And I Quilt Personality, Jeresther Thorpe

This week we hear from And I Quilt Personality, Jeresther Thorpe. Jeresther is a school principal, a mom, and she quilts. All of us who quilt know the process of starting a project, bringing the fabrics together and and having the pieces fall into place to create that warm, comforting thing of beauty that we know as a quilt. It takes a lot of thought, effort, and time but in the end it’s all worth it. A lot of things in life are like that. Jeresther knows this very well……

And I Quilt

In the midst of the pandemic, like everyone, my life was turned upside down. As public school elementary teachers and principals, it went against the very fibers of our beings not to be in school. For educators, the spring semester is like the biggest Quilt Festival & Show all in one. All of our students’ excellent work and growth are on display. The pieces are coming together to make this beautiful quilt. We adjusted the pattern and dimensions along the way to make it “just-the-right fit.” Now it’s quilted with these beautiful designs, some strategic and some totally wild and free, but beautifully made. It’s a true celebration of accomplishment; we share our techniques and strategies as we begin planning for next year’s design.

Quilting for Healing

Just imagine the loss of not being together in person. Not celebrating the school year’s successes or closing traditions of one school year while planning for the next. In the midst of it all, we kept learning and moving forward. We changed our platforms and learned to navigate this new frontier of remote learning in a virtual world. As passionate and committed educators, we rose the occasion. At the end of many long days, I found myself in my sewing studio in front of my Sweet Sixteen, releasing and receiving energy through free motion quilting.

Allowing my mind to relax and wonder while learning new techniques and creating new designs. Thinking of the next steps for work. I have always valued Arts in Education. I genuinely believe it enhances students thinking and problem-solving skill development and supports cross-curriculum concept development. As a quilter, I see pattern pieces in curriculum development and design. You have to have foundational techniques to move to the complex-piecing, from a simple four-patch to the disappearing nine patch to a paper pieced hexagon-star quilt. We start at the necessary foundation, and we build the top, add in the supports, batting, and backing. Then we quilt the design, bringing the top, middle, and backing together to create something substantial and lasting. The thought and process is a healing experience that leads to the next design, to dream, to hope.

Thank you Jeresther!

I think many of us dove deep into our quilting as we navigated our way to deal with what is going on in the world. And you have inspired us to learn from our quilting experiences and apply them to the very fiber of our lives.

Please take a few minutes to watch Jeresther’s And I Quilt video which we are featuring this month. You’ll be even more inspired!