and her husband didn't even read it.  She left him, then hired a hit man to kill him.  Hubs said, "I don't want to end up like that."

     😕