Why Do We Quilt?

  I have been thinking lately about the amount of time that we spend quilting.  Why do we do it?  I have a few theories that I am developing into my next article for AQS magazine.  For a more detailed explanation, you will have to wait for the article.  For now, though, here are some ideas:
1)  Within each of us lies an attraction to beauty.  Whether it is in creating quilts or scrapbooks, decorating our homes, planting and maintaining a lovely garden, or even putting together a stylish outfit, I believe most women desire beauty in their surroundings. 
2)  Quilters are artists at heart.  The urge to create lies within us.  Many of us have dabbled over the years in a variety of artistic pursuits, and quilting gives us the ability to work with color, texture, and design principles.  This ability to create art drives us to finish one project and begin pursuing the next.
3)  We hope to leave a legacy through our quilts.  It is no coincidence that we often create quilts that we plan to pass down to our children and grandchildren.  We want them to remember us after we are gone.  We want them to know, in a tangible way, how much we love and cherish them.
4)  We want to give back.  Quilters are very generous people.  They participate in a wide variety of charitable organizations such as Project Linus and Quilts of Valor.  They donate their valuable time and money to create quilts for charity in order to let the person that receives their gift know that someone out their cares for them.  These gifts remind those recipients that there is still some good in the world.  There is still reason for hope.