Quilting from Quilter's Inspiration Deck

In September 2022 I traveled nine hours, the furthest I’ve ever driven alone, to the Madeline Island School of the Arts. I joined a group of 20 cohorts for a week-long class called Piecing Perspectives taught by Maria Shell, Sarah Bond, and Sujata Shah. By the end of the week, I had an idea in my head for my first deck of cards for quilters and the COVID in my lungs that gave me the weeks in bed to draw the cards.

Each morning class began with a lecture. Each teacher would present their way of doing the same thing. Color theories, ways to piece triangles, sew curves, etc. The setting, the class, and the classmates were wonderful. I learned so much, but most importantly I learned, definitively, that there are AT LEAST three ways to accomplish the same task. Which started me thinking. 

On the first day, each teacher presented on color. This is my thing. I love color. I love playing and exploring but I tend to overthink in really dramatic ways, which sometimes means I lose my excitement and make nothing at all.

Sujata Shah presented the colors that are native to her home country of India. She doesn't use a color wheel, she simply looks at the fabrics and decides if she likes them together. I asked her for assistance and she could see I was frustrated with myself. I said I feel like I used to understand what I was doing but I lost it. Sujata asked to see things I had created when I felt good about my color sense. I showed her, and she put her hand on my shoulder and said “Oh honey, you just forgot. Why don’t you sit down, close your eyes, and remember.” She smiled at me and walked away! Somehow she knew that this would be exactly what I needed to hear. It took about ten minutes and I remembered. From that point on I did my best to trust my intuition. 

On the third day, I began to feel decision fatigue. I had been pulling Tarot cards each morning and began to wish I could pull cards that would make the decisions for me. I Googled a little to see if something like that existed but it didn't so I resigned myself to the books that were all over the room. I began flipping to a page and took the pattern or quilt on that page as either directive or inspiration. I did this any time that I wasn't sure about what I wanted to add or do next.

At the end of the week, I had written ten pages on my new personal color theory and started thinking about how to make a deck of cards that I could use to help me when I am stuck in decision paralysis. On the last day as people were packing up I sat with Sujata at lunch. She gave me this advice. “Stop going to classes and write a book. You already have it.”

This is the quilt top completed the day I left the island. 

On the 9-hour drive home, I was getting sick and by the next morning, I had a positive COVID test as a souvenir. I was sick and unable to sew or do much for the next 3 weeks. During that time I designed and drew all 78 cards for my self-published deck, The Inspiration Oracle. I uploaded them on Makeplayingcards.com and printed them to use in my own practice. By January I had my cards in my hand. 

Then I took them to my guild retreat to show off to my guild mates, who loved them. I took Sujata’s advice to heart and felt like I may have something that could actually be something people wanted.

The deck itself is simply a decision-maker. It's not a pattern. It won't tell you how to make a block. But it will suggest blocks to make. I won't be upset if you don't like the color that you pulled. You can put it back and choose another. You can reject all its suggestions over and over, or you can reject none of them and make something you would have never made otherwise. The beauty of it is that you can use it in any way that works for you. Only use it for one thing or use it for everything. It’s a tool, to keep on your shelf for when you are burning a hole in your head from scratching it.

For me making anything is a meditative process. The best way to learn anything is through play. Quilting and color are meant to be exploratory and fun. If it’s not fun I’m not going to make it. I might start it but it's never going to get finished!

I took my deck with me to QuiltCon ‘23 intending to show my friend Sujata what I had made. I found her in the C&T booth and told her I didn’t exactly write a book but I did make this! She looked through the deck quickly and asked if I wanted a chance to sell it. Of course said yes, and she introduced me to C&T’s publisher, Amy Barrett-Daffin, right then. I showed Amy my cards and she said she would be in touch. I was very hopeful. But who gets that lucky?

Apparently, I do! Because two weeks later I received an email from C&T stating that they were interested in distributing my deck.

It’s been a dream of mine since I was a small child to be a published author. I’m so proud to soon be in the company of the very talented artists and authors published by C&T and even more proud of the cards I drew one by one in bed, benched by COVID in October of 2022.

...

Shop Quilter's Inspiration Deck at C&T Publishing, releasing on November 25th, 2024!

Teresa Fiehn Millies is an artist with 30 years of experience in needle, thread, and fabric crafts. She was trained by her grandmother, aunts, mother, and peers. She is a meta-modern artist and Tarot Card Reader from Aurora, IL.