Survey About Quilting / Feminism for My Grad School Paper

posted in: Day In The Life 11

Crazy Quilt, by Tamar Horton Harris North, 1877. Image: Newark Museum, via Wikipedia.

 

Hi, gang.

I posted about this on my Facebook page this morning and I already have close to 1,000 responses. If you haven’t already, I would deeply appreciate you sparing under 20 seconds (unless you answer the optional third question) to take this 100 percent anonymous survey about quilting and feminism.

This is anonymous. I don’t require you to enter your name, email address, or anything of the kind in order to contribute your answer/thoughts. I’m writing a paper for grad school that is interested in this question — I’m not out to draw conclusions right now. It’s just a study. In case you haven’t clicked over already, the questions on the survey are:

  1. Do you consider yourself a quilter? (Y/N/Maybe)
  2. Do you consider yourself a feminist? (Y/N/Maybe)
  3. Is there anything you’d like to say?

And that third question is optional.

Hey, man: I need to graduate. And before I graduate, I need to write a final paper. Before my final paper, I need to write my midterm essay. This data is going to go a long way toward allll those things. So share the survey link with your friends and family and guild members — even your cat, if she quilts! I don’t discriminate between people and cats! I’m a catiminist!

Seriously, thanks to all who take the time.

xo,
L’il Miss Study Hall

Survey Results: The Rorschach Blot

posted in: Day In The Life 10
An ink blot. OR IS IT?? Image: Wikipedia.
Here we go. Image: Wikipedia.

 

I’ve dragged my feet getting survey results out because I am overwhelmed.

On Monday, I had my first seminar class. It’s not like regular class where you have textbooks and assignments. In a couple weeks, for example, I’ll be giving a presentation on the grammar of quilt patterns, my personal quiltmaking practice, and — because this is how I roll —  a quick-but-comprehensive history of the American quilt. I can’t wait to share with my School of the Art Institute colleagues — except that I definitely, definitely can.

Because there’s a lot of other stuff going on. For example, this weekend I’m keynote-ing and doing several events at the big EE Schenck “TRENDS” conference in Portland. On Sunday, I’ll be zipping over to The Pine Needle Quilt Shop to lunch and teach, which is great, because the first event is not open to the public but the Pine Needle totally is. I’m not sure there are tickets left for the Pine Needle, but if there are and you can get there, come hang out with me! We can talk about all kinds of things and pet fabric together. I will answer any question. Any question. 

With seminars to write and quilt shops to love, I realized I had better start releasing my survey data in chunks or I’ll never get it out at all. So let’s talk about this inkblot.

All y’all’s answers to the “What do you see?” inkblot question inspired many reactions in me, including but not limited to: delight, mild concern, deep concern, melancholy, mirth, and introspection. Good job! Below are the categories of what you told me you saw in the inkblot and some of the answers I received.

Animals (Or Animal Parts)
Seahorses, a cow, dragons, a deer, a steer, a skull, a bull, dueling shrimp [three people said “dueling shrimp”], fighting deer/stags/reindeer/wildebeests, kissing pigs, a bat, two turkeys, “Seahorses dancing in coral,” “crayfish, moose, and flowers,” “Elephants riding giant hamsters,” “deer escaping fire in a forest,” a giraffe, deer standing on clouds, “two moose coming out of the water in the fall,” an elk running up a mountain, a puppy, a praying mantis, koalas, “I see a moose, bunnies, and peaches,” “a cow’s head wearing an Elizabethan collar, smelling tulips.”*

Anatomy
a uterus/innards, a pelvis or pelvic bones/body parts/abdominal x-ray, an animal skull/bones, ovaries, “kidneys, pelvis, dislocated femurs,” a vagina [they actually wrote “va-jay-jay”], the pelvic x-ray of an alien

Love
two people kissing, kissing people, two lovers, people in love

Quilts
Two people said they saw the colors for their next quilt!

Wiseacres
A couple people said, “I see nothing, feel nothing” and another wrote, “I see an inkblot.” Very cute.

Let’s go with “Other”
a witch
a lady dancing on apples with fire for her hair
“two potbellied gargoyles…medical Mary Jane…”
“maidens dancing on chickens wearing Chinese dragon headdresses”
a nude back in a wine glass
a captionless image
poppies in front of a lake with a sunset
a demon
four hearts, two lungs, and a fiery gate
a messy glass of wine
two trolls arguing
“I was surfin’ and a tuna tried to eat me!”

One other quick thing: Many people thought the “How old did Mariano turn out to be?” was a trick question or a pop quiz. I didn’t mean it to sound that way; I never told you how old he is, actually. I wanted to know what you might have speculated. Most of you got it wrong. You guessed too high.

*emphasis mine.