SEAMSIDE: Exploring the Inner Work of Textiles

Some questions close quickly—you answer them and move on. But other questions open outward, revealing more complexity and interest the longer you explore them. This meditation helps you identify questions worthy of sustained inquiry and practice holding them open rather than rushing to resolution. Series work isn't repetition; it's sustained investigation that builds intimacy with what genuinely matters to you.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS → How does "holding a question open" rather than "answering a question" feel to you?

AFFIRMATION → I return to the same question / Each time from a new height

WANT TO LEARN MORE...

When we encounter textile work—especially quilts—we often perceive multiple stories at once: what the maker stitched into the surface, what materials they chose, what techniques they used, and maybe even what it meant to them personally. This meditation helps you understand how these four narrative layers can align to reinforce meaning or contrast to create complexity. We'll explore "the net and the air"—what you make explicit versus what you leave open to interpretation.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS → Which narrative layer do you naturally focus on most? Which do you tend to overlook?

AFFIRMATION → Surface and depth...

When you write in a journal, you often discover what you think by seeing your thoughts on paper. Making works the same way—your hands think through materials, and you discover what you know by seeing what emerges. This meditation explores creative work as externalized thinking, a conversation between your conscious intentions and your intuitive knowing.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS → What question are you carrying right now that might be worth answering through making rather than thinking?

AFFIRMATION → I make something and it teaches me / We speak back and forth

WANT TO LEARN MORE? → Join us live...

Your visual language isn't something you need to invent or discover hidden deep within yourself—it's already emerging in the choices you make each time you create. This meditation guides you through observing your recent work with friendly curiosity: what patterns keep showing up? We'll practice bringing conscious awareness to what's already there, so you can work with your patterns more intentionally rather than accidentally.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS → What patterns did you notice consistently appearing in your recent work?

AFFIRMATION → What shows up again and again is mine / I trust what persists

WANT TO LEARN...

Creative inspiration isn't scarce, requiring special trips or perfect conditions—it's abundant, hiding in plain sight. This meditation helps you expand your attention to notice inspiration in places you usually overlook. We'll practice a particular quality of noticing—curious but not hungry—and build cross-pollination between creative and everyday activities.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS → What would shift if you trusted that creative possibilities are abundant rather than scarce?

AFFIRMATION → Everything I see can teach me / I open my eyes wider

WANT TO LEARN MORE? → Join us live for the full WONDER YEAR program in 2026 for a communal j...

What if you approached your creative work like a scientist approaches experiments—with genuine curiosity rather than pressure? This meditation helps you shift to a "What happens if...?" mindset. We'll explore experimental questions (doing the opposite of what you usually do, using the "wrong" tools deliberately, combining things that supposedly don't go together) and practice reframing failure as results rather than mistakes.

REFLECTION QUESTION → What would need to be true for you to give yourself full permission to "waste" materials on experimentation?

AFFIRMATION → I don't need to know how this ends / I only...

Our bodies have so much to tell us—where we hold tension, what hurts after hours of making, what feels tight or soft. This meditation guides you through a gentle full-body scan, not to fix problems, but to notice what's present. We'll develop body literacy so you can recognize what your creative practice asks of you physically and respond with practical care.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS → What might help that area feel more supported during creative work?

AFFIRMATION → I clear the path for what wants to emerge

WANT TO LEARN MORE? → Join us live for the full...

Making with textiles connects you to something vast—humans across every culture and century have worked with fiber and fabric. You don't join this tradition by having a long line of quilting grandmothers. You join by pulling up a seat at the table and picking up a needle and thread. This meditation helps you recognize the knowledge already living in your hands, understand that textile wisdom is open-access, and feel your place in the universal human practice of making.

REFLECTION QUESTION → How does understanding textile work as open tradition change your relationship to making?

AFFIRMATION → I rece...

This guided mediation is a part of WONDER YEAR, a year-long exploration in building and sustaining our creative practice.

We’ll be moving through it together in real-time on the NOOK with live creative challenges, weekly reflections, journaling prompts, and more.

Here on SEAMSIDE, I’ll be sharing a new guided meditation each week for the next three months—thirteen in all.

My hope is that each one keeps you good company on your creative journey.

…

Many makers carry a quiet voice that says "I'm not good enough." This meditati...

This guided mediation is a part of WONDER YEAR, a year-long exploration in building and sustaining our creative practice.

We’ll be moving through it together in real-time on the NOOK with live creative challenges, weekly reflections, journaling prompts, and more.

Here on SEAMSIDE, I’ll be sharing a new guided meditation each week for the next three months—thirteen in all.

My hope is that each one keeps you good company on your creative journey.

…

GETTING STARTED → Starting something new can bring up all kinds of q...

This episode offers a raw and honest examination of how family history research can reveal both inspiring stories and difficult truths about our past. My journey from discovering less-than-perfect Revolutionary War heroes to uncovering my ancestors' role as enslavers demonstrates why understanding our complete history—not just the comfortable parts—is essential for creating a more just and equitable future.

→ My tips for getting started with your family history
→ Learn more about the SOUTHERN WHITE AMNESIA
→ Curator page for the SWA collection
→ Get your copy of THE WORLD NEEDS YOUR NEXT QUILT
→ Get your free tria...

Step inside a packed gallery at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum where I share the stories behind my SOUTHERN WHITE AMNESIA collection.

This isn't a high-polish artist talk—it's a raw, honest exploration of how I discovered my family's deep involvement in slavery and transformed that uncomfortable truth into quilts, dolls, and primary source historical documents.

This presentation demonstrates how textile work is uniquely positions to move into uncomfortable spaces and become a vehicle for historical reckoning and repair.

You'll also hear about my decision to donate 100% of proceeds to HBCU scholarships and di...

Just a note to let you know I haven’t forgot about you

In this special episode of SEAMSIDE, you'll hear reflections from a variety of community members who found connection, creative renewal, and unexpected insights while stitching side by side at our HUDDLE retreat. Working with textiles alongside others unlocks family stories and personal histories – there's something almost magical about the way fabric becomes a bridge across time and relationships.

WANT TO JOIN US FOR THE NEXT HUDDLE?

Learn more about our upcoming retreat here. And you can always email me at zak@zakfoster.com for more information.

→ Get your copy of THE WORL...

Textile artist Heidi Parkes reflects on her transformative 13-month residency at Milwaukee's historic Pfister Hotel, discussing how the experience deepened her artistic practice, expanded her community connections, and prepared her for her upcoming mid-career retrospective exhibition.

What happens when an artist's private practice meets the public eye for an entire year? Fresh from completing her prestigious residency at Milwaukee's historic Pfister Hotel, Heidi Parkes returns to SEAMSIDE to unpack what it was like to work in full public view for thirteen months. From unexpected revelations about her own work to the delicate dance of public engagement, Heidi...

I felt an immediate resonance when Demetri’s work first popped up on my screen. Here were these meticulous, vibrant prints of vintage photographs of ancestors, bedazzled in sequins and beads and quartz crystals. So we struck up a chat and over the last few months have really nurtured a budding friendship. It was over the course of my conversations with Demetri that I knew it was the right time to bring SEAMSIDE back.

In this SEAMSIDE conversation, Demetri and I explore:
① how our identities can shift and expand over time
② why we need power object...

The last time Judy Martin and I caught up was about a year ago. At the point in time, she was just starting Your Fragile Life, a quilt project that she just wrapped up in recent weeks. If you haven’t heard our first chat, you can find it in the feed under April 2023. That conversation is one of the most-listened to episodes of all time, and in that chat, called HOW TO HOLD YOUR LIFE IN YOUR HANDS, Judy and I talk about: ① the tole time plays in our work ② how we can meet ourselves in our materials ③ how our...

Recently Dana Staves, writer and textile artist, wrote a post on the NOOK that was so sweet and real and inspiring that I asked if she wouldn't mind recording it for y'all to hear. And luckily for us, she did. Thank you, Dana. I hope you enjoy this reflection on art & craft by Dana Staves.

If you’d like to see how the NOOK can support you in your creative process, claim your free trial at the link below.

→ Get your free trial to the QUILTY NOOK

Barbara Campbell Thomas had a long-established painting practice when, about a decade ago, her mother bought her a sewing machine. Little did she know, but that gift provided her the perfect missing piece to her creative practice.

What draws me to Barbara’s work is the balance between tautness and texture. Her stretched and pieced canvas quilt works pushes back an “all or nothing” perspective on genre. Her work is naturally generative and generous, creating expanses for so much.

In this SEAMSIDE conversation, Barbara and I explore ① the value of a regular sketchbook practice (even if you d...

Welcome to MEMBERSTORY, a new series of bonus interviews that bring you real-life stories from the NOOK. These conversations have been a great way to get to know some of folks that make the NOOK so special. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Wendy Muir from Adelaide, Australia.

If you’d like to see how the NOOK can support you in your creative process, claim your free trial at the link below.

→ Get your free trial to the QUILTY NOOK

Russell James Barratt and his wildly joyful quilts make me want to lasso the UK and bring our two countries closer together. His work is loud and colorful, his demeanor is gentle and composed, and those two sides of Russell make for an imminently enjoyable friend to chat with.

In this SEAMSIDE conversation, Russell and I explore:
① how he balances the tension of empty space and maximalism
② why the arc of creative exploration is longer than long
③ how we can use our quilts to say things words don’t touch

→ Get your free trial...

It’s been a year since Coulter Fussell and I first chatted here on SEAMSIDE. In that conversation, we talked about the South and family history, the role of community in her work, and how she maintains hope in the face of conflict. You can find that first conversation, HOW TO WORK WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT, in your feed below in March 2023.

In this new SEAMSIDE conversation, Coulter and I reconnect and explore:

① why in the world she’s making headboards

② the traditional magic of making dolls

③ why Coulter thinks the world’s...

In this raw and unedited conversation, we talk about Tyrrell's newest work along with three artists he thinks everyone should follow

→ Get your free trial to the QUILTY NOOK

→ Claim your free copy of 10 THINGS I WISH I KNEW BEFORE I STARTED QUILTING

→ See images and more at the EPISODE WEBSITE

→ Follow Zak on INSTAGRAM

Tyrrell Tapaha, a sixth-generation Diné weaver and sheepherder, will tell you there’s nothing in his work that specifically belongs to him. And while it may be true that there’s nothing new under the sun and that all artists draw from deep wells of collective experience, I can’t help but think that there is something special about Tyrrell’s work—the use of text, the collage-like shifts in weaving patterns, the subject matter—that sets his work apart.

In this SEAMSIDE conversation, Tyrrell and I discuss: ① the intrinsic differences between sheep and goats ② how his great-grandmother...

Time continually marching forward. Each new day just piles on top of yesterday and gets buried further back in what we have come to call history.

I think there's a problem with thinking about time that way, and that's what we're exploring today on SEAMSIDE. I'm going to share with you a quilt that I made called Generation. It's part of the Southern White Amnesia, a body of work that I've pulled together in the last couple years, exploring the stories that Southern White families tell each other and the ones they don't.

In this...

My good friend Maura Grace Ambrose 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:
➞ how our quilt aesthetic has changed over time,
➞ how to learn quilting without spending a lot of money or time
➞ what to do with random experimental pieces
➞ how to help objects made from imperfect salvaged materials look their best
➞ Maura offers a fool-proof method for getting started with natural dyes
➞ do you need a...

In this episode, I share more about a quilt I call LIKE FAMILY. It's part of the Southern White Amnesia Collection, which explores the kinds of stories that Southern White families tell one another, or maybe more importantly, the ones they don’t tell one another about their own family history. You may have heard me talk about other pieces in the same collection on SEAMSIDE before, and if not, I'd encourage you to check out some of those episodes. So far, we've got SILVER DOLLAR, SNAKE HANDLER, OUR CHILDREN, and ONUS // ON US.

In this SEAMSIDE co...

I first met Victoria Van Der Laan in Catskill, New York, standing in the gravel driveway in front of the HUDDLE House where me and twenty-five other NOOKers where spending a long weekend quilting together. I had assumed she’d just whisk me away for a quick coffee and pastry while I was in town and that would be it, but Victoria ended up coming back to the house for a trunk show and then spent all afternoon with us just sewing and sharing stories. Noticing the warmth and generosity she moves through the world with, I knew we’d be...

I think I’ve been thinking about time all wrong. I’m not sure it’s linear, but maybe that it accretes and infuses itself into itself. What does all that mean? This quilt says it better than I ever can.

In this SEAMSIDE conversation, I share some stories about: ① how we need a new way of thinking about time ② the life cycle of a single garment ③ how we can tend and nourish the past

→ Get your free trial to the QUILTY NOOK
→ See images and more at the EPISODE WEBSITE
→ Follow Zak on INSTAGRAM Duration: 00:11:25

Talking to Kathryn Greenwood Swanson is like completing an electrical circuit that you hadn’t realized was open. Big ideas just light up this entire conversation. Kathryn and I catch up on the one year anniversary of our SEAMSIDE chat to catch up on everything that’s happened since we last talked.

If you haven’t heard our first conversation, Kathryn runs a thriving creative reuse shop in Turner Falls, Massachusetts called Swanson’s Fabric, and you can find it here. In that conversation we talked about: the role of the communal stashhouse, the shame so often associat...

Talking to Kathryn Greenwood Swanson is like completing an electrical circuit that you hadn’t realized was open. Big ideas just light up this entire conversation. Kathryn and I catch up on the one year anniversary of our SEAMSIDE chat to catch up on everything that’s happened since we last talked.

If you haven’t heard our first conversation, Kathryn runs a thriving creative reuse shop in Turner Falls, Massachusetts called Swanson’s Fabric, and you can find it here. In that conversation we talked about: the role of the communal stashhouse, the shame so often associat...

Every time Woomin’s work pops up in my feed it’s a quilty dopamine hit. Her appliqued wall pieces depict scenes from her life in Queens New York and back home in Korea. And you don’t have to see very many of her pieces to realize that her world is abundant in story-telling objects and almost completely devoid of pesky and interfering humans. To hear her talk about how in her previous sculpture practice, she often felt alone, solo on stage, but now having connected with fabric, she never feels alone surrounded by the rich narratives textiles carry...

This textile piece, OUR CHILDREN, that we’re talking about today explores how we’re taught about our racial identity, gender, and sexuality from a young age. It’s a part of a collection I’m calling Southern White Amnesia which explores the stories that Southern white families tell (and don't tell) about their own family histories.

In this SEAMSIDE conversation, I share thoughts about: ① the first time I realized I was White ② the lingering legacy of off-handed comments ③ how to reprogram all those internal messages

→ Get your free trial to the QUILTY NOOK
→ See images and mor...

The casual Instagram scroller would be forgiven if they scrolled past one of Rachel’s patchwork pieces and assumed it was something generated by artificial intelligence. But AI can only dream of creating the real-world objects of beauty that Rachel creates. They capture light and color, breeze and the occasional animal slops.

In this dreamy SEAMSIDE conversation, textile artist and photographer Rachel Hayes and I discuss:
① the rewards and perils of public art pieces
② the intangible and metaphysical layers of a quilt
③ how to collaborate with our physical environment

WHY L...

In this episode, I share a collection of stories behind SNAKE HANDLER, a large banner I made featuring a writhing white snake. It’s really a three-part story about wrestling, specifically wrestling with identity, privilege, and role in the struggle for racial justice. I share personal reflections on understanding and confronting my privilege, recommending reading suggestions, sharing two strategies I use to address biases and hurtful statements, and encouraging us to take active roles in addressing racial inequality.

Get more free resources with this episode with SEAMSIDE EXTRAS! Click on the link below to access: https://www.za...

Leslie Rogers is an unpinnable butterfly of a human. Her creative practice flits from quilts to performance to garment-making to puppetry. She’s a deeply thoughtful artist whose often whimsical or jarring pieces are underpinned by hours of historical research. Leslie and I met at Penland, and if her name sounds familiar, it’s because she came up in my conversation recently with Paolo Arao. That episode, HOW TO BRING IT ALL TOGETHER is a treat in and of itself and I’d encourage you to give that one a listen too.

In this conversation, Leslie and I disc...

As you may have heard the NOOK had our first in-person gathering recently called a HUDDLE. As part of this gathering, I asked participants to share what they were thinking about over the weekend. Funny enough in this old house, there was an old wooden phone booth that provided just enough privacy for us to sit and speak our thoughts into a small digital handheld recorder. What you're about to hear in this special episode of SEAMSIDE is a collection of sixteen short reflections: some are really vulnerable stories, but they’re each insightful stories of transformation.

Th...

A few weeks ago, I caught up with quilt researcher and author Janneken Smucker to thumb through her new book together. If you haven’t heard our conversation yet on A New Deal for Quilts, I recommend you go back and catch that episode first, and then come join me for this conversation.

Because today we’re going behind the scenes, behind the book, and into the International Quilt Museum itself. I’m joined by the curator of International collections at IQM, Marin Hanson, to hear what it was like to put together the exhibition for A New De...

For most of my life, I had a tough time wrapping my head around the idea of privilege. But as I started researching my own family, something became crystal clear: the two branches of my family tree had two different experiences here in this country. On my dad's line, they are all subsistence farmers. They barely had enough money to get it registered on the census. On my mom's side of the family, however, where all the enslaving happened, they were wealthier in ways that my dad's folks could've never even imagined, and it was this wealth that set...

By now you’ve probably heard that our good friend Heidi Parkes is the 15th Artist in Residence at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. I talk about Heidi like everyone knows her, and if you’ve been in my world for very long, I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about her.

We are both former public school educators turned professional artists and have been friends for almost a decade now. If you’re not familiar with Heidi’s work, she documents her life in her quilts, tracking days, places, and memories through applique and embroidery.

In thi...

I’m convinced that Roderick Kiracofe is one part human being and one part guardian angel. He’s been a huge support both of me and many other quilters out there, generously lending his experience and insight that only come from the decades he’s spent as an advocate for quilts.

On a recent trip to NYC, he and I caught up at Tatter’s Blue Library to immerse ourselves in Brooklyn’s beautiful textile research space and the all the shades of blueness. We cozy up on a big blue couch in the corner of the library fo...

In this quilt talk, I share the KNIFEMAN quilt: a story-driven project shaped by an encounter I had while purchasing a foraging knife, exploring themes of identity and how each one of us living our best lives gives permission to everyone around us to the same.

You can see images of quilts we discuss on the episode website https://www.zakfoster.com/seamside/knifeman

WHY LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE?
There’s a rich narrative in this KNIFEMAN project that blends quilting with personal reflection and societal observations. I share with you my quilt-making process, fr...

To get 2024 started right, I thought I would pull together some of my favorite moments out of the last year as a way of not only reflecting, but mining it again for the wisdom, the advice, the perspective and experience that my guests have offered, and hopes of setting all of us up for a more creative, more fulfilling, more satisfying 2024.

When I sat down to begin thinking who would I pull in from the last year of SEAMSIDE, it was a lot more challenging than I thought. I tried to pick a wide variety of folks...

The Great Depression wasn’t something we talked much about in my family. I do know it’s what made my grandfather quit school in the eighth grade to go work in his father’s grocery store. When we think of this time in international history, which lasted roughly from the Stock Market crash in 1929 until the lead-up to World War 2, we often think of the photographs of Dorothea Lange and the New Deal which funded large public works proejcts like the TVA and Hoover Dam.

But quilt historian Janneken Smucker has uncovered a softer side the New De...

I take you behind the scenes with one of my most recent finishes, a quilt I’m calling the Beach Shirt quilt. I found the shirt walking down along Brighton Beach on a cool gray morning about six weeks ago.

We walked to the far end of the beach beyond Coney Island where things turn more residential, and that’s where I found it: this clump of sand-colored fabric.

When I picked it up and shook it clean, I knew immediately that this was going to be the starring feature for my next quilt.

C...

Last week when Paolo Arao talked about our textile practices, we mentioned that one of the things that we have in common is our shared love of taro. So in this special SEAMSIDE bonus episode, you'll hear us share about our own personal tarot practice and how it plays into our creative practice. If you have a tarot practice, I hope you pick up some new nuggets. And if you don't have a tarot practice, maybe you want to give it a try?

⤷ Get your free TINY QUILT tutorial video I mention in this episode
⤷Learn more...

The fact that Paolo Arao and I both showed up to the podcast studio wearing orange winter hats and navy hoodies should tell you something of the kindred connection I feel with Paolo. After years of being online friends, we met up for breakfast about a month ago before going to see his most recent show that was about to close. Over a massive (and truly delicious) breakfast sandwich, we kept discovering commonalities: the way we think about color, how we navigate creative hiccups, our shared love of tarot. I knew right away that I wanted to invite him...

I recently spent a week in Chicago with my good friend, Amanda Nadig, making this quilt together. Since I had recently bought a small handheld recorder, we thought it'd be fun to take you behind the scenes day by day as we're making this quilt encountering creative obstacles, when things aren't turning out our way and how we navigate through this particular project together.

In part one, Amanda and I shared details about this particular commission, the kind of prep work we did to get ready for our week of sewing side by side in Chicago. We...

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 obstacles when things aren't turning out the way we'd hoped, and how we navigate through this particular project together.

Along the way we share some helpful tips and meaningful re...

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 here
⤷ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK!

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 different names: I make memory quilts, Sherri makes passage quilts, but they both point to the stories and energy that our clothes contain ev...

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 some thoughts about what it takes to have a positive collaboration experience. I hope you enjoy and pick up something you can use in yo...

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 into new pieces on her digital loom. After she’s spent days picking apart an old quilt, she often finds that the worn lace-l...

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

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE to get a notification when a new episode posts

⤷ Learn more about THE QU...

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 quilts go when you’re done making them?

④ I’m a multimedia artists and quilts are a part of what I do. But...

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 stories when words fall short

③ the power of collective effort

HELPFUL RESOURCES

⤷ Learn more about the Traditional Craft Mentorships at John C. Campbell Folk School

⤷ Con...

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 Joy Drops

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

⤷ En...

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...

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...

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 a...

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 discus...

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 b...

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...

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...

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

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 through your work

② how to bring a spirit of joy and gratitude to your practice

③ and what his grandma really...

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 later to share our favorite quilt book recommendations, personal stories from recent quilting bees, and I share a vulnerable moment that Jess indirectly helped me understand one of my own blind spots...

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 in Brooklyn, and in this conversation we explore:

① the role movement and immigration can play in an artis...

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 both a balm and encouragement for anyone who seeks to make this world a better place through their work.

⤷ Subscribe to SEAMSIDE to...

Cody Cook-Parrott has a way of capturing human experiences into words that, for me at least, makes them feel lived even if they're not my lived experience.

Writer/dancer/quilter/everything Cody Cook-Parrott now lives in rural Michigan where they’re busy making an old house a home. We connect when Cody was at a friend’s house in Detroit and together we explore:

① feeling like an outsider in the quilt world

② stewarding family traditions

③ an expansive and life-affirming examination of gender queerness

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NO...

Udita (website and @uditau) and me dream up a quilt that 1) has a snake resting on a branch, and 2) is also a stained-glass window

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

In this conversation with quilter Judy Martin, we explore:

① the tole time plays in our work

② how we can meet ourselves in our materials

③ how our creative arc shifts over time

You can learn more about Judy on her website and instagram.

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

Hannah (@_hagtime and @ragfairtextiles) and I dream up a quilt that will 1) help you survive a trip over Niagara Falls, and 2) is inspired by a goldfish

Want to be on the show? All contestants are asked to call the CRAZY QUILT HOTLINE open 24/7 and leave me a voicemail (and don't worry, it won't actually ring my phone so call anytime. The number to call is >>> (828) 278-8211‬

Victoria Gertenbach and I sit down a year later to catch up on where her work has taken her since we last talked. Have you heard our original conversation? You can listen to it here

Support SEAMSIDE alum Lou Gardiner who been re-diagnosed recently with cancer. You can find her Gofundme page here.

In this conversation with quilter Coulter Fussell, we explore:

① role community plays in her work

② maintains hope in the face of conflict and turmoil

③ the South and family history

You can learn more about Coulter on her website and instagram.

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

I have wanted to follow up with Maura ever since she first joined us on SOFT BULK. Her candor and generosity radiate easily in this conversation as we discuss:

① the balance of tensions between art-making and parenthood

② the work and writings of sculptor Anne Truitt

③ how to build a sustainable commission process for yourself

You can learn more about Maura on her website and instagram.

Beverly Smith catches us up with where her textile work has taken her in the last year since we talked. Have you heard our original conversation? You can listen to it here

Kathryn Greenwood Swanson is the owner of Swanson’s Fabric and purveyor of secondhand fabrics. In this conversation, we discuss:
① the role of the communal stashhouse in a community of fiber artists
② the shame so often associated with our fabric stashes
③ and how to start your own secondhand fabric store like Swanson’s Fabrics

You can also watch that episode of Good Morning America from 1999 that Kathryn appeared on here. It’s incredible to see just what a powerhouse Kathryn already was at 15 🙆‍♂️

You can learn more about Kathryn and Swanson’s Fabrics on instagram, F...

Emma Freeman catches us up with where her textile work has taken her in the last year since we talked. Have you heard our original conversation? You can listen to it here

In this bonus episode of SEAMSIDE, Sara Trail and I have a little surprise for you. After we’d stopped recording the conversation you just heard in episode 1, I asked Sara if she thought her mom, Kay Trail,— who’s obviously played a key role in her life— if her mom would be interested in talking with me a little bit. Without skipping a beat— and this probably comes as no surprise to you now— Sara had her mom on the phone, and though Sara has to run off to go to work, Kay and I chat for several more minutes...

Sara Trail, director of Social Justice Sewing Academy, shares her story of getting folks to make their first stitch. A big part of the trick she says is not teaching people HOW to sew, but rather teaching them WHY to sew: namely, to tell their own story.

SJSA can always use your help. Click here to learn more.

Nick D’Ornellas makes life-size screen prints of daily moments with his family around home. He then cuts the screen prints into thin strips and weaves them back together, distorting the original image, both sharing it with the public but also reserving the privacy of homelife.

In our conversation, we discuss:

1 the role of family in art

2 exhibiting your work as a way to connect with the viewer

3 using the white cube gallery space as a tool

HELPFUL LINKS ♡

⤷ Get the companion zine for this conversation here

⤷...

Michael Sylvan Robinson is a textile artist and a long-time activist with Gays Against Guns. In this pared-down episode recorded days after the shooting in Buffalo, Sylvan offers some hard-won wisdom from his years of activism that I hope are both a balm and an encouragement to you in doing the good work that needs to be done. I’ll update this episode page soon with further details.

Lou Gardiner is a joyful force of nature. As textile artist in the UK, she specializes in embroidery and is best known for her recent cape-making projects, including the Cloud Cape and the Cape of Empowerment.

In our conversation, we discuss:

① how her relationship with creativity shifted during her recent cancer journey

② why we need each other now as much as ever

③ the power of softness to reshape our world

HELPFUL LINKS ♡

⤷ Learn more about Lou’s work on her website and you can follow along on Instagram

Jess Bailey is an art historian, a collector of stories, and a quilter. You may know Jess from Instagram @publiclibraryquilts or their book, Many Hands Make a Quilt: Short Histories of Radical Quilting.

The conversation we had was tender and joyful as we discussed:

① why representation and visibility are so important in the quilting community,

② the power of a gifted quilts, and

③ how to start a quilting practice even if you come from a long a line of quilters.

HELPFUL LINKS ♡

⤷ historic New Deal quilting bee photos

⤷ Anna's...

In this episode, slow-stitcher Victoria Gertenbach and I discuss how the rustic barns of Lancaster County have shaped her work, how artists often feel squeeze when it comes to representing themselves and their work honestly on social media, and at the end Victoria takes us a wild word-association ride that will give you a taste of her creative process.

HELPFUL LINKS ♡

⤷  Join me and Heidi Parkes for Sewing in Place at Madeline Island School of the Arts this June

⤷Watch the episode of SOFT BULK Victoria mentions in this episode

⤷  The podcast is...

In this episode, I sit down with textile artist Beverly Smith and we discuss how making quilts can often be like a magic carpet ride, how our work can exist on the physical plane as well as higher planes, and how memory lives beyond trauma, buried safe in our hearts and minds. (Heads up: Around minute 26, we briefly touch the topic of suicide and how it has influenced Beverly’s work.)

⤷ The podcast is only half of SEAMSIDE! Check out the SEAMSIDE ZINE for more insights on this conversation

⤷ Want to see the textiles pieces we menti...

In this second episode, I sit down with weaver Jennifer Mao, and we discuss how she uses weaving as a way of closing the gaps she sees in the world around her, the importance of gift economy, and the role of the artist in preserving the spirit of the people.

⤷ The podcast is only half of SEAMSIDE! Check out the SEAMSIDE ZINE for more insights on this conversation

⤷ Want to see the textiles pieces we mention in this show?

⤷ Curious about Jen’s work?

⤷ Learn more about the inner work of textiles in a...

In this first episode, I sit down and sew with artist Emma Freeman: maker of burial books and contemplation cloths. As we sew, we talk about some of the lessons working with cloth has taught us about being human. The conversation ranges from deep ecology to the intersection of Zen Buddhism and creativity.

⤷ The podcast is only half of SEAMSIDE! Check out the SEAMSIDE ZINE for more insights on this conversation

⤷ Want to see the textiles pieces we mention in this show?

⤷ Curious about Emma’s work?

⤷ Learn more about the inner work of...

"How does working with cloth make us more human?" the driving question behind this SEAMSIDE project with your host, Zak Foster