Is it cheating?

Detail: When Maybugs Fly by Pam Carter: Quilted by Tracey Pereira

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in quite some while. Well I've not been idle .. in fact I have been busy ... very busy.  This weekend was my first weekend off in around 12 weeks  and even then that wasn't strictly true because I ended up packing some orders and getting them into the post office before midday.

I love being busy but I really enjoyed not having a schedule to work to this weekend. It was on my terms .. if you know what I mean.  So on Saturday afternoon I took myself off to a local quilt show ... as a visitor!

 Aldwick Quilters over in West Sussex is a very talented group and their show was just wonderful. Of course I forgot my camera so I can't show you any photos but trust me when I say the exhibition was worth visiting.  Whilst I was there though I overheard one of the ladies talking about longarm quilting

... "it's cheating really though isn't it? "  she said to her friend.

 I didn't get involved in the conversation ... as much as anything because I had quilted the raffle quilt, but it did get me thinking about a couple of other comments I have heard recently.

 A couple of my newbie patchwork students visited a show a couple of weeks back and told me about a local Hampshire quilt shop owner who questioned "why would you not finish your own quilts?"  when they mentioned longarm quilting to her,  and another lady at the Friday afternoon group I go to who told me her applique doll quilt wasn't suitable for longarm quilting.

 Uhm ... am I wrong or do we need to start educating the UK quilters about the benefits of longarm quilting again?