Running Stitch - A QSOS Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Running Stitch is back! We're bringing you a special bonus episode: Voices from QuiltCon, featuring mini-interviews from quilters just like you, collected at the Quilt Alliance's booth at QuiltCon 2024. We invited show attendees to stop by and randomly select a question chosen from our Quilters Save Our Stories oral history project.

Enjoy this mini-episode, and we'll be back in a week or two with three new episodes to close out our fourth season, focusing on the intersection of quilts and technology. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss these exciting episodes!

Other than the sewing machine, what tool has been the biggest innovation in quiltmaking? Yes, that's right: in this episode of Running Stitch, we're talking all about the rotary cutter.

Our guest is Kristin Barrus, a PhD candidate at University of Leicester and a quiltmaker. Kristin's work explores 21st century quiltmaking through the lenses of women's studies, fan studies, and anthropology. We'll talk with Kristin about the origins of the Modern Quilt movement, and she also shares with us the fascinating history of how quilters came to use--and love--the rotary cutter.

Learn more about Running Stitch at www.quiltalliance.org/runningstitch

Visit Kristin online at www.kristinbarrus.com

Coming soon: season three of Running Stitch, a QSOS podcast. This season, we're focusing on younger quiltmakers -- quiltmakers who build on quilting traditions and contemporary influences to make something that's uniquely theirs. We'll listen back to interview clips with quilters from the past two decades, and talk with these quilters about the role of quilts in their lives and in society. Subscribe now and don't miss an episode of our third season of Running Stitch, a QSOS podcast!

What do one-of-a-kind, unusual, or outlier quilts tell us about the quiltmaking tradition? In this episode, Joe Cunningham joins host Janneken Smucker to revisit their 2007 interview and discuss how American quilt history reveals a tradition of experimentation, problem-solving, and creativity that today's quilters can draw on. Joe further contemplates the relationship of art and quilts, recalling his own evolution and liberation as a quiltmaker.

Have you ever wondered how quilt historians can unravel the story of a quilt with just a few threads? Do you want the inside scoop on how researchers look for "clues in the calico"? Our guest this week is celebrated quilt historian Barbara Brackman. Running Stitch host Janneken Smucker talked with Barbara about quilt history research and how it's evolved in the 21st century, how quilts can be used as a lens for women's history, and the new, expanded edition of her Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

This episode was recorded live, as part of the Textile Talks free weekly lecture series.

What makes a quilt "sing"? Join us for this episode of Running Stitch, with our guest Denyse Schmidt, to explore that question and more. We'll talk about what it means—for an object OR its maker—to be 'authentic'. 

Denyse is a groundbreaking quiltmaker, and the designer of numerous patterns and fabrics, the author of Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration and Denyse Schmidt Quilts. We'll revisit her 2012 QSOS interview, explore the places and eras that inspire Denyse's work, and end our conversation discussing her upcoming fabric line, "Five and Ten".

For well over a century, quilts have meant business. A thriving quilt industry has existed since the 19th century, publishing patterns, selling fabrics and supplies, promoting quiltmaking, and offering celebrity endorsements. In today's age of social media and online retail, the business side of quilts has continued to thrive, while navigating all sorts of bumps in the road, including, most recently, a global pandemic. This week, we talk with Linda Pumphrey, Senior Account Executive for Mountain Mist. For decades, Linda has worked for quilt companies, criss-crossing the country managing her accounts. This year, she has stayed home, Zooming with her customers and colleagues. We'll talk with Linda about how quilt businesses have adapted, and the role of celebrity in the quilt industry, both today and in the past.

Quilters S.O.S. – Save Our Stories oral history interviews often include the question, "What makes a great quilt?" Running Stitch host Janneken Smucker asks today's guest, quilt historian Merikay Waldvogel, to answer this most challenging question, while they also listen back to other interviewees' responses. What's the answer? Good planning? Lots of fabrics? First place ribbons? Immortality? Tune in to hear from one of the world's foremost quilt authorities, who has seen 10,000s of historic quilts, and finds something to like about each one.

Running Stitch is back for Season Two, again digging into the QSOS oral history archive to explore the meaning of quilts in American life. In this episode, host Janneken Smucker talks to quiltmaking legend Ricky Tims about the role of creativity in his life. As a quiltmaker, musician, composer, co-host of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, and founder of Quilt Life magazine, Ricky embodies creativity. We'll revisit his first interview for the QSOS project, recorded two decades ago in 2000, and continue the conversation with a new interview exploring the intersection of music and quilting, his perspective on the creative spirit, and Ricky's new novel, Lizzy Albright and the Attic Window, co-written with Kat Bowser.

Join us for a very special sneak preview of our second season of Running Stitch. We'll be sharing more amazing interviews from fascinating folks in the quilt world, including Ricky Tims, Merikay Waldvogel, and Carolyn Crump. From an exploration of the creative spirit to a conversation about America's quilt history, you won't want to miss these new episodes!