QuiltCon 24 in Raleigh NC was pretty overwhelming, but in mostly great ways.
For introverts like me who live and work alone, the amount of social interaction and visual stimulus can be exciting and rewarding, but also a bit wearying. I'm glad I took some time to get outside the convention center to escape the intensity and breathe some fresh air. I know I'm not alone in sometimes falling prey to the evil "compare and despair" syndrome, especially when tired and overwhelmed. (If you don't have a booth or a quilt in the show, it can be hard not to feel lost or invisible in the jumble of activity.)
While I had a few moments of C&D syndrome at QuiltCon, it's the spirit of this community – the friendships, inherent generosity and support, that always restores my equilibrium. Getting to catch up with folks I know in this industry – fellow fabric and pattern designers (well-established and those just starting out), former students, and customers is always a joy. We may only see each other once a year at best, but the connection and love is always immediate, inspiring, and brings a great infusion of energy.
Some of the students and customers I run into are self-described "fans," and I never tire of hearing phrases like "I started quilting because of you," or, "...it all started when I got that issue of Martha Stewart Living." I can't tell you what a privilege it is to hold that place in the quilting journeys of so many. One of my favorite moments was standing in a long line outside an off-site bakery, waiting to meet an old friend from the earliest days of my career, when someone yelled out the window of a passing car "We love Free-Wheeling Single Girl!" Everyone in line craned their necks to perhaps catch a glimpse of some crazy loose woman, it still makes me smile to remember it!
I had another beautiful QuiltCon moment relating to this particular pattern design of mine, which has taken many forms over many years in the course of my own quilt journey. From it's origins as "Single Girl" (my take on a traditional double wedding ring pattern) in a partnership with the American Folk Art Museum in 2000 (or so), a 2009 adaptation as my very first retail quilt pattern, and yet another rendition a few years later in a licensing partnership with Sarita Handa, available at design shops and catalogs like Pottery Barn. But I digress!
During the show, I was called over to my friend Anna Maria's booth to sign a FWSG quilt a lovely woman had made using Anna Maria's gorgeous fabrics which she had brought with her. Her friend Peggy mentioned she had taken a class with me some years earlier and had also made a Free-Wheeling Single Girl quilt. I knew immediately from her story who she was as her version (below) was fresh in my mind from my recent website update. She later sent me the most beautiful story of why this quilt was so important to her, and kindly granted my permission to share it here.
"I AM a Free Wheeling Single Girl. Always have been. My life wasn't meant to follow the cultural standard. At the time of the [quilt along], I had started to intentionally use scraps, previously loved fabric, and resisted buying fabric.... In planning that first week of the QAL, I knew I wanted gold rings = the life of a single girl - first pair of earrings (tiny gold loops at 5) key ring to a first car at 17, earrings for career job (gold), bracelets from friends and family, key ring to a home, maybe even a wedding ring for a short time, and certainly a well-earned right hand ring. So I flipped the process, like flipping the cultural expectation made of me. Instead of piecing the rings, I kept those solid, like the rings in my life, and patched the background. Don't we all have patchy backgrounds? The background moves from light blue at the top left to dark blue at the bottom right - colors getting richer and deeper representing life's experiences as a freewheeling single girl. All fabric pulled from my stash, nothing purchased, and intentionally cut without a ruler. Who needs to follow the rules so strictly? Not me, I am a free-wheeling single girl, with a touch of grey, a few wrinkles, and my gold rings."
What an honor to be a small part of this beautiful story, life, and quilt. Thank you Peggy, and all of you, for sharing your work and stories with me.
