SEAMSIDE: Exploring the Inner Work of Textiles

In this two-part mini-documentary: Amanda Nadig and I take you behind the scenes of our latest collaboration. You’ll get to accompany us on the creative process behind a quilt built out of a client's retired collection of high-end silk neckties. I'd recently bought a small handheld recorder, and we thought it'd be fun to give you a play-by-play as we're making this quilt, encountering creactive ob...

In our chat last week, Sherri Lynn Wood and I took a deep dive into memory quilts, and this week we talk about what she loves best *after* quilting, namely: nature and being a divinity school dropout. Enjoy this short chat, and if you haven’t had a chance to listen to our first conversation, check out the previous episode . ⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here ⤷ Get your free NOOK trial he...

If Sherri Lynn Wood and I were to map our lives on a venn diagram, there’d be a lot of overlap: we both spent parts of our childhood in North Carolina, we both host online communities for quilters (mine is the QUILTY NOOK, hers is BravePatch. School ); we both honor elements of quilting as a spiritual practice, and in doing so, we both work a lot with grief and bereavement. The quilts may go by di...

In this QUILT TALK episode, I’m joined by my good friend and collaborator, Heidi Parkes. When I went to visit her in Milwaukee over the summer, we decided we were overdue to make a collab quilt. YES MORE PLEASE was born out of a conversation about creating more space for all the good things in life (and maybe sweeping out the junk in the meantime). Towards this end of this quilt talk, we share som...

I first met Rachel Meginnes at Penland School of Arts and Crafts just north of Asheville, NC. We had been in each other’s digital orbits for a good while and so when we sat together in a couple plush armchairs and warm cups of coffee by a fireplace in the dining hall, it was the most natural thing to slip into conversation. Rachel’s current work centers on weaving old deconstructed quilt material...

A behind-the-scenes look at the memory quilt I made for my Uncle Jim. I got to work with my aunt on designing and sewing this quilt, and it made a really rich experience for both of us. Towards this end of this quilt talk, I share five insights I learned about working with someone else on a memory quilt. I hope you enjoy and pick up something you can use in your own creative practice. XOZ ⤷ S...

My good friend Luke Haynes 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 can I move away from pattern-based quilting and play more? ② How did you find time to create new work when you were working full-time jobs? ③ Where do all your qui...

Five international textile artists come together for two weeks in the heart of Southern Appalachian mountains at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Kianga Jinaki , Chris Dufour , Chinelo Njaka , and Jesalyn Keziah share powerful insights as we sit around the sewing circle in the quilting studio. In this collective conversation, we discuss: ① what magic our quilts can perform ② how quilts tell stori...

I’ve got something a little different for you this week. I got inspired being at home and looking at my grandma's memory quilt. It made me realize I’ve got some more stories I’d like to share with you about that quilt. I hope you enjoy and pick up something you can use in your own creative practice. XOZ ⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK ⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the J...

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...

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...

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 T...

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...

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 ⤷&nbsp...

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 man...

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 las...

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...

There are certain artists that you remember vividly the first time you saw their work. Julian Jamaal Jones is one of those artists for me. When I saw the body of work he produced at Cranbrook, these all black quilts with bold and colorful marks, I felt like I was seeing a brand new thing in this world. In this conversation, we discuss: ① how to create intimate inner circles with your audience thro...

In our last SEAMSIDE conversation on Episode 5, quilt historian Jess Bailey aka @publiclibraryquilts and I discussed the role of storytelling in art history and the power of visual images to convey narratives, experience of feeling seen and recognized through images, and we talked about why Jess would rather her quilts be considered sturdy rather than soft. We catch up now a little over a year lat...

Stephanie ( website , Instagram ) and I dream up a quilt that ① provides financial abundance gremlin-style, and ② is made from cash money, namely Canadian loonies 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

As an a Southern expat living in a northern state, it’s often nice to connect with somebody from home. We see things about our roots now that perhaps we didn’t when we were growing up immersed in the culture, and how we make sense of all that, for me and Clare at least, requires the help of textiles. Clare Hu was born in Atlanta to parents who’d immigrated from China in the 1990s. Clare now lives...

Ashelyn ( website , Instagram , podcast ) and me dream up a quilt that 1) made out of sheet metal and old road signs, and 2) is meant to be displayed on a highway overpass 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

Sylvan and I sit down a year later to catch up on where their work has taken them since we last talked. In that conversation on Episode 7 we talked about their work with Gays Against Guns, and at the time of that recording, we didn't know that the shooting at the supermarket in Buffalo was just a few days away. Sylvan also shares some hard one wisdom from years of activism, and their insights are...