SEAMSIDE: Exploring the Inner Work of Textiles

The creative landscape is dotted with mountaintops and valleys. If we’re lucky, we have more moments up on the mountain where everything appears huge and expansive, full of sunshine and clarity. But it’d be naive to expect to stay there for too long. Sometimes we gotta wallow down in the valley too.

This special episode of SEAMSIDE is dedicated to those valley moments. I reached out to past guests on SEAMSIDE and asked them to describe how they deal with creative and professional disappointments. I was curious to hear not only how they responded but also what they found helpful.

In this episode we hear from Nick D’Ornellas, Christi Johnson, Michael Sylvan Robinson, Victoria Gertenbach, Clare Hu, Julian Jamal Jones, and Rachel Meginnes.

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE and you’ll get a note as soon as a podcast posts

Weaver Jennifer Mao joins us for an episode of BACKSTITCH. If you haven’t heard our first chat nearly two years ago, you can hear that on episode 2. In this BACKSTITCH conversation, Jennifer shares candidly about how it feels to be experiencing a creatively unproductive season in her practice. We discuss:

① does an artist have to make art to be an artist

② how do we move through the quiet seasons of our creative practice

③ how to be your own best friend when you need it most

You can learn more about Jennifer on Instagram

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE and you’ll get a note as soon as a podcast posts

As you may have heard, the embroiderer Lou Gardiner and former guest on SEAMSIDE passed way a few days ago after a recurring bout with cancer. When we talked in 2022, she spoke openly but hopefully about her diagnosis as you’ll hear in this episode.

I’d like to offer this conversation with Lou as a way of holding space for such a radiant force of creative power.

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE and you’ll get a note as soon as a podcast posts

Patrick T (@ptayyyyy) and I dream up a quilt that ① has been turned into a lazyboy recliner, and ② also operates as a plant stand

Want to be on the show? Call the CRAZY QUILT HOTLINE open 24/7 at (828) 278-8211‬ and leave me a message anytime of day or night. Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

Christi Johnson and I have been floating in each other’s orbits for a few years now, but you know how time passes and when I sat with her a couple weeks ago on a panel discussion, we realized it’d already been too long. Christi is a clothes-making and embroiderer with an eye constantly trained on the mysteries of the universe. She’s the author of Mystical Stitches, a book that I keep close at hand in my studio, host of the Stitchwish Radio podcast, and now a mother of a precious four-month-old human. In this conversation, we discuss: ① how raising a child is like working with fabric ② the beauty of raw silk and double gauze ③ how you can sew magic into your work

You can learn more about Christi Johnson here

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE and you’ll get a note as soon as a new episode posts

Print-maker and weaver Nick Dornellas joins us for an episode of BACKSTITCH. If you haven’t heard our first chat a year prior to this one, you can hear that on episode 8.

In today’s conversation we discuss:

① his big show in Philadelphia this year

② how he’s finding balance in refinement and looseness

③ why this July is such a special month for him

You can learn more about Nick on Instagram

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE and you’ll get a note as soon as a podcast posts

My good friend Heidi Parkes joins for me for this SEAMSIDE special episode I’m calling FREE ADVICE where we answer YOUR questions on quilting and the creative life.

In this episode, we share our thoughts on the following questions:
① How do you prioritize which project to focus on when there’s so much to be excited about?
② How do you keep from getting overwhelmed with your stash?
③ How do you manage your time?
④ I have to travel a lot for my new job. How can I use that to my advantage in my quilting practice?

⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here

⤷ Get your free NOOK trial here

I grew up in Southern Baptist churches sitting through long sermons and studying the banners hung around the sanctuary. Those hours spent as young person put down roots into my creative core that would come to bear several years later as an adult meaning-maker. Alice Gabb’s work fully embraces the lineage of the banner, but from an entirely different source: the social protest movements of the last century. Her creative path is founded in years of calligraphy, and so, in many ways it was a natural and short jump to start making banners. In this conversation, Alice joins us from her new studio in East London, and we explore:

① gathering poetry in everyday life

② using color to tame hearts and minds

③ maintaining joy in the face of long and protracted struggle

You can learn more about Alice on their website and Instagram

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE and you’ll get a note as soon as a new episode posts

Deb (Instagram) and I dream up a quilt that ① belongs in a secret garden, and ② knows just what to do with bad hair days

Want to be on the show? Call the CRAZY QUILT HOTLINE open 24/7 at (828) 278-8211‬ and leave me a message anytime of day or night

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

My good friend Heidi Parkes joins for me for this SEAMSIDE special episode I’m calling FREE ADVICE where we answer YOUR questions on quilting and the creative life.

In this episode, we share our thoughts on the following questions:

① How do you play?

② What does ‘making progress’ mean to you?

③ What DON’T you share on social media?

④ How can we get more young people into quilting?

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK