Starry Compass Rose
Quilt # 156
I’d like to tell you the background about how I went to Quilt Market. I was contacted by Paintbrush Studios in November of 2015 to see if I would design and make a quilt for them using their Painter’s Palette line of solids. At first I was like, who is this? but soon got to corresponding with Anne, a delightful woman with a great sense of humor. She turned me over to Deena in the design department, and I sent over a rough sketch. Then another. We soon had several renditions flying back and forth over email, which meant not only did I have to design a quilt for them, and sew it, but I also had to learn how to express myself in EQ7 (cue: grimace). I learned it “enough” and produced the sketch you see above.
Of course, all this is stuff I couldn’t mention on the blog, but I worked on this steadily from late November until mid-February when I sent off to them a quilt top, binding, backing and a label. Someone else would quilt it.
As a thank-you for this experience, I made them Focus, a small quilt to hang in their booth at QuiltCon. While at QuiltCon, I screwed up my nerve to ask Sue and Deena if I could get a pass to see the quilt at market, and they arranged it.
But I was most interested in seeing my quilt, all quilted up by Denise Marieno, at Quilt Market. I was sad to see it go in February, but ecstatic to see it now, hanging in the Painter’s Palette booth. I checked on the progress several times on Thursday as they set up their booth, watching as they moved it from an inner spot, to an outer spot. They were very happy with the result, as was I. Denise did a terrific job of quilting it.
So now it’s gone, and who knows when I’ll see it again, but oh, what a high! to see it at market. I hope I can work with them again sometime, as I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the people at this company.
I’ve spent my life in unheralded endeavors: a young bride having babies, a mother at home, a student, an adjunct professor, but no one praises your skill at loading a dishwasher, managing a complicated carpool schedule, or compliments you on the nice comments you leave on student papers. So to come into Quilt Market and to see my quilt hanging there as a professional quilt designer was an experience I won’t soon forget. It was like someone patted me on the head and said “You did great,” that my skills were recognized, instead of just giving service or being a cog in what passes for Higher Ed these days. I certainly don’t regret being a mother-at-home, nor of my years of teaching. I don’t regret being an older student, trying to fit in with the 20-somethings who were writing edgy short stories that included drugs and sex, while all I could come up with is little stories of mothers and fathers and families that somehow always included a quilt somewhere.
But to round that corner that first morning and see this quilt?
Oh, so satisfying.
Next post: Day One of Market, going to Schoolhouse, a Tumble, and a Giveaway
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 