Quilt Bitch - (noun). \ˈkwil-t\ \ˈbich\. 1) A person convinced of their self-superior knowledge of quilting. 2) An omnipotent judge of everyone else's inferior quilting taste, techniques, color and fabric. 3) A snarky, self-absorbed person who is compelled to "grade the paper" of everyone else's work with LOUD and unsolicited criticism. 4) A person who believes in the paramount value and superiority of everything they themselves create.
QB's. We all know one, and if we're honest - we'd admit to knowing several. They are out there, those trolls who seek to suck the inherent joy and satisfaction that quilting brings to all who undertake it with open hearts. The latest salvo in the quilting wars has caused quite a stir. Apparently, there is someone out there proclaiming that contemporary quilts aren't "hard" or "complicated" enough to qualify as "real" quilts. (I won't give the blowhard/nimrod blog space, just Google it if you want to know more.)
My question - why do people need to do this? Why are they so driven to pass judgment? I haven't a clue why anyone would want to make a Sunbonnet Sue quilt (and I mourn the waste of good fabric) but hell, if it floats your boat go nuts. Sometimes I look at quilts I have made in years past and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I confess I used to look on anything that wasn't made of traditional or historic reproduction fabrics as "meh" but I never once dissed them. I just did not understand them. Thankfully that has changed and now I'm open to just about anything. I may not like it but I can always learn something from looking at it and reading about what the quilter had in mind.
So how to deal with QB's? I offer the following:- Refer them to the SMUG ALERT episode of South Park. (hysterical, wicked pissah funny)
- Avoid them. You can never "hug it out" with a QB. Don't feed the trolls.
- Stare at them. Don't say a word. Just stare at them. Silence best conveys your opinion of theirs.
- If you are one or see yourself in the definition above, knock it the hell off.
It is difficult to get props for being a quilter - there are enough people out there who think we are all grannys in long dresses and white lacy caps and have no teeth. Those who attack from within our ranks are a cancer and need to be starved of attention so they will shrivel and fade away.
Think a QB is harsh? Meh. When I hear one of them crush the fledgling spirit of a new quilter I can't find my purse-sized photon torpedo launcher fast enough. If you QB's want a war, you have one. And it won't be civil.
