The Man Can QUILT!!!

I came home from work one night last week to find Tom had quilted an entire baby quilt on his own. Now, he's done quilts and parts of quilts in the past, but has been hesitant to load them on his own or come up with his own designs -- except on practice quilts.

His work has gotten better and better. For a man who, one year ago, needed a definition of what it meant to quilt something, he's come a long way. And I love to hear him say, "and in three months, I'll be way beyond this".

He finds new designs in books or magazines, on youtube, and even comes up with his own. Yep, I'd let him quilt my pieced tops without hesitation.

See for yourself! This is exclusively Tom's work, the first and third being practice pieces.

Our culture has changed a great deal in some ways, with adults teaching the next generation not to grasp stereotypes. Children no longer assume doctors to be males, or RNs to be women, and only mothers to stay at home as their offsprings' caregivers. Writers, artists, paramedics, CEOs come in both sexes.

I am no longer surprised to glance at a large delivery truck on the highway and see a woman at the wheel.

Yet the stereotype seems to be deeply ingrained in our images of quilters.

Tom gets no credit for quilting when both of us have worked on a client's top, though I always ask their permission if it's a project we are both likely to work on. I am the one thanked for the finished product, and when they pass on a referral to someone else, that third party has no clue that there are two quilters under the name of Quail's Nest Quiltworks.

We know of other men who quilt. One of them does all the quilting for his wife and daughter's fabric shop. I wonder if his clients assume his wife actually does the quilting after hours.

Can men quilt? I'll let you judge for yourself.