http://mollisparkles.com/2016/05/gender-kisses-kiss-and-tell/
This past January, I was immersed in a conversation on men in the quilting world. As a result of the kerfuffle from that, Molli Sparkles and I decided to do a sort of experiment. We would pick a block pattern, set a size, and use solid fabrics only to make a quilt that was “ours”. Would the finished pieces be glaringly obvious as to whether the boy or girl made it? Would either of us make the quilt inherently obvious of the gender of the maker? Would people be able to guess who made each quilt, the boy or the girl? We called the project, “Gender Kisses”.

My personal reason for the project, was that I want to find a common ground between the men and women in the industry. I still stand by many of the things I said previously, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want men in the quilting world. I don’t inherently believe that the quilts that men and women create are so radically different from each other, which can give us a commonality to use as a springboard toward equality for each gender.

I recognize that men may not always feel welcome in quilts stores, quilt shows, etc. I also recognize that women have been working very hard for some time now to legitimize quilting as a career, and find frustration that it appears inherently easier for a male quilter to obtain that recognition in the “out side world” beyond the quilting community. Since we are both facing challenged, why fight with each other instead of recognizing our challenges and helping each other toward our separate goals that both lead toward wanting equality?

In order to keep an accurate tally of the decisions you all make, we are keeping the survey to one page only, over on Molli’s blog. Please head over there and make your selections, you have a week to do so!

We set some parameter rules to level the field:

• Use the Raspberry Kiss block tutorial (based off the block “Pattern without a Name” attributed to Nancy Cabot) in any way we choose
• The finished quilt must be approximately 40″x40″
• Solid fabrics only

So, hop on over and tell us who you think make each quilt!