A quilt I made two years ago just sold to somebody who saw it on Instagram and I still don't know what to make of this internet thing
So I got a message from a woman in Oregon, says she saw a photo of a quilt I made for my grandson's wedding, posted it on Instagram two years ago, just a picture I snapped on the porch, didn't even think about it, and she tracked me down to ask if I'd sell it.
I told her honey that quilt's been slept under and washed and loved on, it's got a wine stain from the reception and a cat hair woven right in there somewhere. She said she wanted it more for that reason.
So I called my grandson, he said he'd make me a new one if I wanted to let this one go. So I did. She paid me more than I ever charged for a quilt in my life and sent me pictures of it hanging on her wall like it was a painting.
And I'm sitting here thinking, I been sewing sixty years and the Lord let me live long enough to see folks call my grandmother's way of doing things "fine art" and buy it off a telephone. I don't know what to do with that. But I know if you had told Grandma Viola her granddaughter would sell a quilt to a stranger in Oregon who saw it on a picture box, she'd have laughed and said you were touched in the head.
Anyway. Anybody else got a sale that felt like it came from another planet?
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Oh I love this so much. The way she wanted it more because of the wine stain and cat hair, that says everything about the difference between something made and something bought. Your quilt had a life before it ever left your hands and she gets that.
I sold a painting once to someone who said they could see my dog's tail in the corner of the photo I'd posted and that made them want it more. I was so confused at first but I think I get it now. It's the realness.
Also good on your grandson for being so chill about it. Hope he takes you up on making another one, that's a sweet deal for both of you 🙂
the dog's tail in the corner of the photo is such a good detail 😭 that's the stuff you can't fake. people want the artifact, not the product.
i had someone buy a bowl once because they could see where i'd pinched it back together mid-throw after it almost collapsed. they said it looked like it had survived something. and they were right, it did. the kiln almost took it.
your painting must have been really good for them to zoom in that close on the corner haha. that's a compliment in itself.
That bowl sounds like it went through something and came out the other side. That's the whole gospel right there, nothing that's been through the fire comes out the same, and folks can feel that in their hands. I bet you think about that bowl every time you see it on the shelf.
And listen, that painting, I bet the corner was the best part anyway. Sometimes the thing we think is a mistake is what makes somebody stop and look close.
That dog's tail in the corner, mm, see that's the thing. You can't plan that. Can't manufacture it. It's just life getting in the picture, and life is what folks are hungry for whether they know it or not.
And yes, my grandson's a good one. He's already texted me asking what colors I want for the new one. I told him I'm thinking about it, taking my time. Some things you don't rush.