As an artist, I notice tools of the trade wherever they are. I was walking in the house today from the garage and noticed a pencil on the kitchen counter that looked like one of my colored pencils. I immediately wondered how it got there and picked it up to see which set (I have several) it belonged to.
It didn’t look like it was from one of the sets of colored pencils I owned and I noticed advertising on it. Printed in bold letters was “MATERIAL GIRL Quilt Shop, Traverse City, MI.” Now I knew it wasn’t mine! However, what caught my eye next generated the cartoon idea. It looked like a brown, colored pencil with thick lead but on the portion where it normally (on MY pencils) listed the color, it said, on one line: “WASHABLE” and “FABRIC PENCIL” on the next line. I immediately wondered, with the few working brain cells assigned to cartoon ideas, “Why would they have to wash the pencil?”
Then, it struck me. Because of the advertising, there wasn’t enough room on one line for what they meant to say, “WASHABLE FABRIC….PENCIL”. Imagine the confusion it might cause if there were any quilting cartoonists out there… or, more likely, ROOKIE QUILTERS.
Living with an avid, accomplished quilter, I’ve heard the stories they like to tell about “Rookie” mistakes made before they knew what they were doing. Or, at least, before they understood the unique and foreign I might add, language of Quilting. It took me a while to not be insulted when they talked about “Fat Quarters” in my presence… until I realized it wasn’t my physique they were referring to but pieces of pre-cut material.
I am amazed at what the are able to do with a myriad of patterns, scraps and colors. Quilters are a special breed. However, they do have one thing in common with me as a cartoonist… You can NEVER have too much stuff!!!
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