January 6, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of Creative Crossroads, we welcome Charles Cameron, a modern quilter and engineer based in North Carolina. Charles shares how he balances his analytical day job with his vibrant quilting practice. Cameron's quilts, featuring bright colors and modern designs, have been showcased at QuiltCon and have won awards, including the first-place ribbon for his Sudoku quilt in 2022. He talks about his creative process, which blends structure and spontaneity, and how his design wall and PowerPoint help him visualize and iterate on ideas. Charles also discusses the influences from his childhood, how collaboration in quilting bees has impacted his work and his use of unconventional tools like painter's tape. He reflects on the evolving nature of the modern quilt movement and how the quilting community continues to inspire him. Join us for an insightful conversation about creativity, collaboration, and the joy of quilting.
Find Charles on Instagram: Charles@FeltLikeSweets
00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Charles Cameron
01:30 Charles Cameron's Quilting Journey
04:17 Balancing Structure and Spontaneity in Quilting
06:54 The Bee Project and Creative Collaboration
17:18 Designing Quilts with PowerPoint
20:47 Quilting Beginnings and Early Inspirations
21:02 Creating Unique Quilts for My Daughters
23:10 Involving Family in Quilting
23:43 Sources of Inspiration
26:30 Handling Creative Blocks
27:17 Designing and Pivoting Projects
29:57 Personal Quilting Philosophy
31:17 Unconventional Tools and Techniques
32:52 Long-Term Projects and Iterations
35:13 The Modern Quilt Movement
40:00 Final Thoughts and Reflections
Thanks for joining us at Creative Crossroads! Keep creating and we'll see you again soon!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (00:00):
Welcome back to Creative Crossroads,
(00:01):
everybody, and if it's yourfirst time here, we're happy you
found us.
Today I want to introduce a goodfriend to you.
Charles Cameron is a modernquilter based in North Carolina,
and we first met in a group ofonline quilters during the
pandemic and have becomebeemates and friends since then.
(00:23):
Charles is an engineer by day,but a great quilter by night and
by weekend, his work featuresbright colors and good color
value placement, and he enhancestraditional quilt patterns and
creates modern designs.
His quilts have been publishedand curated quilts and juried
into QuiltCon.
(00:43):
And one of his quilts, theSudoku quilt.
Received a first place ribbon inthe small quilts category at
QuiltCon in 2022.
He's published and written quiltpatterns of his own design.
He gives guild lectures andtrunk shows and workshops to
encourage others to learn modernquilting.
(01:03):
So welcome Charles, we're gladyou're here.
Charles Cameron (01:06):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
It's such a pleasure, uh, to beable to sit down and speak with
you.
It's a little bit awkwardbecause I feel like we know all
of these things about oneanother, already, but we always
have such wonderfulconversations, Ellen.
So I'm really glad that we'regoing to capture it for the
record.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (01:21):
We do.
And I'm really happy that we getto share it with others because
I Learn so much from you andenjoy talking to you too.
So it'll be fun to share.
Can you Start out by telling uswhat you think creativity is
what it is and what it means toyou.
Charles Cameron (01:38):
Yeah Creativity for me, I think is one of those
things that you don'tnecessarily do during the day
I'm jealous of all those peoplethat get to use their creative
minds during the day.
And that doesn't mean I don't Idon't You know, love my job and,
and all of that.
But for me, I spend a lot oftime during the day, um, just
executing, you know, lead agroup of people and we've got a
(02:01):
mission and we've gotta get itdone.
And there's kind of a formula toit that you repeat.
And, and so for me, the creativeexercise is kind of being able
to break out, um, of that moldjust to, you know, express ideas
in a way that.
Um, allows some flexibility and,um, allows you to kind of
meander down a path and godifferent directions.
And, um, if you fall off thepath, that's okay because you
(02:22):
might find something really newand really interesting.
And, um, so it's, it's just forme personally, it's a, it's a
very different way for me to usethe other side of my brain, um,
that I'm not using during theday.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (02:35):
That's really cool.
And is, were you alwayscreative?
Were you a creative kid, or?
Yeah,
Charles Cameron (02:40):
yeah, I was.
I can remember, um, very earlyon, like, first grade, second
grade, getting the Highlightsmagazines.
Yes! And always turning to the,yes, and, and turning to the
page of, like, the things thatyou can create at home.
So I remember one in particular,like, stealing the tops off my
parents deodorant bottle to makeEaster baskets out of.
(03:02):
And just, you know, Littlethings like that were always
something I was, getting intoloved, coloring, loved creating.
So yes, I think I've always beenthat creative type.
Catherine Dutton (03:12):
Do you see pieces of that desire to create
still pulling into your dailylife now.?
Charles Cameron (03:20):
I think so.
I always kind of tell a funnylittle story where, you know, I
can also remember in secondgrade, second grade must've been
a very formative period of timefor my creativity, but I
remember like, always wantingthe 96 box of crayons.
You know, my friends had the bigbox of crayons and I only only
had the 32 and 32 is great.
(03:40):
Don't get, don't get me wrong.
Um, but I think that just beingconstrained in that way, um, is
something that I've always kindof tried to build out of.
So, you know, I find myselftoday trying to use as many
colors as possible and usereally bright colors and, um,
you know, try to break out ofany kind of constraints that
exist, whether it's color orotherwise.
Catherine Dutton (04:02):
I love that.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (04:02):
I hope, I hope people will look at your
work on Instagram or on yourwebsite.
You use color in great ways.
I just, it's really inspiringand we'll, we'll leave links to
those things so they can checkit out.
Thanks.
That's great.
So we talk sometimes about thebalance between structure and
(04:23):
spontaneity and it sounds likeyou, you like to break out of
that structure.
Is there a balance?
Do you use both?
What do you think?
Charles Cameron (04:32):
Yeah, it's a really great.
Question.
I think so.
I do very much use both.
Um, and I find in differentprojects, I might rely on.
On spontaneity and in otherprojects, I might rely much more
on structure.
So as you mentioned in thebeginning, I'm trained as an
engineer.
So I really do like, especiallyit's been a lot of time during
the day, um, trying to putthings in particular boxes.
(04:54):
You know, how can I make this asfast as possible?
Or how can I set up an assemblyline?
You know, to either chain pieceor do my cutting or.
Any of those types of things.
So you'll you'll see certainprojects that I've done in the
past that were really focused onhow to be as meticulous and
precise as possible.
But then I think the fun comesmaybe sometimes at the end where
(05:15):
you spend all this time being,precise.
And then at the end, you, takeyour rotary cutter to it and
whack it into a million piecesand then sew it back together
based on how it looks on yourdesign wall.
And I think it's the marriage ofthose two that I think is maybe.
I won't say unique.
For me, other people do this,but it's the part that I like
(05:35):
the best.
I think that's perhaps whatmakes some of my work
recognizable is it's this kindof intertwining of those kind of
two parts of, spontaneity andprecision.
That makes sense.
One of my favorites was when wesent you B blocks, and
Ellyn Zinsmeister (05:51):
this may have been the quilt that we had that
started this whole conversation.
Yeah, we were, we were out todinner at QuiltCon one night
with a small group, and I askedyou, whatever happened to those
bee blocks?
Because it had been a few monthsand, and, if people know me,
when the bee blocks, sometimesI'm sewing them together before
they've all arrived.
(06:12):
That's right.
that's just my process.
And I hadn't seen those and Iwondered, and you, you said, do
you remember what you said tome?
Charles Cameron (06:19):
Tell me, remind me.
You
Ellyn Zinsmeister (06:20):
said, you said they're marinating on my
design wall.
And I was like, what does thateven mean?
I'm like, that's so foreign tome.
Nothing marinates on my designwall.
If it's there, it gets sewntogether.
Wham, it's done.
That really got me thinkingabout how different everyone's
processes are and it fascinatedme.
(06:42):
And what you ultimately did withthose blocks, the way you cut
them, that's so cool.
Maybe you could describe theprocess that you used with that
quilt.
Charles Cameron (06:53):
Yeah, yeah, I'd be happy to.
So that particular project, andI'll tell you, like, in the
bigger context, this particularquilt was one of the first times
that I had worked as part of abee, right, where I gave up a
little bit of control of theprocess, right, because I would
say prior to that project, I,when approaching a quilt, I
spend a lot of time in thedesign process.
(07:15):
I spent a lot of time thinkingabout what it's going to look
like and drafting it out andmocking it up on the computer.
And like, I will get to a pointwhere I'm completely happy with
a quilt, um, before I order anyfabric or cut any fabric.
That was my approach prior tothat.
Um, but growing, you know, asI'm growing, of course, that was
(07:37):
a part of the process.
I had to give up a little bit,right?
Um, so the first big quilt thatI did with Quilts Unscripted Bee
was one where.
Um, I had a palette of colorsthat I was interested in working
with, and they were somewhatunique.
They weren't your normal, colorpalette, which I think some of
the folks in the group commentedon, and appreciated, that
(07:58):
challenge.
I started off with 12 solids,and I sent everybody in the B
three of them.
So, everybody got three colors.
They didn't know what all theother colors were, and nobody
got the same group of three.
So, the idea was, everybody wasgoing to create their own.
piece.
I think I asked everybody to beinspired by their, favorite
piece of abstract art orfavorite abstract artist.
(08:21):
which was fun, gave the team alot of flexibility, but in the
end, it was going to, kind ofcreate this cohesive color
palette, you know, when it allcame back together.
And so, which it did, and I gotthe most beautiful blocks back.
I mean, I think reallyeverybody, at least it appears,
spent a lot of time and effortand energy, pulling out fabrics
(08:41):
that were similar to the threethat I sent and kind of really
thinking about.
Yeah.
How to put them together in aunique way.
So I got these 10 blocks back,relatively the same size, but
not all.
And that was fine.
That's part of the process.
And when I put them up on thedesign wall, of course, your
first inclination is just find aneat way to arrange them and sew
them together in a way thatmakes them look pretty and boom,
(09:02):
you're done.
and I find like, I found that Ispent so much time kind of
moving them around becausesometimes, Block A and Block B
made good neighbors, but when Iput Block C up, there was a part
of Block A that, I wanted thetwo to connect, so I just, for a
very long time, like you said,when they were marinating, was
really moving the blocks aroundthe design wall to see, what
interesting combinations I couldget, whether it was an
(09:24):
interesting color combination,or, motifs that looked like they
flowed from one block, toanother.
And got to the point where I wasreally happy with how it looked.
nonetheless, because I had donethis, um, you know, this
technique of giving everybodysort of patches of color, it
really did kind of look likepatches of color.
And so I started to think, howcan I, you know, how can I mix
(09:44):
this paint up?
Uh, a little bit.
And so the way to do that wassew them together, cut them
apart, and sew them backtogether again.
and so that's what I did.
I did that a couple of differenttimes, actually, before I came
up with the final layout.
And it was a great deal of fun.
It was a It
Ellyn Zinsmeister (09:59):
looked like fun.
And you included us in yourprocess and shared what you were
doing along the way.
and it was just fascinating theway you think like an engineer.
Imagine that!
Charles Cameron (10:10):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Thank you.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (10:12):
So tell us a little bit about your space that
you create in, because I can seeit behind you, but our listeners
can't see it.
Charles Cameron (10:18):
Well, what you're seeing is the organized
portion.
So I have a nice, nice shelvesbehind me.
And you can see my bobbins arebehind me, all arranged in
color.
And I've got a design wall uphere that I'm working on.
what you can't see are the pilesof fabric that are all over the
floor.
And the trash cans areoverflowing with scraps because
I can't see them.
Uh, to take it downstairs.
(10:39):
So, so again, it's kind of thismixture of precision, and being
organized.
But yeah, like, sometimes thecreative, uh, mess happens, as
well.
And I don't let myself getbogged down with, with either of
those, right?
Um, sometimes, you know, I findI can work in a very kind of
chaotic space.
but then there are other timeswhere I need to set aside a day
or two, just to kind of bringeverything back, to the
(11:00):
baseline.
Um, I will say another couple ofthings.
I, put this design wall up, it'sbeen about a year and a half to
two years now, and made one justout of the four by eight foam
board that you can get at thehardware store or whatever, and
covered it with, some flannelfabric, which is great.
And I saw a great tip.
(11:22):
Instagram about attaching it tothe wall, not with, bolts or
screws, but with the 3m sticky,sticky pieces.
I'll tell you that was the bestpiece of inspiration I ever had.
So I work a lot more from adesign wall now, than relying
solely on, creating it allbeforehand.
and that's been a reallyinteresting kind of pivot.
(11:43):
in my journey.
Catherine Dutton (11:44):
How have you seen that change for you?
Like that's going to be a bigshift to go from I've pre
planned everything in fabric toI'm going to allow for some
redesign.
Charles Cameron (11:57):
Well, like I was mentioning with that
previous project, I think thathas been a requirement almost of
being part of a bee project.
And so really those two kind ofwent together when I, when I
first got those group of 10blocks back that were absolutely
beautiful.
You know, I, I needed a way to,to marinate.
I needed a way to have themmarinate.
(12:19):
And so really putting up thewall was the, was the way to
deal with that, you know, kindof creative challenge.
And since then, every beadproject that I've worked on
since has started off that way.
Like, just putting things up onthe wall and, giving them some
time to marinate, and move itaround.
So I think the two have kind of,gone, hand in hand.
Hmm.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (12:38):
I feel like collaboration has impacted your
independent quilting as well.
Charles Cameron (12:43):
Yeah, in a number of ways, but let me give
you a couple of examples.
So in particular, participatingin the bee has been a huge step
change for me, personally,creatively, because what the bee
has offered is.
These challenges, right?
Like every month, um, you know,we get this wonderful prompt and
(13:04):
it's not something that startsoff in my brain, right?
It's something that has startedoff in somebody else's brain.
and so part of the challengethere is like incorporating, you
know, well, first the fabricthat I have on hand, I try to
always use my scraps.
but then like, what are theexperiences that I've had or the
techniques that I've tried thatI'm comfortable with or perhaps
(13:25):
the techniques that I want totry on a, you know, an upcoming
poll, I use the bee challengesas a way to kind of test those
out.
So the collaboration part hasbeen really great, right?
Because I'm, in a B you're,you're not only working by
yourself.
You're really kind of exchangingideas a number of times
throughout the process.
And so that being part of the Bhas been an incredible.
(13:49):
way to explore collaboration.
There's lots of different waysthat we can collaborate,
especially in quilting, but, theformat that we've created, has
been wonderful for me.
But, but then, yeah, so let mefinish the idea, right?
as I have used several of themonths.
prompts as a way to exploretechnique.
Right.
So in particular, there was aprompt that, Isabel, gave,
(14:11):
several years ago, I think twoyears ago.
I had an idea in my mind ofsomething that I wanted to do
for a fabric challenge quilt,but I used her prompt as a way
to kind of tease out some of thetechniques, modify the technique
or the idea that I had in mymind.
So that collaborative projectreally earned, you know, really
led me to putting together, aquilt on my own.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (14:37):
That's really great.
That's really great.
Charles Cameron (14:39):
I've seen a couple of the other members
actually not now that I thinkabout it, they'll get an idea
through a prompt that they'veworked on, you know, so a prompt
that somebody else has made,they've made a block, and it
turns out so interesting or theyhave enjoyed the process of that
particular, you know, puttingthat particular block together
that they have used it to make.
something later on.
(15:00):
Yeah.
It's a theme for us.
I think it's a theme.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:02):
It's fun.
And we stretch each other andlearn from each other.
So it's fun to see where thingsgo.
Charles Cameron (15:08):
That's right.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:09):
That's really cool.
Catherine, you were going to saysomething,
Catherine Dutton (15:12):
you know, I was, I'm so curious about the
project where you took thoseblocks and then you cut them up
again.
Yeah.
Was there hesitation for you indoing that?
Charles Cameron (15:22):
Absolutely.
And like,
Catherine Dutton (15:23):
and like, how did, how, and how did you work
through that?
Because I think sometimes welook at blocks that someone else
has made and it's like, Oh, Idon't want to, I don't want to
make it any less than, but indoing that, you made it better.
I think so.
And I
Charles Cameron (15:39):
think that, I'll tell you, there were, I
think two or three things thatmight have helped, um, with that
first is I did have this idea ofcutting up blocks.
Even when I wrote the prompt.
I did make mention of it in themonthly prompt, I think I said
something like don't get tooattached to your block because,
you know, I may cut it up.
So I was giving permission forpeople to like, if they were
(16:01):
really upset about their block,well then just send me maybe a
one that you spent a little bitless time on or something.
I don't think anybody actuallydid that, but so I did give a
little bit of, of forewarning.
I think the other thing thatmade me a little bit less
restrained in cutting thoseblocks up, it was that that
particular challenge, theparticular prompt, was to create
(16:22):
an abstract block.
So there, a lot of those blockswere ones that, of course they
were gorgeous, and of coursethey were wonderful.
But you could have turned them90 degrees, and they would have
been equally as beautiful, oryou could have cut them in half
and match them with anotherblock, and they could have been
equally as beautiful.
I wasn't interrupting, at leastfrom my perspective, wasn't
interrupting kind of any of thecreativity or the flow that the
(16:45):
maker put in that particularblock, but don't get me wrong,
like having that huge panel ofthese beautiful blocks that
people had worked For a longtime on, and I had taken kind of
months to marinate on.
Yeah, the first cut was, uh, thefirst cut was a challenge.
But I will, that was, it wasdefinitely, you know, measure
twice, cut once type of project.
(17:06):
I, you know, had planned all mycuts out, and I knew exactly
where I wanted to cut, and I'dmeasured it, and that's where
the engineering side kind ofstepped in.
So it wasn't, um, it wasn't animprov cut, let's say it that
way.
Fair.
Okay.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (17:18):
that's thinking of that quilt
specifically, but any of yourquilts, how do you know when
it's finished?
How do you know when you'redone?
Charles Cameron (17:25):
Great.
Yeah, great question.
So I think, like I mentioned, alot of times I'm designing.
I'm doing it all electronicallyfirst.
I'm doing it kind of, I like touse PowerPoint.
That's my design tool of choice.
It's nothing fancy, but it cando 95 percent of the things that
the fancy, drafting software cando.
Um, but, but like I said, so I'musually spending a lot of time
(17:48):
kind of in that drafting part.
So once I get to a design thatI'm interested in, the quilt is
really done.
it just needs to be constructed,in that regard.
So there have been other quiltsthat I've done that were, more
improv or, that I was doing, onthe design wall.
And I think it's just more of afeeling.
Um, I think I do look for thingslike.
(18:09):
is the color value, distributedin a way that is right?
Either, homogeneouslydistributed, or am I going from
lights or darks, or somethinglike that?
Or, I'm looking for, is theremovement in the quilt that is
interesting, or makes sense?
So I think I'm applying a lot ofthose kind of artistic basics,
line, color, shade.
(18:30):
And for me, then it's just moreof a feeling.
And I think that is, that's thecreative part.
That's the not engineering partof my work is that just being
intuitive with respect tocalling it finished.
Catherine Dutton (18:43):
Makes sense.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about how you use
PowerPoint to design?
I'm sure that is, that'sfascinating.
Charles Cameron (18:51):
Well, if you think about PowerPoint, it
really is kind of like,illustrator in that, you can
create a grid, you can make theslides as large, as small as you
want.
You can put, all kinds ofgeometric shapes in place.
So you can put squares ordrunkard's paths.
you can put quarter circles.
(19:11):
You can put triangles that are60 degree triangles or 45
degrees.
You can make all of those shapesin PowerPoint.
And similarly, you can color allof those shapes in the way that
you can in other designsoftware.
So you can make solids, you canimport, manufacturers prints and
you can color The squares andthe triangles, the fabric
(19:32):
swatches that are availableonline.
So, it did take me like a littlebit of thought to do.
but PowerPoint was somethingthat I use often at work.
So had had some of those skills.
and yeah, really, it just, itbecame this really great tool.
inexpensive tool.
Catherine Dutton (19:48):
I love that.
I think that's such a great wayto use something that it's
already accessible to you.
It's accessible to many people.
You're not paying an extramonthly subscription fee for it.
And so yeah, just use what'sthere.
Charles Cameron (20:02):
Some of the things that I like to do is
like, once you get, you can evendo this with, patterns, you
know, patterns that you'vepurchased is you can mock them
up, relatively straightforwardlyin, what I like to do is maybe
make it, one color story and youput that on a slide.
and then you do the exact same.
outline and make it a differentcolor story on the subsequent
(20:23):
slide.
And then you can just kind of goback and forth between the two
to see which you like better.
And so I do have, you know, ifyou went into my desktop, you'd
see it covered with all of thesequilts.
And a lot of it is just likelooking at different iterations.
That's the other thing that'sreally nice about it is that you
can iterate and iterate.
And then you can say, Oh, Idon't like where I went.
I can go back four steps becauseI've got it saved four slides
(20:44):
ago.
and you can go down a differentpath.
So for me, it's been a greattool and I'm not selling it as
the best tool or anything, butit certainly has worked well for
me.
Catherine Dutton (20:53):
No, I love it.
I love the idea of using a toolthat you've already got, that
you already know how to use.
That's right.
That's exactly right.
That's awesome.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (21:02):
So do you ever make a quilt more than
once?
Do you ever make several ofthose iterations?
Charles Cameron (21:07):
Oh, yeah.
So, um, early, early in myquilting career, and you can
see, you ladies can see that I'mdoing my air quotes.
Early in my quilting career, I,you know, like many of us
started off using patterns,other people's quilts.
Pattern.
Sure.
I started off with, a couple ofthe Then Came June patterns by
Megan Buchanan.
(21:28):
One in particular that I reallyenjoyed was the, Sienna Burst
quilt.
it was my first foray into halfrectangle triangles, which I
found quite challenging,actually, in the beginning, and
many of us did.
Well, that particular quilt, um,it was right around the time
that my girls were, like, Six,seven, eight, nine, you know, so
(21:49):
in this really creative periodof time, and I could get them to
sit with me in full fabrics andwe could talk about different
colors.
So that, um, then came Junequilt, the Sienna, Sienna burst.
I actually made twice.
Um, and I made it in exactly thesame color way.
So that the color way is notwhat I changed, but how we
(22:09):
placed the colors was completelydifferent.
So in the first quilt that Imade for my daughter, Charlotte,
who is the first born Me beingshe's the rule follower and we
had some very precise ways thatwe placed color.
So we had like the whole firstrow of blocks were blue blocks
and then the whole second rowwas, um, these green blocks,
(22:30):
etc, etc.
Well, when we made Alice'squilt, Alice is my second born,
and Alice thinks every day is aparty.
And Alice doesn't want to followrules.
We did something completelydifferent, you know, so we
didn't pay too much attentionto, you know, having precise
places where the colors were.
we kind of moved them aroundmore Sudoku style, you know,
trying to make sure that thecolors were evenly represented
(22:52):
in all the robes.
Uh, in columns.
So, so that is one example of aquilt that I've made, multiple
times there to be fair to thetwo girls, but also to, you
know, just kind of, um, notrepresent, but, uh, highlight
their two different, ways ofbeing.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (23:10):
Do your girls participate in your design and
your quilting often?
Charles Cameron (23:14):
On and off, on and off.
They certainly will tell me whatthey don't like, which is
always, it's helpful, right?
It's helpful.
Constructive criticism is alwayshelpful.
I will say Alice, my, my youngerdaughter, um, she will, she will
actually like to sit down andshe'll help with like a
community block.
So like if there's a, you know,a quilt project where
everybody's making a block,she'll have The time and the
(23:36):
patience and the intention tomake a block, which is a lot of
fun.
That's cool.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (23:42):
That is great.
So where does your inspirationcome from?
Where do the quilts come from?
Just out of your head or?
Charles Cameron (23:50):
Where do the quilts come from?
I think they've come from acouple different places as I've
kind of, you know, moved throughdifferent eras, if you will.
early on when I was just doingpatterns, of course I was
choosing.
Patterns that were relativelyeasy and straightforward.
But what I really enjoyed aboutthem was playing with color.
(24:10):
So where a lot of the quiltpatterns that are on the market
today.
Well are kind of one of one oftwo kinds with respect to color.
They're either.
Hey, you know You're gonna makethis block 20 different times
and I want the central figure tobe the same color in each of
those 20 blocks Right, so yougot to go get a half a yard of
this color in two thirds at abit about Or, you know, what
(24:32):
some of the modern quilt patterndesigners are doing today is
they're saying, Hey, I want youto cut the same number of pieces
out of every color, out of everyfat quarter that you have, and
mix and match them.
and I found that to be a reallyinteresting way to approach a
quilt.
Moreover, what I liked to do inthe beginning is rather than
move things around randomly, Iwas really trying to make
(24:55):
patterns.
with those colors.
So I would, you know, pull thepatterns where I could do
everything from, you know, 20fat quarters.
but instead of moving the piecesaround randomly, I was pretty
particular about having all thereds in the first row and the
oranges in the second and kindof creating this secondary
pattern with color, on top ofthe geometric pattern.
(25:15):
So I think that was one thingthat I really, I like to do
early on.
another thing that I've reallykind of picked up on is just
scrolling through Instagram.
And not necessarily looking atother people's quilts, which I
think is a wonderful thing todo.
Don't, don't get me wrong.
But where I also get a lot ofinspiration is looking at like
old architectural posters.
Or, different types of tile.
(25:37):
Or, I spent some time looking atfonts.
Different types of fonts thathave interesting curves or
shapes or things like that.
So, there have been a couple ofquotes that I've made where just
kind of scrolling throughInstagram has given me an idea.
And it's one that I try and itspends a fair amount of time,
um, trying to, trying to retoolinto a quilt design or a quilt
(25:57):
pattern.
What do you do?
And I think the third go, goahead.
Catherine Dutton (26:01):
No, go ahead.
Charles Cameron (26:02):
I was just gonna say then I think, I think
the third type of inspiration isjust the collaborative
inspiration as we were talkingabout.
It's, you start with not anidea.
Um, you're kind of given an ideaby somebody else, and then you,
meander around that for a whileand exchange back and forth.
And all of these I found to be alot of fun, right?
And they, all of those styles Ithink have started to overlap,
(26:25):
in my approach and then also go,you know, go on different
directions.
So it's, it's just a lot.
Catherine Dutton (26:30):
What do you do when you can't find that
inspiration or when you're notfeeling that inspiration?
Charles Cameron (26:35):
You know, I have to admit that's never been
a problem.
I tend to be one of those peoplethat I've got a million ideas
and just can't find enough timeto mm-hmm.
Um, to get through them all.
I also will say I do like tostart and complete a project, so
I very often will not have morethan one or two, projects going.
(26:56):
and I'm always kind of thinkingin the background of what the
next thing's gonna be.
So, lack of inspiration, I haveto admit, has not been a
challenge for me.
Catherine Dutton (27:03):
That's awesome that you haven't had that
problem.
Charles Cameron (27:07):
Yeah.
Thanks.
I wish I could tell you whatthat was or what vitamin I'm
taking that I don't know.
Catherine Dutton (27:13):
It's probably your morning tea or something
like that.
Right.
Yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (27:17):
Have you ever had an idea for a project and it
just didn't go the way youplanned and have you ever had to
abandon an idea?
Charles Cameron (27:25):
You know, I don't, um, I don't, I don't
recall abandoning.
So certainly I've pivoted.
Um, pivoting I've done, youknow, quite, quite often.
Um, but I will say again, I'llgo back to this idea of, I spend
a lot of time in design.
So, I might abandon somethingthere if I can't zhuzh it or get
(27:47):
it together or have it come outwhere I like.
but usually, If I've purchasedfabric and I start sewing, it's,
it's going to get finished.
It's going to get finished.
Catherine Dutton (27:58):
Can you talk about a time that you have had
to make that pivot?
Charles Cameron (28:02):
I think, yeah, I'll give you an, uh, I had, um,
I have this quilt that I made acouple of years ago.
It's called Take the Stairs, ifyou happen to be scrolling,
through my Instagram.
And the original idea for thisquilt came from a poster.
Uh, that I saw on Instagram, orexcuse me, on Pinterest from the
1960s.
(28:22):
So it was this 1960s black andwhite, poster.
And the poster was just all ofthese, squares in a grid.
So it was a grid.
and then each of the squares inthe grid was a slightly
different size, larger orsmaller than its neighbor.
And it created this reallyinteresting, negative space
because it was all squares, youknow, it was all 90 degree
(28:44):
squares, but because they wereall slightly different than
their neighbors, it really didlook like the negative space was
kind of waving.
and moving.
And so that was kind of the ideathat I wanted, to play with.
So when I first started, so Isat down at PowerPoint and
started to make a grid and, youknow, make all the little parts
of, um, you know, squares thatwere different sizes.
(29:06):
And, but I did spend quite a bitof time trying to figure out
what's the right, um,Orientation of all of these
little squares to get a reallyinteresting, negative space.
so I certainly didn't want toreplicate what the, the, the
poster, the architectural posterwas like, I thought that that
was too much of a cop out.
but so I really, what I starteddoing is placing them randomly
(29:27):
and that, that wasn't working.
what I landed on actually wastaking those squares that, you
know, went increasing anddecreasing in size.
And I arranged them in a maze.
all the way through the grid.
and that ultimately was thedesign that resonated with me.
And it took several iterations.
(29:47):
to get there.
But like I said, once I lockedin on that and bought the
fabric, it was, it was made.
You're good to go.
Yeah, good to go.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (29:56):
That's so great.
Are, are all of your quilts madejust for you and your family, or
do you ever do commission workor work for other people?
Charles Cameron (30:05):
I have not.
I have not.
And I'll tell you, some of thatis just the time I have
available to do it.
Quilting for me is a creativeendeavor and it's a hobby, and
so because of that, I don't wantto be bound by what somebody
else wants me to do.
I don't want to be bound bysomebody else's timeline or
somebody else's color palette,um, or, or any of those, types
(30:25):
of things.
Now, I will admit I'm in aunique situation where, you
know, I don't rely on quiltingas my job, you know, it's, it's,
it's a free time, thing for me.
so for that regard, yeah, I'musually making quilts.
for myself or for my family andlargely ones that I can at this
point, I like entering them inshows.
So I like spending the time toreally think about.
(30:47):
Um, you know, what does thisquilt mean?
What is it going to say?
What are the techniques thatneed to be used to express this
particular idea?
so yeah, I'm making quiltslargely as a means of sharing
and communicating an idea,without having to give them
away.
LAUGHS
Ellyn Zinsmeister (31:06):
Oh, that's great.
That's something else.
And it left me.
Catherine Dutton (31:12):
Are there any unconventional tools or
techniques that you'veincorporated into your creative
process?
Charles Cameron (31:17):
Love that question.
Um, you know, I think I'm stillkind of, I'm still young.
I'm still a young quilter.
So I do rely heavily, I think,on things that are already out
there.
I do like, painter's tape a lotfor a number of different
things.
So that's maybe my oneunconventional tool.
I like to use painter's tape forfoundation paper piecing.
(31:41):
So rather than pinning thefabric to the paper, I like to
tape it.
I think it gives it a muchsmoother.
So that's really helpful.
I like to use it for, straightquilting lines.
I'll use painter's tape firstand quilt along, that line.
Um, lots of great, lots of greatuses for painter's tape.
before I had the design wall, Iwas painter's taping a lot of
(32:02):
things to the wall.
it means the design to movethings around.
but yeah, otherwise, I'm a, youknow, I'm a, I like to use pins.
I like, nice sharp scissors.
I like a rotary cutter.
I have gotten into theAccuQuilt, so I do have an
AccuQuilt, the small one, theAccuQuilt Me, I think it's
called, Go, and I like that formaking just small pieces to
(32:27):
start with, um, so I have thedie cut that will give you a one
inch finished half squaretriangle, I've used that in a
couple of projects, and I have acustom die that I had made to do
the one finished one inchdrunkards paths.
so the curvilettes, I reallylike, I spend a lot of time
(32:49):
doing that if I need a handsewing project.
Catherine Dutton (32:52):
Have you made many of those?
Curvelets?
Charles Cameron (32:55):
Curvelets I have, I have about 700 at the
moment made.
I don't have a specificendpoint, although I have done
the math that, you know, ifyou're gonna make like a throw
sized quilt of all one inchsquares, you need about 4, 000.
squares.
So I go through, like, I ebb andflow.
I'll spend some time, making abunch of that, like, uh, uh,
(33:17):
glue basting a bunch of them,and then sewing them, and then
trimming them, and then I gettired, and I move on to
something else, and then I comeback to it.
So it's a long term projectwithout an end goal.
but it is a little fun, it's alot of fun, and it, you know,
occupies, it's sitting in theback of my brain marinating.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:33):
Do
Charles Cameron (33:34):
you
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:34):
have a I have to confess, I love hand sewing,
and I love that kind of piecing,and I tried like heck to jump on
your Curvelettes bandwagon, andit just didn't work.
Just didn't fly in my world.
Well, I will
Charles Cameron (33:46):
tell you this, one, I applaud you for trying
because I think it was a lot offun.
I had a great deal of funchatting with you about it when
we spent our time together andyou did do a couple really nice
little projects.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:58):
I did.
Charles Cameron (33:59):
With them.
I
Ellyn Zinsmeister (34:00):
did.
But that, that was all, yeah,and you were, you were a great
teacher.
You were a great teacher.
It's no reflection on you thatthe curvelets did not take hold
for me.
Charles Cameron (34:10):
It's something fun when I want to be away from
the machine, you know?
Do you have a plan
Catherine Dutton (34:17):
for how you're going to put them together?
Or is it just, I've beeniterating on that.
Charles Cameron (34:22):
I've been iterating on that as well.
so I do have a couple of rulesfor when, as I've been sewing
them together.
Okay.
So, each curvilet pair gets asolid and a print.
So one part is a solid, one partis the print.
And they also have to be fromthe same color family.
So, when I'm sewing two piecestogether, they're two red pieces
or two orange pieces or twoyellow pieces.
(34:43):
So, having that constraint, haskind of informed where it might
go longer term, you know, mightit end up being just kind of a
color wash where all the colorsare grouped together?
That could be reallyinteresting, I think.
I don't know.
I'm, like I said, I'm marinatingon it.
We'll see where it goes andultimately what I have, you
know, when I, when I finish.
Catherine Dutton (35:03):
Yeah.
Oh, I cannot wait to see that asit develops over time, as it
develops.
Yes.
Yes.
Cool.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (35:11):
Great.
So what inspires you are thereare specific artists that you're
following books that you'rereading podcasts you're
listening to,
Charles Cameron (35:23):
you know, um, let's see, I want to give you a
good answer here.
So I do, I certainly follow alot of My fellow quilters on
Instagram and I do think thatthat's great motivation in a
number of different ways.
So not just inspiring becauselike I see an idea and I want to
try it, but just knowing thatthere's so many people,
(35:44):
wonderful people, warm people,creative people out there.
experimenting and developingthis skill as their craft, or
their art, I think is reallywonderful.
I find that really inspiring,that people are engaging in
conversation, with quilts, youknow, making their, Statements
on just how beautiful the worldis or using it as a way to make
(36:09):
a political statement or someother way to comment on the
world I think is a reallywonderful thing for us to be
doing and a great way to engagein conversation.
And so I probably find that themost motivating and inspiring.
I'm also a member, of theTriangle Modern Quilt Guild,
(36:30):
which is, one of the chapters ofthe MQG.
I joined that guild about fiveyears ago, so it was about a
year, after I started quilting.
And again, it's, just such awarm group of people with all
these amazing ideas, andhistories and techniques that
they want to share.
And so I find that to be more,motivating than any, like one,
(36:53):
you know, any one artist or anyone idea or any one book.
it's, I think this is kind ofcollective.
Conversation that's going on outthere and the way that the
modern quilt movement is kind ofchanging, right?
Like, I think just the way thatit has changed and grown and
matured in the five years thatI've been, part of the
(37:15):
community, has been just super,super inspiring to see people
embrace new techniques.
to get so much more meticulous,with their work.
Try new and interesting colorcombinations.
Like, all of these things I justfind fascinating.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (37:30):
But talk a little more about the changes
you've seen specifically.
What do you remember from whenyou first came around?
Charles Cameron (37:37):
Yeah, I think in the past three or four years,
the quilts, that I have seen atQuiltCon, or even the quilts
that I've seen people preparingto enter to QuiltCon.
Let's, let's not leave those outof the conversation.
I think are ones that people arespending much more time With
(38:00):
time thinking about time,creating time quilting.
I think we're getting much moreintricate in our design and
execution.
I think there are a lot ofpeople out there that are
really, you know, every yeartrying to go above and beyond to
improve their technique toimprove, um, the message that
(38:20):
they're trying to say to come upwith some sort of, creative
design element that's different,or adds something to the
conversation.
so yeah, like I can rememberwalking the show in Atlanta, two
years ago and just kind of beingblown away thinking, oh, we've
leveled up the quality of thequilts that we are, making, they
(38:42):
were, smart.
They were really smart.
They were thought through.
They were, speaking to oneanother.
They were pulling in previousexamples, but giving them kind
of a new twist, in turn.
And I think it's just the start.
I think there's so much more,that's going to come down the
pike, so many more opportunitieswith the incredible tools that
we have available to us.
(39:03):
All of the fabrics and notionsAnd thread colors and like
people getting into embroideryand repurposing and like there's
just, we're just, I think, atthe beginning of this modern
quilt movement.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (39:18):
That's a great perspective.
Catherine Dutton (39:20):
Yeah, I have seen that shift in the modern
quilt movement as well.
And I think I've been part of itfor about 10 years and it's
just, it's so neat to see it'struly evolving and I like that
because if we called it themodern quilt movement and we
stuck with what was happening 10years ago, it would be the 2014
(39:41):
quilt movement.
Charles Cameron (39:42):
That's
Catherine Dutton (39:42):
right.
Not the, not the modern quiltmovement.
And I think that's somethingthat's really fun about being
involved in this is that it isgoing to be an evolving
movement.
And shifting.
Hopefully it stays that way.
Charles Cameron (39:55):
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Catherine Dutton (39:58):
Yeah.
Awesome.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (40:00):
Well, do you have anything else that you
wanted to touch on specificallythat we missed?
Charles Cameron (40:07):
I think we've hit all the angles.
I mean, I can talk aboutquilting for days, but I know
that your podcast is limited,but I just, I really enjoyed,
you know, the opportunity toget.
Getting to chat with you andsharing some of my thoughts and
ideas.
And I hope people will find theminteresting and not trying to
(40:28):
sell anybody that my ideas arethe right way or the best way,
but I always think it'sinteresting to see and hear
about how other people, do theirwork, approach their work.
And, sometimes I find that, Oh,that's really fascinating.
I got to try something new andother times.
And that's okay to say, no, Ithink I'll leave them.
To be the expert.
Absolutely.
(40:49):
I invite you and all yourlisteners to do exactly the
Ellyn Zinsmeister (40:51):
same.
Thank you.
That's really great.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate, you makingthe time today to just chat with
us and share your perspective.
That's what's been fascinating,talking to different artists, is
hearing so many differentperspectives and so many
different ways to approach ourart, and I think that's so cool.
That's why we're here, right?
It's one of the wonderful things
Charles Cameron (41:13):
about being part of this community.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (41:15):
Exactly right.
Well, thanks, Charles.
We appreciate your time andthanks to everyone for coming
and listening today.
If you enjoyed this episode, youmight go back and listen to a
few that were posted previously.
Um, we're learning a lot fromeach other.
Everybody have a great day andwe'll see you next time on
(41:35):
Creative Crossroads.
Charles Cameron (41:37):
Bye.
Welcome back to Creative Crossroads,
(00:01):
everybody, and if it's yourfirst time here, we're happy you
found us.
Today I want to introduce a goodfriend to you.
Charles Cameron is a modernquilter based in North Carolina,
and we first met in a group ofonline quilters during the
pandemic and have becomebeemates and friends since then.
(00:23):
Charles is an engineer by day,but a great quilter by night and
by weekend, his work featuresbright colors and good color
value placement, and he enhancestraditional quilt patterns and
creates modern designs.
His quilts have been publishedand curated quilts and juried
into QuiltCon.
(00:43):
And one of his quilts, theSudoku quilt.
Received a first place ribbon inthe small quilts category at
QuiltCon in 2022.
He's published and written quiltpatterns of his own design.
He gives guild lectures andtrunk shows and workshops to
encourage others to learn modernquilting.
(01:03):
So welcome Charles, we're gladyou're here.
Charles Cameron (01:06):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
It's such a pleasure, uh, to beable to sit down and speak with
you.
It's a little bit awkwardbecause I feel like we know all
of these things about oneanother, already, but we always
have such wonderfulconversations, Ellen.
So I'm really glad that we'regoing to capture it for the
record.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (01:21):
We do.
And I'm really happy that we getto share it with others because
I Learn so much from you andenjoy talking to you too.
So it'll be fun to share.
Can you Start out by telling uswhat you think creativity is
what it is and what it means toyou.
Charles Cameron (01:38):
Yeah Creativity for me, I think is one of those
things that you don'tnecessarily do during the day
I'm jealous of all those peoplethat get to use their creative
minds during the day.
And that doesn't mean I don't Idon't You know, love my job and,
and all of that.
But for me, I spend a lot oftime during the day, um, just
executing, you know, lead agroup of people and we've got a
(02:01):
mission and we've gotta get itdone.
And there's kind of a formula toit that you repeat.
And, and so for me, the creativeexercise is kind of being able
to break out, um, of that moldjust to, you know, express ideas
in a way that.
Um, allows some flexibility and,um, allows you to kind of
meander down a path and godifferent directions.
And, um, if you fall off thepath, that's okay because you
(02:22):
might find something really newand really interesting.
And, um, so it's, it's just forme personally, it's a, it's a
very different way for me to usethe other side of my brain, um,
that I'm not using during theday.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (02:35):
That's really cool.
And is, were you alwayscreative?
Were you a creative kid, or?
Yeah,
Charles Cameron (02:40):
yeah, I was.
I can remember, um, very earlyon, like, first grade, second
grade, getting the Highlightsmagazines.
Yes! And always turning to the,yes, and, and turning to the
page of, like, the things thatyou can create at home.
So I remember one in particular,like, stealing the tops off my
parents deodorant bottle to makeEaster baskets out of.
(03:02):
And just, you know, Littlethings like that were always
something I was, getting intoloved, coloring, loved creating.
So yes, I think I've always beenthat creative type.
Catherine Dutton (03:12):
Do you see pieces of that desire to create
still pulling into your dailylife now.?
Charles Cameron (03:20):
I think so.
I always kind of tell a funnylittle story where, you know, I
can also remember in secondgrade, second grade must've been
a very formative period of timefor my creativity, but I
remember like, always wantingthe 96 box of crayons.
You know, my friends had the bigbox of crayons and I only only
had the 32 and 32 is great.
(03:40):
Don't get, don't get me wrong.
Um, but I think that just beingconstrained in that way, um, is
something that I've always kindof tried to build out of.
So, you know, I find myselftoday trying to use as many
colors as possible and usereally bright colors and, um,
you know, try to break out ofany kind of constraints that
exist, whether it's color orotherwise.
Catherine Dutton (04:02):
I love that.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (04:02):
I hope, I hope people will look at your
work on Instagram or on yourwebsite.
You use color in great ways.
I just, it's really inspiringand we'll, we'll leave links to
those things so they can checkit out.
Thanks.
That's great.
So we talk sometimes about thebalance between structure and
(04:23):
spontaneity and it sounds likeyou, you like to break out of
that structure.
Is there a balance?
Do you use both?
What do you think?
Charles Cameron (04:32):
Yeah, it's a really great.
Question.
I think so.
I do very much use both.
Um, and I find in differentprojects, I might rely on.
On spontaneity and in otherprojects, I might rely much more
on structure.
So as you mentioned in thebeginning, I'm trained as an
engineer.
So I really do like, especiallyit's been a lot of time during
the day, um, trying to putthings in particular boxes.
(04:54):
You know, how can I make this asfast as possible?
Or how can I set up an assemblyline?
You know, to either chain pieceor do my cutting or.
Any of those types of things.
So you'll you'll see certainprojects that I've done in the
past that were really focused onhow to be as meticulous and
precise as possible.
But then I think the fun comesmaybe sometimes at the end where
(05:15):
you spend all this time being,precise.
And then at the end, you, takeyour rotary cutter to it and
whack it into a million piecesand then sew it back together
based on how it looks on yourdesign wall.
And I think it's the marriage ofthose two that I think is maybe.
I won't say unique.
For me, other people do this,but it's the part that I like
(05:35):
the best.
I think that's perhaps whatmakes some of my work
recognizable is it's this kindof intertwining of those kind of
two parts of, spontaneity andprecision.
That makes sense.
One of my favorites was when wesent you B blocks, and
Ellyn Zinsmeister (05:51):
this may have been the quilt that we had that
started this whole conversation.
Yeah, we were, we were out todinner at QuiltCon one night
with a small group, and I askedyou, whatever happened to those
bee blocks?
Because it had been a few monthsand, and, if people know me,
when the bee blocks, sometimesI'm sewing them together before
they've all arrived.
(06:12):
That's right.
that's just my process.
And I hadn't seen those and Iwondered, and you, you said, do
you remember what you said tome?
Charles Cameron (06:19):
Tell me, remind me.
You
Ellyn Zinsmeister (06:20):
said, you said they're marinating on my
design wall.
And I was like, what does thateven mean?
I'm like, that's so foreign tome.
Nothing marinates on my designwall.
If it's there, it gets sewntogether.
Wham, it's done.
That really got me thinkingabout how different everyone's
processes are and it fascinatedme.
(06:42):
And what you ultimately did withthose blocks, the way you cut
them, that's so cool.
Maybe you could describe theprocess that you used with that
quilt.
Charles Cameron (06:53):
Yeah, yeah, I'd be happy to.
So that particular project, andI'll tell you, like, in the
bigger context, this particularquilt was one of the first times
that I had worked as part of abee, right, where I gave up a
little bit of control of theprocess, right, because I would
say prior to that project, I,when approaching a quilt, I
spend a lot of time in thedesign process.
(07:15):
I spent a lot of time thinkingabout what it's going to look
like and drafting it out andmocking it up on the computer.
And like, I will get to a pointwhere I'm completely happy with
a quilt, um, before I order anyfabric or cut any fabric.
That was my approach prior tothat.
Um, but growing, you know, asI'm growing, of course, that was
(07:37):
a part of the process.
I had to give up a little bit,right?
Um, so the first big quilt thatI did with Quilts Unscripted Bee
was one where.
Um, I had a palette of colorsthat I was interested in working
with, and they were somewhatunique.
They weren't your normal, colorpalette, which I think some of
the folks in the group commentedon, and appreciated, that
(07:58):
challenge.
I started off with 12 solids,and I sent everybody in the B
three of them.
So, everybody got three colors.
They didn't know what all theother colors were, and nobody
got the same group of three.
So, the idea was, everybody wasgoing to create their own.
piece.
I think I asked everybody to beinspired by their, favorite
piece of abstract art orfavorite abstract artist.
(08:21):
which was fun, gave the team alot of flexibility, but in the
end, it was going to, kind ofcreate this cohesive color
palette, you know, when it allcame back together.
And so, which it did, and I gotthe most beautiful blocks back.
I mean, I think reallyeverybody, at least it appears,
spent a lot of time and effortand energy, pulling out fabrics
(08:41):
that were similar to the threethat I sent and kind of really
thinking about.
Yeah.
How to put them together in aunique way.
So I got these 10 blocks back,relatively the same size, but
not all.
And that was fine.
That's part of the process.
And when I put them up on thedesign wall, of course, your
first inclination is just find aneat way to arrange them and sew
them together in a way thatmakes them look pretty and boom,
(09:02):
you're done.
and I find like, I found that Ispent so much time kind of
moving them around becausesometimes, Block A and Block B
made good neighbors, but when Iput Block C up, there was a part
of Block A that, I wanted thetwo to connect, so I just, for a
very long time, like you said,when they were marinating, was
really moving the blocks aroundthe design wall to see, what
interesting combinations I couldget, whether it was an
(09:24):
interesting color combination,or, motifs that looked like they
flowed from one block, toanother.
And got to the point where I wasreally happy with how it looked.
nonetheless, because I had donethis, um, you know, this
technique of giving everybodysort of patches of color, it
really did kind of look likepatches of color.
And so I started to think, howcan I, you know, how can I mix
(09:44):
this paint up?
Uh, a little bit.
And so the way to do that wassew them together, cut them
apart, and sew them backtogether again.
and so that's what I did.
I did that a couple of differenttimes, actually, before I came
up with the final layout.
And it was a great deal of fun.
It was a It
Ellyn Zinsmeister (09:59):
looked like fun.
And you included us in yourprocess and shared what you were
doing along the way.
and it was just fascinating theway you think like an engineer.
Imagine that!
Charles Cameron (10:10):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Thank you.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (10:12):
So tell us a little bit about your space that
you create in, because I can seeit behind you, but our listeners
can't see it.
Charles Cameron (10:18):
Well, what you're seeing is the organized
portion.
So I have a nice, nice shelvesbehind me.
And you can see my bobbins arebehind me, all arranged in
color.
And I've got a design wall uphere that I'm working on.
what you can't see are the pilesof fabric that are all over the
floor.
And the trash cans areoverflowing with scraps because
I can't see them.
Uh, to take it downstairs.
(10:39):
So, so again, it's kind of thismixture of precision, and being
organized.
But yeah, like, sometimes thecreative, uh, mess happens, as
well.
And I don't let myself getbogged down with, with either of
those, right?
Um, sometimes, you know, I findI can work in a very kind of
chaotic space.
but then there are other timeswhere I need to set aside a day
or two, just to kind of bringeverything back, to the
(11:00):
baseline.
Um, I will say another couple ofthings.
I, put this design wall up, it'sbeen about a year and a half to
two years now, and made one justout of the four by eight foam
board that you can get at thehardware store or whatever, and
covered it with, some flannelfabric, which is great.
And I saw a great tip.
(11:22):
Instagram about attaching it tothe wall, not with, bolts or
screws, but with the 3m sticky,sticky pieces.
I'll tell you that was the bestpiece of inspiration I ever had.
So I work a lot more from adesign wall now, than relying
solely on, creating it allbeforehand.
and that's been a reallyinteresting kind of pivot.
(11:43):
in my journey.
Catherine Dutton (11:44):
How have you seen that change for you?
Like that's going to be a bigshift to go from I've pre
planned everything in fabric toI'm going to allow for some
redesign.
Charles Cameron (11:57):
Well, like I was mentioning with that
previous project, I think thathas been a requirement almost of
being part of a bee project.
And so really those two kind ofwent together when I, when I
first got those group of 10blocks back that were absolutely
beautiful.
You know, I, I needed a way to,to marinate.
I needed a way to have themmarinate.
(12:19):
And so really putting up thewall was the, was the way to
deal with that, you know, kindof creative challenge.
And since then, every beadproject that I've worked on
since has started off that way.
Like, just putting things up onthe wall and, giving them some
time to marinate, and move itaround.
So I think the two have kind of,gone, hand in hand.
Hmm.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (12:38):
I feel like collaboration has impacted your
independent quilting as well.
Charles Cameron (12:43):
Yeah, in a number of ways, but let me give
you a couple of examples.
So in particular, participatingin the bee has been a huge step
change for me, personally,creatively, because what the bee
has offered is.
These challenges, right?
Like every month, um, you know,we get this wonderful prompt and
(13:04):
it's not something that startsoff in my brain, right?
It's something that has startedoff in somebody else's brain.
and so part of the challengethere is like incorporating, you
know, well, first the fabricthat I have on hand, I try to
always use my scraps.
but then like, what are theexperiences that I've had or the
techniques that I've tried thatI'm comfortable with or perhaps
(13:25):
the techniques that I want totry on a, you know, an upcoming
poll, I use the bee challengesas a way to kind of test those
out.
So the collaboration part hasbeen really great, right?
Because I'm, in a B you're,you're not only working by
yourself.
You're really kind of exchangingideas a number of times
throughout the process.
And so that being part of the Bhas been an incredible.
(13:49):
way to explore collaboration.
There's lots of different waysthat we can collaborate,
especially in quilting, but, theformat that we've created, has
been wonderful for me.
But, but then, yeah, so let mefinish the idea, right?
as I have used several of themonths.
prompts as a way to exploretechnique.
Right.
So in particular, there was aprompt that, Isabel, gave,
(14:11):
several years ago, I think twoyears ago.
I had an idea in my mind ofsomething that I wanted to do
for a fabric challenge quilt,but I used her prompt as a way
to kind of tease out some of thetechniques, modify the technique
or the idea that I had in mymind.
So that collaborative projectreally earned, you know, really
led me to putting together, aquilt on my own.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (14:37):
That's really great.
That's really great.
Charles Cameron (14:39):
I've seen a couple of the other members
actually not now that I thinkabout it, they'll get an idea
through a prompt that they'veworked on, you know, so a prompt
that somebody else has made,they've made a block, and it
turns out so interesting or theyhave enjoyed the process of that
particular, you know, puttingthat particular block together
that they have used it to make.
something later on.
(15:00):
Yeah.
It's a theme for us.
I think it's a theme.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:02):
It's fun.
And we stretch each other andlearn from each other.
So it's fun to see where thingsgo.
Charles Cameron (15:08):
That's right.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:09):
That's really cool.
Catherine, you were going to saysomething,
Catherine Dutton (15:12):
you know, I was, I'm so curious about the
project where you took thoseblocks and then you cut them up
again.
Yeah.
Was there hesitation for you indoing that?
Charles Cameron (15:22):
Absolutely.
And like,
Catherine Dutton (15:23):
and like, how did, how, and how did you work
through that?
Because I think sometimes welook at blocks that someone else
has made and it's like, Oh, Idon't want to, I don't want to
make it any less than, but indoing that, you made it better.
I think so.
And I
Charles Cameron (15:39):
think that, I'll tell you, there were, I
think two or three things thatmight have helped, um, with that
first is I did have this idea ofcutting up blocks.
Even when I wrote the prompt.
I did make mention of it in themonthly prompt, I think I said
something like don't get tooattached to your block because,
you know, I may cut it up.
So I was giving permission forpeople to like, if they were
(16:01):
really upset about their block,well then just send me maybe a
one that you spent a little bitless time on or something.
I don't think anybody actuallydid that, but so I did give a
little bit of, of forewarning.
I think the other thing thatmade me a little bit less
restrained in cutting thoseblocks up, it was that that
particular challenge, theparticular prompt, was to create
(16:22):
an abstract block.
So there, a lot of those blockswere ones that, of course they
were gorgeous, and of coursethey were wonderful.
But you could have turned them90 degrees, and they would have
been equally as beautiful, oryou could have cut them in half
and match them with anotherblock, and they could have been
equally as beautiful.
I wasn't interrupting, at leastfrom my perspective, wasn't
interrupting kind of any of thecreativity or the flow that the
(16:45):
maker put in that particularblock, but don't get me wrong,
like having that huge panel ofthese beautiful blocks that
people had worked For a longtime on, and I had taken kind of
months to marinate on.
Yeah, the first cut was, uh, thefirst cut was a challenge.
But I will, that was, it wasdefinitely, you know, measure
twice, cut once type of project.
(17:06):
I, you know, had planned all mycuts out, and I knew exactly
where I wanted to cut, and I'dmeasured it, and that's where
the engineering side kind ofstepped in.
So it wasn't, um, it wasn't animprov cut, let's say it that
way.
Fair.
Okay.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (17:18):
that's thinking of that quilt
specifically, but any of yourquilts, how do you know when
it's finished?
How do you know when you'redone?
Charles Cameron (17:25):
Great.
Yeah, great question.
So I think, like I mentioned, alot of times I'm designing.
I'm doing it all electronicallyfirst.
I'm doing it kind of, I like touse PowerPoint.
That's my design tool of choice.
It's nothing fancy, but it cando 95 percent of the things that
the fancy, drafting software cando.
Um, but, but like I said, so I'musually spending a lot of time
(17:48):
kind of in that drafting part.
So once I get to a design thatI'm interested in, the quilt is
really done.
it just needs to be constructed,in that regard.
So there have been other quiltsthat I've done that were, more
improv or, that I was doing, onthe design wall.
And I think it's just more of afeeling.
Um, I think I do look for thingslike.
(18:09):
is the color value, distributedin a way that is right?
Either, homogeneouslydistributed, or am I going from
lights or darks, or somethinglike that?
Or, I'm looking for, is theremovement in the quilt that is
interesting, or makes sense?
So I think I'm applying a lot ofthose kind of artistic basics,
line, color, shade.
(18:30):
And for me, then it's just moreof a feeling.
And I think that is, that's thecreative part.
That's the not engineering partof my work is that just being
intuitive with respect tocalling it finished.
Catherine Dutton (18:43):
Makes sense.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about how you use
PowerPoint to design?
I'm sure that is, that'sfascinating.
Charles Cameron (18:51):
Well, if you think about PowerPoint, it
really is kind of like,illustrator in that, you can
create a grid, you can make theslides as large, as small as you
want.
You can put, all kinds ofgeometric shapes in place.
So you can put squares ordrunkard's paths.
you can put quarter circles.
(19:11):
You can put triangles that are60 degree triangles or 45
degrees.
You can make all of those shapesin PowerPoint.
And similarly, you can color allof those shapes in the way that
you can in other designsoftware.
So you can make solids, you canimport, manufacturers prints and
you can color The squares andthe triangles, the fabric
(19:32):
swatches that are availableonline.
So, it did take me like a littlebit of thought to do.
but PowerPoint was somethingthat I use often at work.
So had had some of those skills.
and yeah, really, it just, itbecame this really great tool.
inexpensive tool.
Catherine Dutton (19:48):
I love that.
I think that's such a great wayto use something that it's
already accessible to you.
It's accessible to many people.
You're not paying an extramonthly subscription fee for it.
And so yeah, just use what'sthere.
Charles Cameron (20:02):
Some of the things that I like to do is
like, once you get, you can evendo this with, patterns, you
know, patterns that you'vepurchased is you can mock them
up, relatively straightforwardlyin, what I like to do is maybe
make it, one color story and youput that on a slide.
and then you do the exact same.
outline and make it a differentcolor story on the subsequent
(20:23):
slide.
And then you can just kind of goback and forth between the two
to see which you like better.
And so I do have, you know, ifyou went into my desktop, you'd
see it covered with all of thesequilts.
And a lot of it is just likelooking at different iterations.
That's the other thing that'sreally nice about it is that you
can iterate and iterate.
And then you can say, Oh, Idon't like where I went.
I can go back four steps becauseI've got it saved four slides
(20:44):
ago.
and you can go down a differentpath.
So for me, it's been a greattool and I'm not selling it as
the best tool or anything, butit certainly has worked well for
me.
Catherine Dutton (20:53):
No, I love it.
I love the idea of using a toolthat you've already got, that
you already know how to use.
That's right.
That's exactly right.
That's awesome.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (21:02):
So do you ever make a quilt more than
once?
Do you ever make several ofthose iterations?
Charles Cameron (21:07):
Oh, yeah.
So, um, early, early in myquilting career, and you can
see, you ladies can see that I'mdoing my air quotes.
Early in my quilting career, I,you know, like many of us
started off using patterns,other people's quilts.
Pattern.
Sure.
I started off with, a couple ofthe Then Came June patterns by
Megan Buchanan.
(21:28):
One in particular that I reallyenjoyed was the, Sienna Burst
quilt.
it was my first foray into halfrectangle triangles, which I
found quite challenging,actually, in the beginning, and
many of us did.
Well, that particular quilt, um,it was right around the time
that my girls were, like, Six,seven, eight, nine, you know, so
(21:49):
in this really creative periodof time, and I could get them to
sit with me in full fabrics andwe could talk about different
colors.
So that, um, then came Junequilt, the Sienna, Sienna burst.
I actually made twice.
Um, and I made it in exactly thesame color way.
So that the color way is notwhat I changed, but how we
(22:09):
placed the colors was completelydifferent.
So in the first quilt that Imade for my daughter, Charlotte,
who is the first born Me beingshe's the rule follower and we
had some very precise ways thatwe placed color.
So we had like the whole firstrow of blocks were blue blocks
and then the whole second rowwas, um, these green blocks,
(22:30):
etc, etc.
Well, when we made Alice'squilt, Alice is my second born,
and Alice thinks every day is aparty.
And Alice doesn't want to followrules.
We did something completelydifferent, you know, so we
didn't pay too much attentionto, you know, having precise
places where the colors were.
we kind of moved them aroundmore Sudoku style, you know,
trying to make sure that thecolors were evenly represented
(22:52):
in all the robes.
Uh, in columns.
So, so that is one example of aquilt that I've made, multiple
times there to be fair to thetwo girls, but also to, you
know, just kind of, um, notrepresent, but, uh, highlight
their two different, ways ofbeing.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (23:10):
Do your girls participate in your design and
your quilting often?
Charles Cameron (23:14):
On and off, on and off.
They certainly will tell me whatthey don't like, which is
always, it's helpful, right?
It's helpful.
Constructive criticism is alwayshelpful.
I will say Alice, my, my youngerdaughter, um, she will, she will
actually like to sit down andshe'll help with like a
community block.
So like if there's a, you know,a quilt project where
everybody's making a block,she'll have The time and the
(23:36):
patience and the intention tomake a block, which is a lot of
fun.
That's cool.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (23:42):
That is great.
So where does your inspirationcome from?
Where do the quilts come from?
Just out of your head or?
Charles Cameron (23:50):
Where do the quilts come from?
I think they've come from acouple different places as I've
kind of, you know, moved throughdifferent eras, if you will.
early on when I was just doingpatterns, of course I was
choosing.
Patterns that were relativelyeasy and straightforward.
But what I really enjoyed aboutthem was playing with color.
(24:10):
So where a lot of the quiltpatterns that are on the market
today.
Well are kind of one of one oftwo kinds with respect to color.
They're either.
Hey, you know You're gonna makethis block 20 different times
and I want the central figure tobe the same color in each of
those 20 blocks Right, so yougot to go get a half a yard of
this color in two thirds at abit about Or, you know, what
(24:32):
some of the modern quilt patterndesigners are doing today is
they're saying, Hey, I want youto cut the same number of pieces
out of every color, out of everyfat quarter that you have, and
mix and match them.
and I found that to be a reallyinteresting way to approach a
quilt.
Moreover, what I liked to do inthe beginning is rather than
move things around randomly, Iwas really trying to make
(24:55):
patterns.
with those colors.
So I would, you know, pull thepatterns where I could do
everything from, you know, 20fat quarters.
but instead of moving the piecesaround randomly, I was pretty
particular about having all thereds in the first row and the
oranges in the second and kindof creating this secondary
pattern with color, on top ofthe geometric pattern.
(25:15):
So I think that was one thingthat I really, I like to do
early on.
another thing that I've reallykind of picked up on is just
scrolling through Instagram.
And not necessarily looking atother people's quilts, which I
think is a wonderful thing todo.
Don't, don't get me wrong.
But where I also get a lot ofinspiration is looking at like
old architectural posters.
Or, different types of tile.
(25:37):
Or, I spent some time looking atfonts.
Different types of fonts thathave interesting curves or
shapes or things like that.
So, there have been a couple ofquotes that I've made where just
kind of scrolling throughInstagram has given me an idea.
And it's one that I try and itspends a fair amount of time,
um, trying to, trying to retoolinto a quilt design or a quilt
(25:57):
pattern.
What do you do?
And I think the third go, goahead.
Catherine Dutton (26:01):
No, go ahead.
Charles Cameron (26:02):
I was just gonna say then I think, I think
the third type of inspiration isjust the collaborative
inspiration as we were talkingabout.
It's, you start with not anidea.
Um, you're kind of given an ideaby somebody else, and then you,
meander around that for a whileand exchange back and forth.
And all of these I found to be alot of fun, right?
And they, all of those styles Ithink have started to overlap,
(26:25):
in my approach and then also go,you know, go on different
directions.
So it's, it's just a lot.
Catherine Dutton (26:30):
What do you do when you can't find that
inspiration or when you're notfeeling that inspiration?
Charles Cameron (26:35):
You know, I have to admit that's never been
a problem.
I tend to be one of those peoplethat I've got a million ideas
and just can't find enough timeto mm-hmm.
Um, to get through them all.
I also will say I do like tostart and complete a project, so
I very often will not have morethan one or two, projects going.
(26:56):
and I'm always kind of thinkingin the background of what the
next thing's gonna be.
So, lack of inspiration, I haveto admit, has not been a
challenge for me.
Catherine Dutton (27:03):
That's awesome that you haven't had that
problem.
Charles Cameron (27:07):
Yeah.
Thanks.
I wish I could tell you whatthat was or what vitamin I'm
taking that I don't know.
Catherine Dutton (27:13):
It's probably your morning tea or something
like that.
Right.
Yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (27:17):
Have you ever had an idea for a project and it
just didn't go the way youplanned and have you ever had to
abandon an idea?
Charles Cameron (27:25):
You know, I don't, um, I don't, I don't
recall abandoning.
So certainly I've pivoted.
Um, pivoting I've done, youknow, quite, quite often.
Um, but I will say again, I'llgo back to this idea of, I spend
a lot of time in design.
So, I might abandon somethingthere if I can't zhuzh it or get
(27:47):
it together or have it come outwhere I like.
but usually, If I've purchasedfabric and I start sewing, it's,
it's going to get finished.
It's going to get finished.
Catherine Dutton (27:58):
Can you talk about a time that you have had
to make that pivot?
Charles Cameron (28:02):
I think, yeah, I'll give you an, uh, I had, um,
I have this quilt that I made acouple of years ago.
It's called Take the Stairs, ifyou happen to be scrolling,
through my Instagram.
And the original idea for thisquilt came from a poster.
Uh, that I saw on Instagram, orexcuse me, on Pinterest from the
1960s.
(28:22):
So it was this 1960s black andwhite, poster.
And the poster was just all ofthese, squares in a grid.
So it was a grid.
and then each of the squares inthe grid was a slightly
different size, larger orsmaller than its neighbor.
And it created this reallyinteresting, negative space
because it was all squares, youknow, it was all 90 degree
(28:44):
squares, but because they wereall slightly different than
their neighbors, it really didlook like the negative space was
kind of waving.
and moving.
And so that was kind of the ideathat I wanted, to play with.
So when I first started, so Isat down at PowerPoint and
started to make a grid and, youknow, make all the little parts
of, um, you know, squares thatwere different sizes.
(29:06):
And, but I did spend quite a bitof time trying to figure out
what's the right, um,Orientation of all of these
little squares to get a reallyinteresting, negative space.
so I certainly didn't want toreplicate what the, the, the
poster, the architectural posterwas like, I thought that that
was too much of a cop out.
but so I really, what I starteddoing is placing them randomly
(29:27):
and that, that wasn't working.
what I landed on actually wastaking those squares that, you
know, went increasing anddecreasing in size.
And I arranged them in a maze.
all the way through the grid.
and that ultimately was thedesign that resonated with me.
And it took several iterations.
(29:47):
to get there.
But like I said, once I lockedin on that and bought the
fabric, it was, it was made.
You're good to go.
Yeah, good to go.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (29:56):
That's so great.
Are, are all of your quilts madejust for you and your family, or
do you ever do commission workor work for other people?
Charles Cameron (30:05):
I have not.
I have not.
And I'll tell you, some of thatis just the time I have
available to do it.
Quilting for me is a creativeendeavor and it's a hobby, and
so because of that, I don't wantto be bound by what somebody
else wants me to do.
I don't want to be bound bysomebody else's timeline or
somebody else's color palette,um, or, or any of those, types
(30:25):
of things.
Now, I will admit I'm in aunique situation where, you
know, I don't rely on quiltingas my job, you know, it's, it's,
it's a free time, thing for me.
so for that regard, yeah, I'musually making quilts.
for myself or for my family andlargely ones that I can at this
point, I like entering them inshows.
So I like spending the time toreally think about.
(30:47):
Um, you know, what does thisquilt mean?
What is it going to say?
What are the techniques thatneed to be used to express this
particular idea?
so yeah, I'm making quiltslargely as a means of sharing
and communicating an idea,without having to give them
away.
LAUGHS
Ellyn Zinsmeister (31:06):
Oh, that's great.
That's something else.
And it left me.
Catherine Dutton (31:12):
Are there any unconventional tools or
techniques that you'veincorporated into your creative
process?
Charles Cameron (31:17):
Love that question.
Um, you know, I think I'm stillkind of, I'm still young.
I'm still a young quilter.
So I do rely heavily, I think,on things that are already out
there.
I do like, painter's tape a lotfor a number of different
things.
So that's maybe my oneunconventional tool.
I like to use painter's tape forfoundation paper piecing.
(31:41):
So rather than pinning thefabric to the paper, I like to
tape it.
I think it gives it a muchsmoother.
So that's really helpful.
I like to use it for, straightquilting lines.
I'll use painter's tape firstand quilt along, that line.
Um, lots of great, lots of greatuses for painter's tape.
before I had the design wall, Iwas painter's taping a lot of
(32:02):
things to the wall.
it means the design to movethings around.
but yeah, otherwise, I'm a, youknow, I'm a, I like to use pins.
I like, nice sharp scissors.
I like a rotary cutter.
I have gotten into theAccuQuilt, so I do have an
AccuQuilt, the small one, theAccuQuilt Me, I think it's
called, Go, and I like that formaking just small pieces to
(32:27):
start with, um, so I have thedie cut that will give you a one
inch finished half squaretriangle, I've used that in a
couple of projects, and I have acustom die that I had made to do
the one finished one inchdrunkards paths.
so the curvilettes, I reallylike, I spend a lot of time
(32:49):
doing that if I need a handsewing project.
Catherine Dutton (32:52):
Have you made many of those?
Curvelets?
Charles Cameron (32:55):
Curvelets I have, I have about 700 at the
moment made.
I don't have a specificendpoint, although I have done
the math that, you know, ifyou're gonna make like a throw
sized quilt of all one inchsquares, you need about 4, 000.
squares.
So I go through, like, I ebb andflow.
I'll spend some time, making abunch of that, like, uh, uh,
(33:17):
glue basting a bunch of them,and then sewing them, and then
trimming them, and then I gettired, and I move on to
something else, and then I comeback to it.
So it's a long term projectwithout an end goal.
but it is a little fun, it's alot of fun, and it, you know,
occupies, it's sitting in theback of my brain marinating.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:33):
Do
Charles Cameron (33:34):
you
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:34):
have a I have to confess, I love hand sewing,
and I love that kind of piecing,and I tried like heck to jump on
your Curvelettes bandwagon, andit just didn't work.
Just didn't fly in my world.
Well, I will
Charles Cameron (33:46):
tell you this, one, I applaud you for trying
because I think it was a lot offun.
I had a great deal of funchatting with you about it when
we spent our time together andyou did do a couple really nice
little projects.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:58):
I did.
Charles Cameron (33:59):
With them.
I
Ellyn Zinsmeister (34:00):
did.
But that, that was all, yeah,and you were, you were a great
teacher.
You were a great teacher.
It's no reflection on you thatthe curvelets did not take hold
for me.
Charles Cameron (34:10):
It's something fun when I want to be away from
the machine, you know?
Do you have a plan
Catherine Dutton (34:17):
for how you're going to put them together?
Or is it just, I've beeniterating on that.
Charles Cameron (34:22):
I've been iterating on that as well.
so I do have a couple of rulesfor when, as I've been sewing
them together.
Okay.
So, each curvilet pair gets asolid and a print.
So one part is a solid, one partis the print.
And they also have to be fromthe same color family.
So, when I'm sewing two piecestogether, they're two red pieces
or two orange pieces or twoyellow pieces.
(34:43):
So, having that constraint, haskind of informed where it might
go longer term, you know, mightit end up being just kind of a
color wash where all the colorsare grouped together?
That could be reallyinteresting, I think.
I don't know.
I'm, like I said, I'm marinatingon it.
We'll see where it goes andultimately what I have, you
know, when I, when I finish.
Catherine Dutton (35:03):
Yeah.
Oh, I cannot wait to see that asit develops over time, as it
develops.
Yes.
Yes.
Cool.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (35:11):
Great.
So what inspires you are thereare specific artists that you're
following books that you'rereading podcasts you're
listening to,
Charles Cameron (35:23):
you know, um, let's see, I want to give you a
good answer here.
So I do, I certainly follow alot of My fellow quilters on
Instagram and I do think thatthat's great motivation in a
number of different ways.
So not just inspiring becauselike I see an idea and I want to
try it, but just knowing thatthere's so many people,
(35:44):
wonderful people, warm people,creative people out there.
experimenting and developingthis skill as their craft, or
their art, I think is reallywonderful.
I find that really inspiring,that people are engaging in
conversation, with quilts, youknow, making their, Statements
on just how beautiful the worldis or using it as a way to make
(36:09):
a political statement or someother way to comment on the
world I think is a reallywonderful thing for us to be
doing and a great way to engagein conversation.
And so I probably find that themost motivating and inspiring.
I'm also a member, of theTriangle Modern Quilt Guild,
(36:30):
which is, one of the chapters ofthe MQG.
I joined that guild about fiveyears ago, so it was about a
year, after I started quilting.
And again, it's, just such awarm group of people with all
these amazing ideas, andhistories and techniques that
they want to share.
And so I find that to be more,motivating than any, like one,
(36:53):
you know, any one artist or anyone idea or any one book.
it's, I think this is kind ofcollective.
Conversation that's going on outthere and the way that the
modern quilt movement is kind ofchanging, right?
Like, I think just the way thatit has changed and grown and
matured in the five years thatI've been, part of the
(37:15):
community, has been just super,super inspiring to see people
embrace new techniques.
to get so much more meticulous,with their work.
Try new and interesting colorcombinations.
Like, all of these things I justfind fascinating.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (37:30):
But talk a little more about the changes
you've seen specifically.
What do you remember from whenyou first came around?
Charles Cameron (37:37):
Yeah, I think in the past three or four years,
the quilts, that I have seen atQuiltCon, or even the quilts
that I've seen people preparingto enter to QuiltCon.
Let's, let's not leave those outof the conversation.
I think are ones that people arespending much more time With
(38:00):
time thinking about time,creating time quilting.
I think we're getting much moreintricate in our design and
execution.
I think there are a lot ofpeople out there that are
really, you know, every yeartrying to go above and beyond to
improve their technique toimprove, um, the message that
(38:20):
they're trying to say to come upwith some sort of, creative
design element that's different,or adds something to the
conversation.
so yeah, like I can rememberwalking the show in Atlanta, two
years ago and just kind of beingblown away thinking, oh, we've
leveled up the quality of thequilts that we are, making, they
(38:42):
were, smart.
They were really smart.
They were thought through.
They were, speaking to oneanother.
They were pulling in previousexamples, but giving them kind
of a new twist, in turn.
And I think it's just the start.
I think there's so much more,that's going to come down the
pike, so many more opportunitieswith the incredible tools that
we have available to us.
(39:03):
All of the fabrics and notionsAnd thread colors and like
people getting into embroideryand repurposing and like there's
just, we're just, I think, atthe beginning of this modern
quilt movement.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (39:18):
That's a great perspective.
Catherine Dutton (39:20):
Yeah, I have seen that shift in the modern
quilt movement as well.
And I think I've been part of itfor about 10 years and it's
just, it's so neat to see it'struly evolving and I like that
because if we called it themodern quilt movement and we
stuck with what was happening 10years ago, it would be the 2014
(39:41):
quilt movement.
Charles Cameron (39:42):
That's
Catherine Dutton (39:42):
right.
Not the, not the modern quiltmovement.
And I think that's somethingthat's really fun about being
involved in this is that it isgoing to be an evolving
movement.
And shifting.
Hopefully it stays that way.
Charles Cameron (39:55):
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Catherine Dutton (39:58):
Yeah.
Awesome.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (40:00):
Well, do you have anything else that you
wanted to touch on specificallythat we missed?
Charles Cameron (40:07):
I think we've hit all the angles.
I mean, I can talk aboutquilting for days, but I know
that your podcast is limited,but I just, I really enjoyed,
you know, the opportunity toget.
Getting to chat with you andsharing some of my thoughts and
ideas.
And I hope people will find theminteresting and not trying to
(40:28):
sell anybody that my ideas arethe right way or the best way,
but I always think it'sinteresting to see and hear
about how other people, do theirwork, approach their work.
And, sometimes I find that, Oh,that's really fascinating.
I got to try something new andother times.
And that's okay to say, no, Ithink I'll leave them.
To be the expert.
Absolutely.
(40:49):
I invite you and all yourlisteners to do exactly the
Ellyn Zinsmeister (40:51):
same.
Thank you.
That's really great.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate, you makingthe time today to just chat with
us and share your perspective.
That's what's been fascinating,talking to different artists, is
hearing so many differentperspectives and so many
different ways to approach ourart, and I think that's so cool.
That's why we're here, right?
It's one of the wonderful things
Charles Cameron (41:13):
about being part of this community.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (41:15):
Exactly right.
Well, thanks, Charles.
We appreciate your time andthanks to everyone for coming
and listening today.
If you enjoyed this episode, youmight go back and listen to a
few that were posted previously.
Um, we're learning a lot fromeach other.
Everybody have a great day andwe'll see you next time on
(41:35):
Creative Crossroads.
Charles Cameron (41:37):
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.