Crafty Planner Podcast

As the fourth guest in my Slow Making series, today's guest is Mark Lipinski of Pickle Road Studios. After a career in television production, including shows like Oprah, the View, Crossing Over and Sally Jesse Raphael, Mark decided to follow his creative passion and enter the quilting world. Never content to stay on the sidelines, Mark founded and edited Quilters Home magazine, was the co-host of Quilting Out Loud (a television show about quilting), hosted an internet radio station called Creative Mojo, formed the Slow Stitching Movement, while designing fabric and patterns. Through his laid back style and vast experience, Mark has entertained and inspired countless quilters. He is also a devoted father and supported by his life partner. After discovering Mark had a genetic kidney disease, he has changed his creative practice to support his refined sense of self and place. During our discussion, we talk about how the industry has changed since he became involved, how he balances his life as a "sewlebrity", why he started the slow stitching movement and more. I hope you enjoy this thoughtful interview. 

 

Special thanks to Plum Deluxe, a Portland, Oregon based tea company who hand blends small batches of loose leaf tea, for sponsoring this episode.

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com.

Continuing October's mini series on the value of slow making, today's podcast guest is Katrina Rodabaugh. Living in New York, Katrina Rodabaugh is a writer, mender, natural dyer, teacher, wife, and mother.

During our conversation, we talk about her five year Make Thrift Mend challenge and how one decision about sustainability can lead to a cascade of mindset changes. Being parents of younger children, we touch on how slow making decisions influence the decision making process we try to instill in our children. As makers, we delve into the tender subjects of balancing inspiration with making something your own. We also talk about her Slow Fashion citizen series for Fringe Association and her move from California to New York. I hope you enjoy the episode

Today's guest is Karen Templer of Fringe Supply Co. and Fringe Association. Living in Nashville, Karen is a garment maker, knitter, store owner, community builder and wife. We talk about her career revolving around her values of content, commerce and community, why she started Slow Fashion October and small changes people can make to create a more conscientious wardrobe. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

 

Special thanks to Plum Deluxe, a Portland, Oregon based tea company who hand blends small batches of loose leaf tea, for sponsoring this episode.

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com.

Today's podcast is the first in a mini series about slow making and I am honored to present Samantha Lindgren of A Gathering of Stitches as my first guest. Living in Maine, Samantha is a teacher, garment sewist, quilter, community builder and hosts the Slow Stitching and Slow Fashion retreats. We talk about how experience is more satisfying than stuff, the importance of connection and meaning, the closing of her physical space and her evolving career. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

 

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com. 

 

Special thanks to Plum Deluxe and their fantastic tea subscription service for sponsoring this episode.

Today's guest is Roderick Kiracofe. Living in San Francisco, Roderick is a former quilt dealer, quilt collector, and author of The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort, Cloth and Comfort: Pieces of Women's Lives from Their Quilts and Diaries as well as Unconventional and Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar. During our conversation we talk about the beginning of his quilt collecting, his passion for quilt history, why he took a break from the industry and how he overcame his own form of imposter syndrome to write Unconventional and Unexpected. This is a longer interview but there is so much important quilt and cultural history that I wanted to preserve. I hope you enjoy Roderick's forty year journey and wisdom. 

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com. 

 

A special thank you to my listeners who support the podcast through their donations. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Today's guest is Amy Milne, the Executive Director of the Quilt Alliance whose mission is to "document, preserve, and share our American quilt heritage by collecting the rich stories that historic and contemporary quilts, and their makers, tell about our nation’s diverse peoples and their communities."

During our discussion, we delve into the importance of preserving quilt history through labels and story, the evolution of the Quilt Alliance's preservation programs including Quilters' Save Our Stories, "Go Tell it at the Quilt Show", Quilters Take Manhattan and Not Fade Away. I hope you enjoy the episode.

For my second interview in a mini series on the historical role of quilts and their preservation, today's guest is Nancy Bavor. Nancy is a quilter, quilt appraiser, wife, mother and the Executive Director of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, the world's oldest quilt museum. During our conversation, we talk about quilts as a form of creative expression, how museums decide what quilts are acquired along with which exhibits are shown, the idea of credit and derivation in art and more. Nancy's thoughtfulness and extensive knowledge are an excellent addition to the mini series and I hope you enjoy the discussion.

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com.

One of the aspects I love about hosting the podcast is the ability it gives me to explore topics of interest. Having spent hours working on a quilt, thinking about the connection we have to makers in the past and making individual decisions about the quilt, one aspect I haven't considered is what happens to the quilt in the long term. Bombarded with consumerist ideas, it seems like an endless cycle of making the latest and newest thing. But who decides what we preserve of this time in quilting history? What will be remembered and by whom? I tackle this topic a bit with Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and Bill Volckening. Eager to explore the topic more extensively, I'm starting a podcast mini series about the preservation of quilts and the role of quilting making in history.

My first is Laura McDowell Hopper. Laura lives in Chicago and is a quilter, teacher, textile preservation specialist and curator at the James B and Rosalyn L Pick Museum of Anthropology. I met Laura at Quilt Con earlier this year and appreciated the opportunity to hear her insightful connection to textiles. We share a love for music and both enjoy exploring the idea of craft and art. During our conversation, we talk about the Pick Museum's upcoming Quilts and Human Rights exhibit as well as why she feels quilt making is a feminist act. I also make a hilarious mistake in the episode. It's a fun conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com.

Today's guest is Tricia Royal of Bits and Bobbins. Living in Chicago, Tricia is a sewist, quilter, teacher, artist, wife and mother. She is the founder of the Flickr group, Wardrobe Remix, a DIY street fashion community with over 20,000 members and 88,000 pictures. While exploring textiles, she fell in love with quilting and won third place in the improvisation category at Quilt Con 2015 for her quilt, "This Way". During our conversation, we talk about starting Wardrobe Remix, why quilting is an art form and the greatest lesson she has learned in her creative journey.

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com.

Today's podcast guest is Amy Butler. Living in Ohio, Amy is an artist, fabric designer for Free Spirit Fabrics, teacher, author, and wife. Considered to be one of the leaders and community builders in the modern quilt movement, we delve into her work style, what motivates her, how she met her husband and best friend, her decision to start Blossom Magazine and more. I hope you enjoy the episode.

 

For more information about this episode (including show notes), please check out my website craftyplanner.com. 

 

Special thanks to The Confident Stitch for sponsoring this episode.