Ashley Nickels, Karen Overton, and Linzee Kull McCray chat with host Pat Sloan on the American Patchwork & Quilting podcast.
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Guest: Ashley Nickels

Topics: quilting inspiration

She says: "I just had my first solo show here in Berkeley, and the show was called Writer's Block. It highlights a lot of small pieces that are watercolor quilts, but they have words in black letters on them. And then I would write a story connected to the piece. And it depends -- sometimes I would have an idea going into it for what I wanted to write about, or sometimes it would just be what came out of me that day."

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Guest: Karen Overton

Topics: ironing tips

She says: "I press my seams open, and a lot of people say, 'Oh no, we have to press to the dark side, so we can nestle our seams.' And that does work, but for me, if I press it open, I've got a flatter seam and I can match my points so much better, because I can see the direction of those seams."

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Guest: Linzee Kull McCray

Topics: feedsacks

She says: "It's part of what I love about the story of feedsacks is that they really are an example of how manufacturers and advertisers realized the power of women. Once the lockstitch sewing machine was invented in the mid-1800's, bags could replace barrels, and suddenly women saw these bags and they thought, 'free fabric'. And the first bags were plain, but pretty soon manufacturer's sweetened the pot a little bit. They stamped embroidery patterns on the bags and they would do days of the week dishtowels, they had doll patterns you could cut out and sew and stuff. In the late '30s, the printed sacks really came into their own and people started putting dress prints on the sacks."