#89: Threads of Sustainability with Bridget O’Flaherty

This week we’re diving into the world of quilting more sustainably! Quilter and textile artist, Bridget O’Flaherty, makes Threads of Sustainability: a podcast with remarkably similar motivations to CYT. We discuss the many parallels between our perspective disciplines in relation to sustainability, and some of the areas where they diverge.

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Tips on how to build and maintain beneficial bee hotels by the Entomologist Lounge. 

How to encourage bees and other pollinators:

Fill gardens with pollinator friendly plants.

Allow lawn 'weeds' to flower by cutting less often.

Provide water for pollinators.

Avoid using pesticides wherever possible and never spray open flowers.

Provide nest sites for wild bees.

Find out about the many facets of Bridget’s work, including her podcast, ‘Threads of Sustainability’, via her website. She can also be found on Instagram @thesustainablequilter. 

Image source: Bridget O’Flaherty

Bridget frequently uses a technique called thread painting in her work:

Image source: Bridget O’Flaherty

You can hear the conversation we recorded for Bridget’s podcast via her website, wherever you listen to podcasts. It’s Episode #26!

The conversation that Bridget had with Eliu Hernandez that first alerted me to the Threads of Sustainability podcast is Episode #18. 

Listen to my conversation with Eliu for this podcast: 

Episode #26: Harvesting Materials with Eliu Hernandez. 

The Festival of Quilts that takes place in Birmingham, UK, recently introduced a Sustainability category. 

Bridget wrote a series of articles for the Canadian Quilters’ Association. Read part one, part two and part three. 

Bridget appeared on Episode #64 of the ‘Quilter on Fire’ podcast which kick started her desire to create her own podcast.

Bridget cites these quilters and textile artists as inspiration:

Zak Foster 

Eliu Hernandez

Janine Heschl