On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a quilting business with my guest Michelle Cain.
Michelle tried rather hard not to become a quilter. After growing up outside of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and having a mom who began quilting in the 1990s, this was a formidable challenge. A chance encounter with Denyse Schmidt’s work, however, introduced Michelle to the world of modern quilting and convinced her there might be a place for her in it. She made her first quilt in 2013 and hasn’t looked back.
Wanting to connect with other makers, Michelle became active in the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild and started blogging about her quilting adventures as From Bolt to Beauty in 2014. In 2020, she formally launched From Bolt to Beauty patterns. Her projects have been featured at QuiltCon and in magazines like Curated Quilts and Love Patchwork & Quilting. Her new book is Not Your Typical Jelly Roll Quilts.
In a previous life, Michelle wrote marketing copy and edited books, magazines, and websites. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two teenage sons, and two naughty Golden Retrievers.
Michelle lives not far from me, and we were lucky enough to record this interview in person.
This episode is sponsored by The Academy for Virtual Teaching.
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In this interview, Michelle talks about her background growing up with a mother who sewed and quilted, but not becoming interested in sewing until adulthood herself. Michelle loves books and words and worked as a writer and editor. She became interested in quilts through a chance encounter with a greeting card that featured a quilt by Denyse Schmidt. The process of quilting the three layers of a quilt together was the most intimidating part at first for Michelle. She began blogging at From Bolt to Beauty to record her progress, both the ups and the downs, in quilting. After a few years of exploration, she also started designing and selling PDF and print quilt patterns.
We discuss how Michelle’s new book, Not Your Typical Jelly Roll Quilts, came about and what the process of writing it was like for her.
For her first book, Michelle worked hard to create a set of quilt patterns that, although they are all put together using jelly roll strips, look truly different from the expected jelly roll quilt. They are cleverly pieced. “The author has great creative imagination and the quilts feel fresh and modern,” was how one reviewer described it!
“Meow Mates” is one of the quilts featured in the book. Although it is made from jelly roll strips, you would never know.
We talk about pitching a book to a publisher like C&T and what Michelle learned about herself and the industry through the process of putting this book together. We discuss the importance of a creative community like a modern quilt guild to support and encourage you as you grow creatively.
Michelle is also a mom of two children, one of whom has special needs, and she talks about what that experience has been like for her and her family.
And, of course, I ask Michelle to recommend great stuff she’s loving right now. Michelle recommends:
- Lucky Bugs by Sugaridoo for Benartex
- Quilting: A Modern Creative Journey Through an Age-Old Craft
- Sew Sassy by Superior Threads
Keep up with Michelle on her blog and on Instagram.
