I've learned so much from Sherri Lynn Wood. She's a remarkable artist and educator. I took my first workshop with her at QuiltCon 2015, which was also my first QuiltCon. I signed up kind of late, but there were slots left in her "Quilting From a Score" workshop. Her book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters, was so new that I don't think they were even for sale at the show.
If you're familiar with her book, the workshop she taught that year was the Floating Squares score.
I came away changed. I figured out that I was an improv quilter, but I didn't know that quilting could be so... effortless.
Long story short, when Wood announced her spring 2022 lineup of workshops, I decided...
This was a beautiful, fertile creative period for me. A highlight of the workshop series was the guest appearance by Gees Bend quilter Mary Margaret Pettway.
Like, I can't even.
Here's a little tip: If you are a quilter in the twenty first century, you owe a debt to the quilters of Gees Bend. You can pay something toward that debt right here. Learn more about the quilters of Gee's Bend at the Souls Grown Deep Foundation website.
Ms. Pettway inspired this quilt.
With Don't Stop Me Now, I challenged myself to work in an improvisational style, with mostly striped fabric. Here's my maximalist tendency coming through: All Stripes All The Time.
What's In a Name?
I title all my work. Usually, the title comes to me mid-construction. I was so filled with energy at learning from Ms. Pettway, plus the infusion of color and pattern in the dead of winter, that my exuberance could only be expressed in the immortal words of Freddie Mercury.*
Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive
And the world, I'll turn it inside out, yeah
I'm floating around in ecstasy
So (Don't stop me now)
(Don't stop me)
'Cause I'm having a good time
Having a good time
I'm a shooting star, leaping through the sky like a tiger
Defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car, passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me
I'm burning through the sky, yeah
Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man outta you
(Don't stop me now)
I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball
(Don't stop me now)
If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call
(Don't stop me now)
'Cause I'm having a good time
(Don't stop me now)
Yes, I'm having a good time
I don't wanna stop at all, yeah
I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars on a collision course
I am a satellite, I'm out of control
I'm a sex machine, ready to reload like an atom bomb
About to oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, explode
I'm burning through the sky, yeah
Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you
(Don't stop me, don't stop me, don't stop me)
Hey, hey, hey
(Don't stop me, don't stop me, ooh, ooh, ooh)
I like it
(Don't stop me, don't stop me)
Have a good time, good time
(Don't stop me, don't stop me) Woah
Let loose, honey, all right
Oh, I'm burning through the sky, yeah
Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit (Hey)
Travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man outta you (Hey, hey)
(Don't stop me now)
I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball
(Don't stop me now)
If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call (Ooh, alright)
(Don't stop me now)
'Cause I'm having a good time (Hey, hey)
(Don't stop me now)
Yes, I'm having a good time
I don't wanna stop at all
Lyrics from Don't Stop Me Now, 1978, written by Freddie Mercury and performed by Queen.
* To experience this song in its finest postmodern format, I recommend this Google Doodle.
Don’t Stop Me Now Could Be Yours!
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