I’M JEALOUS OF EVERYONE IN
THIS ISSUE OF QUILTING ARTS. In
fact, I have been green with envy of
everyone in these issues since I fi rst
started buying them—which was
back at issue #3. I’m even jealous
of the people in issues that I have
appeared in myself.
Social media seems to amplify this
feeling. I’m super pleased for my friends
who are doing the “happy dance”
at getting good news about their art
careers. And yet, show acceptances,
teaching gigs, TV appearances, awards
won, gallery openings, and, yes, even
magazine articles are the fodder for the
green-eyed monster in me to surface.
I remember the fi rst few quilt shows I
attended. I was completely overwhelmed
by the talent out in the quilting world.
I moped. I went into a serious funk
that sometimes lasted for days. I even
considered giving up quilting for a
different hobby. Could I ever be that
good? Was that even possible? And if it
was, how would I get there?
From that very fi rst issue of QUILTING
ARTS that I purchased, I knew that one
day I wanted to be in it. From the very
fi rst show I attended, I knew that one
day I wanted to have a quilt in the
exhibition. From the fi rst quilt book I
cracked open to learn something new, I
knew I wanted to have one of my very
own with my patterns and my name on
the front. How could I get those things if
I was mired in my own envy?
From those early stirrings, I made
myself a “bucket list” of things I wanted
to accomplish. I decided to turn my
jealousy into something productive.
I turned it into fuel for my creativity
instead of a burden. I wrote down my
goals, and if I felt the green eye upon me,
I examined why I was jealous, and wrote
down what I wanted in return.
perfect, matching points. If your goal is
to make the best, most beautiful quilts
you can make after seeing what others
can do, that’s another form of turning
jealousy into fuel.
It will not happen overnight. You will
have to work for it. I am not saying you
have to put in Gladwell’s 10,000 hours,
but you do have to put in some. I try to
do some kind of quilt project as often
as I can fi t it in after my day job. I take
classes from experts when I can, and I try
to give back by being a teacher myself.
I still have items on my “bucket list”
... I still haven’t written a book or graced
the cover of QUILTING ARTS. But I will get
there, with more hard work and a little
more practice.Haven’t you been quilting long
enough to start thinking about your
own creative legacy? Submit your
completed essay (up to 800 words)
along with a low resolution image to
[email protected] with
“the last word” in the subject line.An illustrator friend of mine told me
that anyone can draw. All you need to do
is practice—and practice a lot. Malcom
Gladwell wrote a book called OUTLIERS:
THE STORY OF SUCCESS, in which he posits
that to master a craft it takes 10,000
hours of practice. For those of you who
didn’t do the math, at eight hours a day,
every day, that will take over three years.
At three hours a day, every day, it will
take nine years. According to his theory,
the people who do the practice and hard
work, they pull ahead of their peers.
That’s a lot of quilting!
I also knew I wasn’t going to wake
up one day and have talent magically
appear. I needed to hone my skills.
Journal quilting was all the rage back
in 2005, so I wanted to do something
similar and to work in my studio as often
as I could. In 2007, I started a weekly
quilt project, and made a miniature art
quilt every single week. My project lasted
nearly fi ve years. In the middle of the
third year, I started making big quilts for
exhibition. Well, that much practice did
help and at the end of the fi ve years, I
had literally hundreds of mini quilts—
but I also had exhibited, won awards,
and even written and submitted my fi rst
magazine article.
Are you jealous of me? I hope not!
Truly, you can have it too, by doing
the work.
Not everyone is going to have my
goals; not everyone wants to win awards
or be published. Maybe you want to
make more quilts. That’s awesome! I love
that. Maybe your jealousy arises from
seeing amazing free-motion quilting orPhoto courtesy of Cheryl Slebodathe last word.
BY CHERYL SLEBODA“Geschwindigkeit (Speed)” • 24" × 60"Photo by Larry Stein