0
SPEAKER_00
I m David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.
0
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Now, mostly this podcast is just me rambling on about things that confuse me about America.
0
SPEAKER_00
Things I want to know.
0
SPEAKER_00
Like, why are the water levels in American toilets so high?
0
SPEAKER_00
Or why is every second American armed with a leaf blower?
0
SPEAKER_00
Why is the American flag everywhere I look?
0
SPEAKER_00
Each week, a new question that I try to answer.
0
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes I m successful, and sometimes I fail miserably.
0
SPEAKER_00
But some very American things escape my point of view, just because I m looking in a different direction, or miss what s right in front of me.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so I rely on Monica and Rob who sometimes have their own questions about American culture.
0
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I suggested, and I think you said okay, but then you decided not to listen, but so I m gonna say it here.
0
SPEAKER_02
Quilts.
0
SPEAKER_01
Quilts.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that s so American.
0
SPEAKER_02
They don t have quilts in New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m putting it on my list.
0
SPEAKER_02
You didn t even know what it was.
0
SPEAKER_00
Quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
So specific.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it seems very pilgrim-y.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah!
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_00
Quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Where to begin with quilts?
0
SPEAKER_00
Draped over every bed and couch in America, I wondered how I d miss this thing that America loves so much.
0
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The thing is, I d never really thought about quilts before, but now I am, they do feel kinda pilgrim-y.
0
SPEAKER_00
Something brought to America during colonial times, as Europeans did their thing and colonised the hell out of everything in sight.
0
SPEAKER_00
America took to quilting like it took to cheeseburgers.
0
SPEAKER_00
A quick look around the internet shows that quilting is now a thriving multi-billion dollar industry here in the US.
0
SPEAKER_00
But why?
0
SPEAKER_00
And who s quilting?
0
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So grab your needle and thread and prepare to start sewing together all your old clothes and blankets and anything else in sight really, because this is the quilting episode.
0
SPEAKER_01
Flightless, flightless, flightless bird touchdown in America.
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SPEAKER_01
I m a flightless bird touchdown in America.
0
SPEAKER_00
This was such a good idea.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I want to apologize for kind of poo-pooing it when you first, you brought it up a few times.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m talking about quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Are they a big deal?
0
SPEAKER_00
Really?
0
SPEAKER_00
But once you think about quilts, you can t stop thinking about them and they re everywhere.
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SPEAKER_02
Yes.
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SPEAKER_02
The way I got you in was by telling you that there are t-shirt quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I got excited because I love, I love a design, like a graphic t-shirt.
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I m that guy.
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SPEAKER_00
He has a t-shirt with something to do with my personality on it.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yep.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
I got excited.
0
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I have that problem too, and I love merch so much.
0
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Isn t it great?
0
SPEAKER_02
Why is it so great?
0
SPEAKER_02
What s the psychology behind why we love merch?
0
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Is it an identity indicator?
0
SPEAKER_00
It s identity.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s wearing your personality on the outside.
0
SPEAKER_00
On your sleeve, literally.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s making a statement.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, on your sleeve, literally.
0
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And I go sometimes to throw out t-shirts I ve collected from concerts and things, and it s really hard because it s connected to this memory.
0
SPEAKER_02
I know.
0
SPEAKER_00
I mean, all your Taylor Swift shirts, how do you throw any of those out?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because it s connected to this really great night where you got someone to line up and get the merch for you in front of you.
0
SPEAKER_02
Speaking of that, I forgot that before I even went to the concert, I anticipated the merch being impossible to get.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, horrible.
0
SPEAKER_02
And so I ordered a bunch online beforehand.
0
SPEAKER_00
You were from like the Taylor Swift store?
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, online.
0
SPEAKER_02
Cause I was like, I m just not even going to deal with the merch on the day.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don t want to be stressed about it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_02
And so I ordered a bunch of stuff and then I went to the concert and then that was a separate thing.
0
SPEAKER_02
I needed the merch from the place.
0
SPEAKER_00
And also sometimes the stuff often they sell at concerts, it s not online yet.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s different.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s special to the show.
0
SPEAKER_02
Exactly.
0
SPEAKER_02
And that was true.
0
SPEAKER_02
The stuff that was there was not the stuff online.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then I needed it.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then, so I got my merch via the very sweet women.
0
SPEAKER_00
The kind person.
0
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Who you got their stuff as well.
0
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Like you pay for their stuff.
0
SPEAKER_00
Thank you.
0
SPEAKER_00
Brilliant arrangement.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then I forgot all about the merch I ordered and it arrived like months later.
0
SPEAKER_02
I opened this box and was like, oh fuck!
0
SPEAKER_00
Just full of Taylor Swift stuff.
0
SPEAKER_02
So now I have so much Eras Tor merch.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s nice though, that s like when a little present arrives.
0
SPEAKER_00
You ve ordered something and then it arrives, that s the best thing, because it s like, oh my god, I was not expecting this amazing treasure trove of stuff.
0
SPEAKER_02
Like the little baby hat you bought for Rob s baby.
0
SPEAKER_00
My little baby hat I bought for Rob that finally turned up.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh man.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, merchandise at shows is such a nightmare.
0
SPEAKER_00
I like this really pretentious band called Tool, who are, their fans are... Just real quick, because we ve already talked.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh no, have I already talked about this?
0
SPEAKER_02
No, we ve already had this discussion because you think it s pretentious.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh, the word I m using.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I think it s funny that you call it pretentious because to me the sentence, I like this pretentious band called Tool.
0
SPEAKER_00
Called Tool.
0
SPEAKER_02
is an oxymoron.
0
SPEAKER_00
It can t be pretentious and be called Tool.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, what a band name, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and you ve got their fans like me walking around with the word Tool emblazoned on our hats and stuff, which I think surely has to be a joke from the band, sort of looking down at their fans or something.
0
SPEAKER_00
I guess.
0
SPEAKER_00
But their merch is a whole different level where their accusations of the merch people, because they sell like limited edition posters for each concert, say,
0
SPEAKER_00
But there s allegations in the tool community of people at the merch table putting them aside and then immediately selling them on eBay and not even like getting to the public.
0
SPEAKER_02
The people working?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, working there, this underground network of like merch swipers.
0
SPEAKER_00
So it s this whole other thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
But I know that feeling of getting to that merch table, huge lines.
0
SPEAKER_00
But that s why we keep these things and sew them on fucking quilts, because they mean something to us.
0
SPEAKER_00
They re important.
0
SPEAKER_00
And giving away the t-shirt, it s not like giving away a t-shirt, you re giving away this memory.
0
SPEAKER_02
Peace of your heart.
0
SPEAKER_02
Peace of your heart.
0
SPEAKER_00
Quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Do you have a favourite quilt with you at the moment, or is it more a childhood kind of a thing?
0
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Okay, part of the reason I m obsessed with quilts is I never had one because they are so American.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
And my family s not American.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, they didn t immediately embrace the quilts.
0
SPEAKER_02
They didn t.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I don t think my parents ever really got it.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s like all this patchwork.
0
SPEAKER_02
And one of my best friends, very American, blonde, cute as pie.
0
SPEAKER_00
All American gal.
0
SPEAKER_02
All American gal, her grandmother made quilts.
0
SPEAKER_02
And so she had all these quilts.
0
SPEAKER_02
Shout out Kirsten.
0
SPEAKER_00
Just quilts everywhere.
0
SPEAKER_02
Beautiful quilts with memories and personalized memories, hugs and kisses sewn in.
0
SPEAKER_02
I ve always had this under the radar jealousy and obsession of people with quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, I can tell you by the end of this episode, I think all your dreams could potentially come true.
0
SPEAKER_02
Oh my God.
0
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, I really enjoyed meeting these quilters.
0
SPEAKER_00
I met a few for this episode, and they were just great humans.
0
SPEAKER_02
Did you walk in with an attitude?
0
SPEAKER_02
Because you were doing this because I forced you to?
0
SPEAKER_00
A little.
0
SPEAKER_00
There s an element.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don t like being told what to do.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yep.
0
SPEAKER_00
So you have someone.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yep.
0
SPEAKER_00
Not a surprise for you.
0
SPEAKER_00
So if someone suggests something, I m like, no, I want to do what I want to do.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, there s that kind of like pushback feeling.
0
SPEAKER_00
I always get that.
0
SPEAKER_00
So there was a little bit of that.
0
SPEAKER_02
I want to do beavers.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes, like.
0
SPEAKER_02
Instead.
0
SPEAKER_02
Really important topics like animals.
0
SPEAKER_00
A really Canadian animal.
0
SPEAKER_00
So yeah, there was that.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I did walk in with a little bit of, this could be late, it s quilts, you know, I don t care about quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
So it was a bit of that.
0
SPEAKER_00
But pretty soon, you know, I chose to do it, I did it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it took years and years, and it took months and months and months.
0
SPEAKER_00
But I was won over pretty quickly by the quilting community of the United States.
0
SPEAKER_00
Good people, good humans.
0
SPEAKER_00
And also, it s funny, sometimes with these episodes, you ll go and interview someone and that s it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Other people really care that you re there and the conversation and dialogue goes on.
0
SPEAKER_00
They want to know how the interview went.
0
SPEAKER_00
They re sending you more emails with more facts to help me write things.
0
SPEAKER_00
And with quilting, these people were overboard with that.
0
SPEAKER_00
They were so helpful.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s on brand.
0
SPEAKER_02
They re into the details.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s why they make quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, detail orientated, quite quirky.
0
SPEAKER_00
And yeah, I love putting this together.
0
SPEAKER_00
So this is my journey into the world of quilts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Thank you for making me do it.
0
SPEAKER_00
You re welcome.
0
SPEAKER_02
It was a ding ding ding that you put it together.
0
SPEAKER_02
You sewed this episode together, much like the quilters.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I did.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because this episode idea came from Monica, I wasn t really sure where to start my journey into the world of quilting.
0
SPEAKER_00
Was there a quilting store I could go to?
0
SPEAKER_00
Some kind of quilting club I could join?
0
SPEAKER_00
With so many questions banging around in my head, including, what the heck is a quilt?
0
SPEAKER_00
I decided to turn my attention to what I knew.
0
SPEAKER_00
Podcasting.
0
SPEAKER_00
Specifically, to a podcast about quilting.
0
SPEAKER_01
I am Ashlyn Downs and I am relatively new to quilting.
0
SPEAKER_00
Ashlyn has been quilting for about a year and a half, but that didn t stop her from picking up a microphone and also making a podcast called The Grateful Thread, which is now the number one quilting podcast on the crafts charts.
0
SPEAKER_00
She seemed like a good place to start when breaking down quilting s importance in the American landscape.
1
SPEAKER_01
Traditionally, quilting has been very static.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s almost like you want your Lego set to turn out exactly like the Lego model.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so you re following the instructions to get that exact end result.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I m seeing just a lot of newer, younger quilters really just going forward and wanting to make their own with their own stamp.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because I think a lot of antique quilts do look really similar.
1
SPEAKER_01
There s a ton of red and white quilts.
1
SPEAKER_01
If you think of a quilt, you think of traditional star shapes, eight point stars on a block, and those are typically pieced together to form a full quilt.
1
SPEAKER_01
And younger, newer, modern quilters are kind of foregoing that, and they are piecing things however they want.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s kind of hodgepodge and improv looking.
1
SPEAKER_01
We don t care to stick to just two colors in our quilts.
1
SPEAKER_01
We are mixing all kinds of prints and kind of
1
SPEAKER_01
Just making it a piece that we want in our home and that has a place there.
1
SPEAKER_03
I was fascinated by this idea of a new movement of younger, more diverse quilters.
1
SPEAKER_03
I d imagine quilting was dominated by people in their 90s.
1
SPEAKER_03
No shade to anyone in their 90s.
1
SPEAKER_03
But it turns out that s not really the case.
1
SPEAKER_01
I started with that vintage quilt movement and I got just so hooked in during the pandemic.
1
SPEAKER_03
Rewind.
1
SPEAKER_03
What is the vintage quilting movement that you just referenced?
1
SPEAKER_01
So there have been several quilt revivals in the U.S.
1
SPEAKER_01
specifically, but more recently between like 2018 and it s kind of ending now, but the vintage quilt obsession, so turning them into coats and bags and duffel bags and all of the repurposing of old quilts has kind of had a really big resurgence.
1
SPEAKER_03
So it was like how people got into craft beer and making bread at home.
1
SPEAKER_03
That was the same kind of thing with quilting, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, same timeline too.
1
SPEAKER_03
I hadn t realized that quilting had made a sneaky comeback during the pandemic.
1
SPEAKER_03
Over in New Zealand, we mostly just got obsessed with sourdough.
1
SPEAKER_03
But millions of Americans had tried out their hand at quilting.
1
SPEAKER_03
Of course, there are still the traditional hotbeds that do it the most in America, that are the most established.
1
SPEAKER_01
So as far as traditional quilts go, the Amish are really big producers of quilts.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s the immediate image that most people bring to mind when they think quilt is the Amish quilt.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then surprisingly, Wisconsin is a really big
1
SPEAKER_01
quilting hub.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then here in Salt Lake City and Utah, there are many, many quilt shops.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I m sure people can put the math together about handicraft and stay-at-home moms and Mormon pioneers, but it s a lot of that culture.
1
SPEAKER_03
At this point in my quilting journey I realised I hadn t actually clocked what made a quilt a quilt, so I m jumping to someone who you re going to hear from in the second part of this little doc, Latifa, explaining what a quilt is.
1
SPEAKER_00
Traditionally, a quilt is what s called a quilt top, which is basically what you see on the front of a quilt.
1
SPEAKER_00
Then there s batting or wadding, depending on what part of the world that you re in.
1
SPEAKER_00
In the United States, we call it batting.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then there s a backing.
1
SPEAKER_00
Those three layers are sewn together.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s what the actual quilting is, those three layers.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then it s usually encased in a binding that encloses the outer edges of the quilt.
1
SPEAKER_03
OK, more from Latifa later, but back to Ashlyn.
1
SPEAKER_03
What is it about quilting that makes quilting such an obsession for many people here?
1
SPEAKER_01
I think it s the ability to just fixate on something that requires all of your attention.
1
SPEAKER_01
And in this new wave of quilters that are coming into it, they re younger and they re looking for a way to
1
SPEAKER_01
almost disassociate with the real world.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I m sure that s kind of what quilting has always been.
1
SPEAKER_01
But in the past, it s been a way to repurpose your old textiles and piece them together and get more use out of them.
1
SPEAKER_01
But today, I think quilters are gravitating towards it for stress relief.
1
SPEAKER_01
You have to be focused all in on it to have a good outcome.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, we re living in an increasingly fucking stressful world, aren t we?
1
SPEAKER_01
For sure.
1
SPEAKER_03
You know, obviously there s quilting in New Zealand, but America seems to have a real affinity for quilting.
1
SPEAKER_03
Do you have any theories on why it s really taken off here and continued to have these resurgences over the decades?
1
SPEAKER_01
I think it lines up perfectly with your podcast.
1
SPEAKER_01
I think like most things, we did not invent it, but we re just so good at capitalizing on everything here.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that s really what I think the key to it being so large here is it s just a massive industry and the availability of textiles here.
1
SPEAKER_01
Most things produced for the quilting world begin here.
1
SPEAKER_01
So the culture around it is able to grow a lot more.
1
SPEAKER_03
And by a lot more, she means a lot more.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s a four and a half billion dollar industry and there s 10 million quilters in the U.S.
1
SPEAKER_01
and that s growing.
1
SPEAKER_03
Holy shit.
1
SPEAKER_03
They re all around us.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, they re everywhere, David.
1
SPEAKER_01
The coolest part is that it s mostly just women owned, aside from maybe the owners of the fabric manufacturing companies.
1
SPEAKER_01
The designers of the fabric patterns are women.
1
SPEAKER_01
The people that make the quilt patterns are women.
1
SPEAKER_01
The women run the shows.
1
SPEAKER_01
The women do all of the things.
1
SPEAKER_01
And it s an inviting space to men, but it s predominantly women.
1
SPEAKER_01
And in the year of Barbie and Taylor Swift, there is to her.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s pretty cool.
1
SPEAKER_03
I d come into this episode expecting to discover a bunch of grannies quilting by the fire.
1
SPEAKER_03
And nothing against grannies.
1
SPEAKER_03
I love grannies.
1
SPEAKER_03
Rest in peace, Monica Farrier.
1
SPEAKER_03
But I was sort of delighted to find quilting as this thriving thing that s been taken up by so many younger Americans.
1
SPEAKER_03
Younger Americans who are making it their own.
1
SPEAKER_03
Next stop on my journey, meeting some of these young, successful quilters.
1
SPEAKER_03
But first, time to check back in with Monica.
1
SPEAKER_03
Monica Padman, not my dead gran.
1
SPEAKER_03
That d be crazy, eh, if it was like, my dead gran Monica suddenly appeared.
1
SPEAKER_02
Is Monica a popular name in New Zealand?
1
SPEAKER_03
Not at all.
1
SPEAKER_03
Not at all.
1
SPEAKER_03
You and my dead gran are the only Monicas I ve ever met in my life.
1
SPEAKER_02
That s so crazy.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, so rare.
1
SPEAKER_03
There are a lot of Monicas in America, aren t there?
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it s one of those weird names that, it s not rare, but no one has it.
1
SPEAKER_03
No one, and I feel like the people that have it, like Monica on Friends, ruled.
1
SPEAKER_02
She s the only other one I know.
1
SPEAKER_03
Like, there s good Monicas.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, there probably is.
1
SPEAKER_03
My gran, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s a great name.
1
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
1
SPEAKER_03
I mean, I m stuck with David, which is the most generic name of all time.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, it s classic.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s classic.
1
SPEAKER_03
You ve got something distinct.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s good.
1
SPEAKER_02
I used to hate it because I used to say it sounded like cardboard.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like, it just, it like sounds the way cardboard is.
1
SPEAKER_03
Oh, that s such a funny association.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s that thing in you.
1
SPEAKER_03
That s so funny.
1
SPEAKER_02
Anyway.
1
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_02
I m really grateful for this journey and I love learning about it.
1
SPEAKER_03
I ve learned it s a young people s thing.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
Young people love it.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s the same sort of feeling of peace and tranquility that I get from building Lego.
1
SPEAKER_03
Some people make a puzzle.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
Some people quilt.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s all this literally the exact same thing though.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s you start with pieces and you re putting it together.
1
SPEAKER_03
You re building something from nothing.
1
SPEAKER_02
Cooking is like that too.
1
SPEAKER_02
I think that s what a lot of hobbies are.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s the sensation of making something out of scraps.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, you re constructing a thing.
1
SPEAKER_03
You ve got a whole lot of nothing and then you make it into something and that makes you feel peaceful and good.
1
SPEAKER_02
And purposeful.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, we all need something to do and something to see that we ve made.
1
SPEAKER_03
I think that s why it s so weird working when we make this podcast.
1
SPEAKER_03
I think I can get weird sometimes because I ve got a couple of friends in New Zealand who are builders and I kind of fantasize about that life where you can see the thing you ve made as this physical object.
1
SPEAKER_03
Whereas when you make stuff and you kind of like throw it out, it s also digital, it s on the internet.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s kind of weird and it s not something, sometimes you re like, what am I making?
1
SPEAKER_02
I can t see it.
1
SPEAKER_02
It feels more ephemeral.
1
SPEAKER_02
It comes, it goes, it s just voices.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s a really odd thing.
1
SPEAKER_03
And then I also get little panics because, like Dark Tourist, right?
1
SPEAKER_03
I made that.
1
SPEAKER_03
I don t have copies of that on a disc.
1
SPEAKER_03
It sits on Netflix.
1
SPEAKER_03
If Netflix disappears one day, it s gone.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s like it never existed.
1
SPEAKER_03
I don t have the hard drives of the data there in some lockup somewhere.
1
SPEAKER_03
So I guess there s this huge satisfaction sitting down and I guess that s what I get out of Lego.
1
SPEAKER_03
You sit down like a child and you make this thing.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s like, wow, there s a thing I can see that I ve made.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I think that s right.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s actually kind of profound.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
What do you get the most urge like to sort of make?
1
SPEAKER_02
Cooking.
1
SPEAKER_02
I get so much pleasure.
1
SPEAKER_02
We want to create.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we want to create things.
1
SPEAKER_02
We really do.
1
SPEAKER_02
Our little monkey brains really want to.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
But do the monkeys create?
1
SPEAKER_03
What are monkeys making?
1
SPEAKER_03
I feel they re not making... No, they re just throwing their poops and stuff.
1
SPEAKER_03
They re throwing shits around, like making wacky videos for TikTok.
1
SPEAKER_03
That s kind of it.
1
SPEAKER_03
Putting their butts out.
1
SPEAKER_02
There s that video of... They re making videos for TikTok?
1
SPEAKER_03
I mean, they re all around TikTok.
1
SPEAKER_03
My TikTok is mostly, just when I scroll through, it s mostly unfed monkey videos.
1
SPEAKER_02
No, you re not.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s just monkeys on there.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it s amazing.
2
SPEAKER_02
People love videos of monkeys because they re so like us.
2
SPEAKER_02
Have you seen a video of a monkey where it s just perfect timing, where the camera s on the monkey, it picks up a bit of its shit, it flings it, and then the camera quickly pans, and there s this 90-year-old woman sat there feebly in a wheelchair, and this big shit
2
SPEAKER_02
It s just like, and the look on her face is like out of shock and everyone around her family is just like trying to hold it together because it s so funny.
2
SPEAKER_03
Anyway, wait, this reminds me yesterday I went for breakfast.
2
SPEAKER_03
I was walking back and all of a sudden I looked down at my shirt and there s poop on my shirt.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh no.
2
SPEAKER_02
Like a bird got you?
2
SPEAKER_03
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_03
So I am panicking.
2
SPEAKER_02
How long had you been walking do you think before you saw it?
2
SPEAKER_03
Great question.
2
SPEAKER_03
That is actually the question I m going to die with and not know the answer to.
2
SPEAKER_03
How long was I walking with poop on me before I noticed it?
2
SPEAKER_03
And also some man said hi to me and I think maybe it was because of
2
SPEAKER_02
He noticed because of the... Was it prominent?
2
SPEAKER_02
Were you wearing a white plain shirt and it was very clear that it was a bit of poop?
2
SPEAKER_03
I was wearing a purple magenta-y kind of color sweatshirt, but it was obvious.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then I was like basically running the rest of the way because I had to get that off of me.
2
SPEAKER_02
Broke into a sprint.
2
SPEAKER_03
Basically, I took off my sweatshirt when I got home and just like dumped all this laundry detergent on it.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then I wondered if it was actually the granola I ate.
2
SPEAKER_02
Just dripped with a bit of granola.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, right.
2
SPEAKER_02
Cause that sort of has a texture.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_03
And it was a really interesting granola.
2
SPEAKER_03
It had a lot of seeds.
2
SPEAKER_02
Your little tiny bits.
2
SPEAKER_03
And honey.
2
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_03
And I had yogurt.
2
SPEAKER_03
So it like, it could have been that.
2
SPEAKER_02
Kind of love the evolution, just dribble a bit on and then you notice outside and just start running, just sprinting.
2
SPEAKER_02
I m glad you noticed.
2
SPEAKER_02
Cause I mean, if you thought it was a bird shit, other people probably thought it was bird shit as well.
2
SPEAKER_02
I wouldn t think granola.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think there s Monica, she s been shat on by like big pigeon.
2
SPEAKER_02
Cause I walk around that area and there are times when there are just pigeons circling en masse and you could very easily be.
2
SPEAKER_03
I just was really touching my hair.
2
SPEAKER_03
You want to check it s not on you.
2
SPEAKER_03
It wasn t.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s kind of surprising that we don t get shat on more by birds considering how many there are up there.
2
SPEAKER_03
It s true.
2
SPEAKER_03
And they go.
2
SPEAKER_02
They go.
2
SPEAKER_02
They re always pooping.
2
SPEAKER_02
Isn t it good luck to get pooped on?
2
SPEAKER_03
That s what they say.
2
SPEAKER_03
I think they say that so that you can tell your kid that so they stop their tantrum.
2
SPEAKER_02
So they stop crying.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
Did you have good luck or bad luck the rest of the day?
2
SPEAKER_03
I actually had bad luck.
2
SPEAKER_03
I had a big bug event that happened right after that.
2
SPEAKER_03
The day did get better, but... You probably talked about this on Armchair, what was the bug event?
2
SPEAKER_03
I was in a state.
2
SPEAKER_03
I talked about it on Synced.
2
SPEAKER_03
I was at a coffee shop, and there was this bug on my neck, and then I looked, and there was that type of bug kind of everywhere.
2
SPEAKER_03
It was so horrifying.
2
SPEAKER_02
Little guy?
2
SPEAKER_02
Big guy?
2
SPEAKER_02
Little natty thing, kind of.
2
SPEAKER_03
Bigger than a gnat, kind of the size of a fly, but it wasn t a regular fly.
2
SPEAKER_03
And it had weird, clear wings.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh God.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was disgusting.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it was fly-y.
2
SPEAKER_03
I hated it.
2
SPEAKER_03
And I hated yesterday.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, I m sorry.
2
SPEAKER_02
I learned something, and I don t know if this is real or fake or not, but in bug news, these scientists, a while ago now, they got a cockroach and they put it in a maze.
2
SPEAKER_02
And they basically let the cockroach learn the maze.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it was some cheese at the end, or whatever cockroaches eat.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so the cockroach would learn, and they did this with about 100 cockroaches, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
So they d all learn the maze.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then they got those cockroaches, they blended them up,
2
SPEAKER_02
they fed them to another cockroach for lunch.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then that cockroach knew how to do the maze.
2
SPEAKER_03
That is not true.
2
SPEAKER_03
Are you serious?
2
SPEAKER_02
I think, look, it sounds so fake, but the only reason it stuck with me is I think cockroaches don t have, again, I could be talking shit.
2
SPEAKER_02
Cockroaches don t have a central brain.
2
SPEAKER_02
I feel like their body is like, it s like this network of neurons as opposed to like the brain.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so maybe,
2
SPEAKER_02
that muscle memory and those neurons does stay in the paste and you feed it to another cockroach and they know the maze.
2
SPEAKER_03
Wait.
2
SPEAKER_02
So yeah, you had a cockroach that had never seen the maze before.
2
SPEAKER_02
You feed it the paste of a hundred bodies of cockroaches that knew the maze.
2
SPEAKER_02
Suddenly that cockroach knows the maze.
2
SPEAKER_03
Is this fake news though?
2
SPEAKER_02
Look, it could be.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
I haven t checked anything, but I think what a great story.
2
SPEAKER_03
But this worries me because, you know, in certain parts of the world, people eat, well, people probably eat cockroaches, but they also eat crickets.
2
SPEAKER_03
And in fact, a place, yeah, we ve eaten them.
2
SPEAKER_03
And is it the same?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, I think the reason it works with cockroaches is it s got to go into their network.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it s their weird body brains.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s not like you could feed a cockroach a bit of human brain and suddenly it s chatting to you.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s got to be the same material as their body.
2
SPEAKER_03
Oh my God.
2
SPEAKER_02
Crazy, right?
2
SPEAKER_03
This is... Yeah, it could be bullshit.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird.
2
SPEAKER_02
We ll be right back after a word from our sponsors.
2
SPEAKER_02
Flightless Bird is brought to you by Aura, who make a very good electronic photo frame.
2
SPEAKER_02
I ve given quite a few of these away now, and when I go to New Zealand, I m giving some to my brother and my parents, and that way I can harass them with the fun I m having in America when I m back here.
2
SPEAKER_03
But you know what you can also do for your niece and stuff, because you can do like her animals.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh my God.
2
SPEAKER_03
You can make it really personal.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, all my nieces are obsessed with animals.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s actually a really good idea.
2
SPEAKER_03
Wait, I just had an amazing idea for a present.
2
SPEAKER_03
If anyone is getting someone in their family an animal, what you could do is give them an aura frame, have them unwrap that, say like, look at the pictures on it.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then it s pictures of your family, and then you superimpose a picture of the new animal.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, the animal starts coming into the lineup.
2
SPEAKER_03
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then they re like, wait, wait, what s that?
2
SPEAKER_03
What s that?
2
SPEAKER_03
And then you bring out.
2
SPEAKER_02
Release the puppy.
2
SPEAKER_03
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s really beautiful.
2
SPEAKER_02
I feel like I ve just watched a Netflix Christmas film where this scene happens.
2
SPEAKER_02
And you can recreate this yourself this Christmas!
2
SPEAKER_02
You can do this with Aura!
2
SPEAKER_02
It s got free unlimited storage, so you can add unlimited photos of that new pet that you re going to surprise your family with.
2
SPEAKER_02
And you can invite as many people as you want to a frame.
2
SPEAKER_02
There s absolutely no hidden fees or subscriptions.
2
SPEAKER_02
supply.
2
SPEAKER_02
I always know what I m getting.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s going to be, oh, socks.
2
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_02
Or underwear.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s all it ever is.
2
SPEAKER_02
God, it s tough.
2
SPEAKER_03
Family s hard.
2
SPEAKER_02
Whether or not your family specifically gives gifts during the holidays, you can define how you give to yourself.
2
SPEAKER_02
And the holidays are a great time to do that.
2
SPEAKER_02
So whether it s by starting therapy or just going easier on yourself during the tough moments or treating yourself to a day of complete rest, remember to give yourself some love this holiday season.
2
SPEAKER_02
I am going to give a gift to myself, and for the first time in the holidays ever, I m going to do my little therapy session.
2
SPEAKER_02
Usually I just get annoyed with my family, but I m going to zoom in, I m going to do it.
2
SPEAKER_02
If you re thinking of starting therapy, you can give Better Help a try.
2
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2
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2
SPEAKER_02
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2
SPEAKER_02
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2
SPEAKER_02
That s BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash bird.
2
SPEAKER_02
Anyway, what are we talking about?
2
SPEAKER_02
Quilting.
2
SPEAKER_02
So yeah, I learned that quilting is a thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
Young people love it.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s not just grannies.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I thought, holy shit, I got to go and meet some of these quilters.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
The great thing about talking to Ashlyn, the quilting podcaster, is that she put me on to some other local quilters I could go visit.
2
SPEAKER_02
I spent the next week going back and forth with a few of them, over email, before deciding on two I could hang out with.
2
SPEAKER_02
Luke doesn t live too far away from me, and knocking on the door, a monster dog greets me.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s Honeydew, and they re an Irish wolfhound, the world s tallest dog.
2
SPEAKER_02
Standing, they can be over seven feet tall.
2
SPEAKER_01
Honeydew, you ve got to show us.
2
SPEAKER_01
Honeydew, sit.
2
SPEAKER_01
She knows when you re taking a picture and she... She would just...
2
SPEAKER_02
After I make Honeydew pose for some photos with me, Torque turns to quilting.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m Luke Haynes.
2
SPEAKER_00
I make quilts.
2
SPEAKER_00
The thing that I usually say is I m a recovering architect dabbling in the world of quilting.
2
SPEAKER_00
You abandon the world of architecture?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, I love the world of architecture.
2
SPEAKER_00
I just hate working for developers, fighting with the city on codes that change every year.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I love quilts because it actually is an architecture, the scale of which I can control.
3
SPEAKER_02
sets your quilts apart from other quilts?
3
SPEAKER_02
I was a very early quilter of figural work.
3
SPEAKER_02
So for me, I put a lot of images and portraits on quilts and that was not done so much.
3
SPEAKER_02
It was a system that I innovated.
3
SPEAKER_02
It was a type of work because a lot of quilting is decorative.
3
SPEAKER_02
A lot of quilting comes from this history of oral tradition and sort of grandma s teaching you this block that you have to make.
3
SPEAKER_02
And I
3
SPEAKER_02
happened upon it sideways and just made a bunch of potentially not wonderful objects, but I didn t know there was rules to what not to do.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I put a bunch of pictures, portraits, self-portraits, etc.
3
SPEAKER_02
on there, and that would be the big thing that got me on the map.
3
SPEAKER_02
That s where the museum started to collect my work.
3
SPEAKER_01
As well as museums, Luke s quilts have ended up all over America.
3
SPEAKER_01
His work covered by the likes of the New York Times, and found in houses all over the US.
3
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes he leaves his quilts in public places for people to find and take home, for free.
3
SPEAKER_01
Of course, I wanted to see his quilts, so he takes me outside to his garage.
3
SPEAKER_01
So we re opening the garage here, the garage is opening.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah, no, I can see a lot of stacked quilts in here.
3
SPEAKER_02
So now you can see the over 300 quilts that are in my collection.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s quilt chaos in here.
3
SPEAKER_01
On one of his walls, a segment of one of his pieces.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s huge, and just shows a leg and a foot, almost photorealistic.
3
SPEAKER_01
The detail s incredible.
3
SPEAKER_02
This is the bottom of a 30-foot portrait right here, so it s just the feet.
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh my god, this is huge.
3
SPEAKER_02
And so this one is all made out of my own clothing.
3
SPEAKER_02
So the primarily the material that I use is reclaimed clothes for all the work that I make.
3
SPEAKER_01
I should note that Luke s wife, Nicole, is also here.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I m saying this in the best possible way.
3
SPEAKER_01
They make a really quirky couple.
3
SPEAKER_01
Back inside, the whole house is filled with unusual, unique furniture.
3
SPEAKER_01
Their bookshelf is bright yellow, and was sort of moulded to look like it s almost oozing down the wall.
3
SPEAKER_01
And they have two stools by the bench that are modelled after big bird legs.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s the bottom half of a giant chicken, and I think the other s a big peacock?
3
SPEAKER_01
Nicole s also an artist.
3
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes this pair quilt together.
3
SPEAKER_01
Nicole s words of affirmation appearing on Luke s giant quilts.
3
SPEAKER_01
One of them s hanging on the wall.
3
SPEAKER_01
Giant quilted words telling me, you make sense.
3
SPEAKER_01
But I didn t care if I made sense.
3
SPEAKER_01
I wanted to make sense of quilting.
3
SPEAKER_01
Where do quilts sit in the American psyche?
3
SPEAKER_01
Are they a big thing here?
3
SPEAKER_02
So quilts are a fascinatingly American craft.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s very true to Americana where they didn t come from here.
3
SPEAKER_02
We just took it and did it bigger.
3
SPEAKER_02
I won t say better because that sort of judgment, you know, I ll leave that to each individual, but, you know, there s this sort of history of the Dutch settlers that came in and brought patchwork systems.
3
SPEAKER_02
And, you know, there s certainly no way to say who made the first quilt.
3
SPEAKER_02
It was probably a couple of buffalo hides stuffed together for someone in a cave somewhere.
3
SPEAKER_02
Quilting as a medium really grew as the sort of wealth of America grew.
3
SPEAKER_02
It became this status symbol within Americana.
3
SPEAKER_02
It had to do with buying very expensive fabric and then cutting it apart and putting it back together.
3
SPEAKER_02
So both you had the money to buy things that were expensive and the time
3
SPEAKER_02
to cut it apart and put it back together, sort of at a time where both materials and time were at a premium, right?
3
SPEAKER_02
This manifest destiny time where everyone is in covered wagons.
3
SPEAKER_02
So if you have time to make a quilt that s proving your wealth, that was the big boom for quilting in America.
3
SPEAKER_02
This was one of the very first income streams for women in the United States.
3
SPEAKER_02
This was before women could have property.
3
SPEAKER_02
This is before women could have bank accounts.
3
SPEAKER_02
This was when women were sold as a object through marriage.
3
SPEAKER_02
But then all of a sudden, wealthier people wanted quilts.
3
SPEAKER_02
The men weren t going to make them.
3
SPEAKER_02
The women were going to make them.
3
SPEAKER_02
So the women could make them as a group, as this quilting circle, these quilting bees, and then sell them.
3
SPEAKER_02
So they had an excuse to congregate in a wonderful way.
3
SPEAKER_02
a way to make an income that had not been as present culturally.
3
SPEAKER_02
And so there s a lot of women s movement implicit in quilting.
3
SPEAKER_01
Rewind and expand out.
3
SPEAKER_01
What defines a quilt?
3
SPEAKER_01
Because I think of a quilt as being like, it s bits of material sort of stitched together into a big blanket.
3
SPEAKER_01
Is that the deal?
3
SPEAKER_01
Sure.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so like, you sound like, sure.
3
SPEAKER_02
Well, let me say that and the reason I sound a little uncomfortable is you re like accurately kicking a nest of wasps because as you no doubt have found through your sort of jaunts around America, subgroups have very distinct personalities and then can bifurcate into two personalities that are so close to each other that their definitions make the difference and then they re angry.
3
SPEAKER_01
So you re telling me that something as pure as quilting has controversial elements built into it?
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_02
There are whole factions that are just angry about the language used.
3
SPEAKER_02
There are art quilters, there are traditional quilters, there are modern quilters.
3
SPEAKER_02
You don t use the word blanket because you are just throwing the amount of work on it because it s not a blanket, it s a quilt.
3
SPEAKER_02
And so there s all of these vernacular differences that people have
3
SPEAKER_02
very large chips on their shoulders about and it makes sense where it comes from because if you spend 500 hours hand quilting a quilt with a needle and thread and then somebody sends it to someone else to do on a machine, there s a very different level of input.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I understand the anger there, but it s funny.
3
SPEAKER_02
You re sort of saying, what is the definition?
3
SPEAKER_02
And I m like, well, it depends on who your friends are.
3
SPEAKER_01
Luke is a quilter who uses an electric sewing machine.
3
SPEAKER_01
Controversial in some quilting circles.
3
SPEAKER_01
We ll leave your giant dog lying out there.
3
SPEAKER_01
Does the dog help at all in your quilting process?
3
SPEAKER_01
Or more just guarding the goods?
3
SPEAKER_02
See, more stands in the way, really.
3
SPEAKER_01
We leave Honeydew upstairs.
3
SPEAKER_01
They ve been watching attentively this whole time.
3
SPEAKER_01
And we head downstairs to Luke s workspace, where the walls are lined with shelves full of material and gear.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s a giant table for sewing and the fanciest electric sewing machine I ve ever seen.
3
SPEAKER_02
I m coming from architecture and design.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I come to quilting laterally.
3
SPEAKER_02
And so I make quilts using machines because I believe in use architecture.
3
SPEAKER_02
You use screws and not just sap from trees to make your buildings.
3
SPEAKER_02
And so I believe a conversation using a piece of technology can allow for a better result.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I use a sewing machine and I use a very fancy brand new sewing machine versus archaic ones for me, because that s the conversation I want to have.
3
SPEAKER_01
Luke shows me some of his tools.
3
SPEAKER_02
So a rotary cutter is this circular razor blade.
3
SPEAKER_02
So you re able to push it across fabric and it cuts it in a way that is a hundred times more efficient than scissors.
3
SPEAKER_01
And as he starts sewing, it dawns on me how seriously he takes all this.
3
SPEAKER_01
What makes a good quilt?
3
SPEAKER_01
What does that even mean?
3
SPEAKER_02
That s a really good question.
3
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
3
SPEAKER_02
Gosh, I mean, so here s, you know, my problem as an interviewee is I push back a little bit and say, what makes a good quilt?
3
SPEAKER_02
And it s like, is it my opinion or is it the quilt police?
3
SPEAKER_02
And it s also hard as a person who sells these objects, right?
3
SPEAKER_02
Because I can make an entire body of work that I still own because it doesn t leave my house.
3
SPEAKER_02
And then I can make a couple of things that I m just getting out of my brain and they sell instantly.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so like, I imagine some things that you love might not sell.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then some things you hate, suddenly people love them.
3
SPEAKER_01
That must be a weird world to be in as well.
3
SPEAKER_02
Right, exactly.
3
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And so if you re asking which is a better one, is it just, you know what I mean?
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It s a hard question.
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I never knew the world of quilting would be so full of riddles.
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Now, I m going to leave Luke for a bit because while making this episode, I talked to a bunch of quilters and I want you to meet another one.
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My name is Latifa Safir.
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I ve been sewing, I feel like my whole life, but I saw a quilt back in 2009 that was made from repurposed clothing and the batting was a old blanket and something about seeing that quilt clicked in my brain that I needed to be making it.
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I wanted to meet Latifa for two reasons, I guess.
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Firstly, her quilts are amazing, but I also had noticed the world of quilting seemed very white.
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Or at least, when you start YouTube quilting, it s very white.
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Latifa bucks that trend.
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And proudly.
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It is a 65 year old middle to upper middle class white woman.
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It really is.
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Are there people in other demographics that quilt?
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Yes.
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Are there other demographics that are growing?
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Yes.
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There s a strong African-American quilt tradition.
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And you see we have African-American quilt group in Los Angeles and you ll find those all over the country.
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I have quilters, not in my immediate history, but great grandmothers who quilted.
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Do you find it s quite a social scene or is it quite an isolating thing?
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You know, are you inside all day quilting?
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Are you out at quilts sort of gatherings?
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What does that look like?
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One of my favorite stories from my grandfather, when he talked about his mother and all of their friends would get together around a quilting frame that at that time hung from the ceiling.
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They would get together and chew tobacco and gossip, and he would catch the needle under the frame.
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Of course, he s listening to all the gossip as well.
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So it s always been both a solo activity as well as had a social aspect where everyone comes together.
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And there s lots of group activities you can do with quilting as well.
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A few years back, Latifa formed the modern Quilt Girls, so she could, as she put it, meet her people.
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Other quilters she knew from online.
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Instead of just sharing
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sharing patterns and quilts on the internet, they could meet in person, growing and learning from one another.
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The first meeting of the Modern Quilt Guild had 20 people.
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Now it s exploded.
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I ask if I can see her quilts and she leads me through into another room where, like in Luke s garage, she has a large stack of quilts.
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She folds a few back to show me one of her favourites.
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It s incredibly colourful and incredibly intricate.
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There s a whole genre of quilts called t-shirt quilts, where people literally cut up t-shirts and make a quilt.
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And most of them look like they just cut up t-shirts and put them into a quilt.
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So what I wanted to do with this quilt was make it a t-shirt quilt, but make it aesthetically pleasing.
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And so I picked colors.
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I did a very specific color selection on the t-shirts themselves.
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These are all hip-hop related.
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The quilt is popping with a variety of colorful circles, the center of each one featuring various icons from the world of hip-hop.
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I spot N.W.A., Lauryn Hill, and Wu-Tang.
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We talked about the demographic for quilters, and they re generally not, you know, hip-hop hits.
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So it pulls in another theme for my life, which is hip-hop music.
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And I had fun, like, selecting all the fabrics and stuff around it.
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It s covered in icons.
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I love it.
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Yes, absolutely.
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I love it, too.
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It s my favorite.
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And so this whole stack of quilts are projects that I m working on right now.
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This quilt I m looking at now, how long did this take to make?
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Because there s a lot going on in here.
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This is intricate.
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So I sew fast, and this is sort of my life because not only am I a quilter, but I m a quilt pattern and product designer, so I develop tools and things for quilting as well.
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So as well as making quilts, and making them very quickly apparently, Latifa also designs templates for other quilters to use.
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Well, I have to use my engineering degree for something.
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And so it totally comes in handy for tool design.
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When you started your engineering degree, what did you imagine yourself getting into?
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Did you imagine yourself making these amazing quilts or was it something else entirely?
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So this is not very far from how I wanted my life to become.
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So I majored in engineering because when you re raised with very little financially, you make decisions based upon, especially during that time, you re told that you can t be creative and be financially successful.
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I actually had to lose my technology job in order for me to take on quilting full time.
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And I don t make quilts to sell quilts.
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I develop products to teach people how to quilt.
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And I also teach.
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I do a lot of teaching.
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I teach people how to quilt as well.
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And I ve sort of been doing quilting, crafting, teaching my whole life.
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And I get to use a little bit of my engineering as well.
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So this is like the perfect mix for me, period.
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I hang my engineering degree on the wall, and it s not a joke.
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It s a serious degree.
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I graduated magna cum laude, you know, so I took it seriously, and I worked in technology for years, and then I m like, well, maybe I can follow my heart and not just my head.
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Like Luke, Lateef has made quilting into a career.
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And as I look at the quilts stacked on the floor, I wonder if she ll ever stop quilting.
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If all the ideas in her head will ever manage to get out.
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When you re quilting, what sort of motivates you?
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Is it a sort of an idea or do you get like a certain obsession?
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What takes you on these journeys?
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So every quilter is very different.
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I m a very weird quilter in that, for me, it s just about the vision in my head.
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I don t love to sew.
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And it s funny because quilting is absolutely my life.
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It s my occupation.
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It s my hobby.
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And the actual act of sewing does nothing for me.
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There s a lot of quilters you ll talk to and they say,
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I sit down at the machine.
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It was my day off.
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It was relaxed.
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I m like, really?
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You re a weirdo.
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Well, for me, I don t love to sew, but I have a vision and I want to see that vision come to life.
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There s a rare quilter who does not have what s called a UFO and it s unfinished objects, or they also call them whips, which are works in progress.
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Occasionally I ll count mine and it s not single digits.
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Let s just put it at that.
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While she s built her new hobby into a business, it does strike me how personal a lot of her work is.
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And some of that s not for sale.
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Before I left, I pointed to a small framed image in her workshop, and realized it was actually a tiny quilt.
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It was a fist, fashioned from bits of fabric.
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This quilt was actually made for someone who was killed due to police violence.
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He was having a mental health crisis and I made this quilt for his family and this is made out of his clothing.
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That s incredible.
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Yeah, so all of the denim and the fist is made out of jeans that you can see the rips in the knuckles and you know all of that.
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Back at Luke s, as I wrap this episode up, and I don t mean to get too deep here, but I ve been thinking that for many quilters, quilting is so much more than making an object to throw over a bed or couch or something to sell.
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Quilting s a way to tell stories, like the way I try to tell stories using this podcast.
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Quilting s the medium, and soon that medium colours the way quilters see the world.
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In the same way I can t leave the house without seeing everything as a possible flightless bird episode, maybe quilters start to see nothing but their next quilt in the world around them.
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People like Latifa and Luke and Ashlyn, their world starts to be seen through the patchwork of a quilt.
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And as Luke leads me into his backyard, I realise that s sort of literal.
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What is this?
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It s a big 35-foot geodesic dome that I was making for a museum exhibition.
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We re standing underneath this giant dome next to Luke and Nicole s veggie garden, and the dome is covered in a patchwork of quilts.
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Suddenly the world around me, my whole horizon, it s become a giant quilt.
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I m covering it in pieces of quilts.
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This is sort of the research and development moment where I m trying out different methods of creating covers for this large scale work.
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So you live within a quilt almost.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Exactly, I m trying to push back to my roots of architecture in creating sort of environments out of the vernacular of quilting.
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Turns out Monaco was right.
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Quilting is big in America.
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Coming into this world, I d never imagined how vibrant and diverse it would be.
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Luke, Latifah and Ashlyn, they re not what I pictured when I pictured a quilter.
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They all come at quilting from a different angle.
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And all of them seem to be very keen that others start quilting as well.
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Maybe if they have their way, one day America will just be one giant quilt.
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For anyone that wants to get into quilting, what s your advice?
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Do they need to sort of go out and get a little sewing machine?
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Do they just need to start stitching stuff together?
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What s a good starting point?
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I say head down, buy a sewing machine or borrow one from your mom or your neighbor.
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In my short experience looking into this topic, I feel like when you get into quilting, it s almost all or nothing.
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How far down the quilting rabbit hole do you feel that you ve gone?
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I mean, I ve gone so far down the rabbit hole that I m running a podcast and I have turned it into a business.
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So I guess that s how far I am.
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So the beauty of the world that we live in now is that we all have access to YouTube University.
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But that s how a lot of people learn.
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I encourage you, you know, the better your equipment is, a lot of times the easier it is, but you don t have to have the most expensive thing.
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You know, buy a used machine off of Facebook Marketplace or borrow your grandmother s out of the back of her closet and get it cleaned and tuned up.
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The biggest thing is don t let not being perfect stop you.
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Don t let not being perfect stop you, is a really good bit of advice for quilting.
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And also good advice for life in general, for whatever thing you might want to try your hand at.
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There s probably some big metaphor about quilts in America too.
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Each state a bit of fabric, stitched together in sometimes organized, sometimes haphazard ways.
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Different bits of material, side by side.
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Somehow the differences and flaws the thing that makes the final product so mesmerizing and special.
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Thus concludes my journey into the American quilt.
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They were neat, right?
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That was fun.
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I loved going down that road, meeting those awesome people.
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Yeah, Latifa was kind of amazing.
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And so Luke wrote to me and he has made you a quilt.
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My very first quilt!
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And it s got, I mean, I haven t properly seen it yet, but your face features predominantly on it, which is kind of amazing.
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I think Dax is on there as well.
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He makes these big portraits and he s got this amazing sewing machine.
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And so, I thought maybe tomorrow- Maybe he uses different fabrics to make our face?
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Yeah, we actually, so I m going to take you to pick it up tomorrow and I ll video it so we can put it on Instagram or something.
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Okay.
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But I m curious, that could be a question.
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It s like, what has he made it out of?
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Yeah.
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Like, what is the material?
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Human flesh.
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But yeah.
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Oh my gosh, I m so excited.
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So yeah, you re going to get your own quilt care of Luke.
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He s very, I mean, all these people were so, so passionate about quilts.
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The passion level was so, so high.
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I think that s so kind, because it s not like someone who just goes and buys you a book or socks or something.
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That requires so much time and effort and energy and love.
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It requires that.
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Yeah, it s nuts.
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And he wanted to know when we were going to record this, like when he had to get in.
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So I think it sort of took him sort of three weeks working on this thing to sort of get it finished.
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Because I think it s quite big as well.
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I mean, quilts are big, aren t they?
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They are, yeah.
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I mean, I am having sort
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of a real-time realization right now that I think part of why I have been obsessed with quilts or why I had resentment against my family for not having quilts and annoyance that it wasn t part of the Indian culture but was a part of the American culture is because I do think I linked it to care and love and affection.
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And so if we didn t put that much emphasis on that, and the American families did,
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Yeah, right.
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You know, that s intense, but also that is what quilting represents to a lot of people.
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That makes sense.
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It s sweet.
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I also noticed I didn t actually explain where quilting came from originally in the doc at all.
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So I ve just pulled it up.
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Okay.
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The earliest known quilted garment is depicted on the carved ivory figure of a Pharaoh dating from the ancient Egyptian first dynasty.
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So very old.
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In 1924, archaeologists discovered a quilted floor covering in Mongolia, estimated to date between 100 BC and 200 AD.
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So we re thousands of years old.
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In Europe, quilting has been part of the needlework tradition since about the 5th century.
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And obviously Europeans, when they came to America, brought it with them.
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And it s just gone off in all these different directions.
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Well, I liked what Luke was saying about covered wagons, and it also showed a sign of wealth.
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That was interesting.
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Yeah, I hadn t clocked that.
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Because obviously there d be quilters, I think there s sort of these two camps as quilters that didn t have money just fashioning together stuff out of scraps.
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Exactly.
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But then the other aspect of it was actually a sign of having money and prestige.
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So that came into it as well.
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I mean, I guess you should expect it from any niche, but I love the idea of these warring communities of quilters saying, we re doing it right.
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You know, you doing it on a machine that doesn t count or you re doing it in this way that doesn t.
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Disney adults, there s always gangs.
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Yeah, there s gangs, gangs of quilters.
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We should get them all together and make them have like a big quilt-off or something.
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Wow.
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I love that Latifa is using it, well for a lot of reasons obviously, but one as a cultural movement.
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Totally.
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That s so cool.
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Yeah, she looks out and sees a world of quilters who are very white and she s like, I want to like make these to find my things I like and things from my culture and she sews it into all her stuff and some of it she keeps, some of it she
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cells but yeah this piece she d made for a friend obviously that had someone pass away from police brutality it was like really beautiful it was like this little tiny quilt but it just felt really powerful as well it was a fist you know and it was made from that clothing and yeah so she put so much
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of her own past and her own passions into it, which is pretty special.
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You know, a lot of people hang quilts because they are such beautiful pieces of art.
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Yeah, so it s not just something chucked on a bed.
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We ll find out how big your quilt is when we pick it up, because it could maybe hang in the attic somewhere.
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It could be an attic hang.
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Yeah, I think it should live in the attic, for sure.
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Whether we drape it on the couch or try to hang it, or really running out of wall space, but we could try.
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We could.
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You could also gift it back to your parents, sort of rub it in their face, give them a quilt.
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Oh, yeah.
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Like, here you go, mum and dad.
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You never got me one of these.
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Although, you know, what s funny is now my mum in her retirement, last time I was home, she had a sewing machine.
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She started quilting.
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So now she might start quilting.
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Well, it s also funny because my grandmother made all of her children, my mom and her sisters, clothes.
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She made me so many dresses and clothes and sweaters.
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She was really good at sewing.
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Yeah.
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But quilting was just not in the culture.
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Yeah, so miss out on that side of things and then skip that generation through your mum.
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Exactly.
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And now, here we are.
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I wonder what she s sewing.
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Just different little bits and pieces.
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Yeah, she says she s hemming.
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Oh, so nice.
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I love hemming things.
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She is thriving in retirement.
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That s really good.
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She loves it.
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But maybe you ve still got your quilt coming.
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Maybe!
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It could happen, you know, don t write it off.
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Christmas is on its way.
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Christmas is on its way.
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She might be working away at it right now.
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That would be very sweet, actually.
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So yeah, quilting.
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Okay, I loved this.
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This was really fun, and I m glad that you followed the good word of me.
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I did.
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I ve learned myself that sometimes I should listen to what you say, and that sometimes your topics... I also think it s neat the things that you look at and go, yeah, that s really friggin American.
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Yeah.
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Because there s things in front of me all the time that just sort of go over my head completely, whereas you re seeing all these other things.
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You re like, no, this is this thing.
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I have a different view of it, having grown up here.
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But no, I ve learned my lesson.
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You say a topic, I m going to go and do it.
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So you ve become a lot more American.
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Thank you.
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You ve become a lot more American because you listen to me.
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Fun.
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Thank you for that.
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Bye.