Creative Crossroads

Music, Quilts & Synesthesia with Chris Davies

• Catherine Dutton & Ellyn Zinsmeister • Season 2 • Episode 5

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In this episode of Creative Crossroads, hosts Ellyn and Catherine welcome their friend Chris Davies, a talented quilter and musician. Chris shares her journey from music to quilting, discussing her creative process, the impact of synesthesia on her art, and her inspirations. The conversation delves into how Chris transitioned from music to visual arts, her love for improvisation in quilting, and her thoughts on embracing the creative process without fear of failure. Listeners will find insights into Chris's unique approach to both quilting and music, as well as her philosophy on creativity and learning from both successes and failures.

Find Chris on Instagram

00:00 Welcome to Creative Crossroads

00:17 Meet Our Guest: Chris Davies

01:01 Chris's Journey into Creativity

01:31 The Influence of Music on Creativity

02:33 Project Runway Inspiration

04:57 Exploring Synesthesia

07:43 Creative Challenges and Collaborations

11:50 Finding Inspiration and Starting Projects

16:55 Navigating Creative Blocks

19:09 Reflecting on a Creative Childhood

20:34 Starting with Improv Quilting

22:19 Confidence in the Creative Process

24:57 The Role of Synesthesia in Music and Quilting

27:22 Encouraging New Creatives

32:26 Current Projects and Future Plans

34:16 Creative Spaces and Aspirations

35:52 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Thanks for joining us at Creative Crossroads! Keep creating and we'll see you again soon!

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Welcome to Creative Crossroads. If you're new here, we're glad you made, you found us. If you're been around before, we're glad you decided to come back. I'm Ellen.

Catherine Dutton:

and I'm Catherine.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

And we are your creativity ambassadors. We have some fun today. A good friend of ours has joined us, Chris Davies. We met through quilting. She is a member of the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild and also a member of my BE Quilts on Scripted. And we've gotten to know each other quite well over the years. Chris has a lot of other creative talents and we thought you would enjoy hearing from her and learning about her and her creative process. So welcome Chris.

Chris Davies:

Thank you so much. I'm really happy just to get to chat with y'all because you're, you're, you're both so fun. So this is, this is gonna be a lot of fun, so,

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Well, we feel the same way about you, so there you go. Before we get started, I mean, I know. Your quilting process from like the last 10 years or so. But tell us more about your creativity. I know you also have music

Chris Davies:

Yeah. Honestly, I think I started quilting about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I had no experience with a sewing machine. In fact, I thought I had inherited my mom's jeans and I couldn't sew a button on. I just, yeah. So I didn't even know that was possible. But my whole family is very musical, so we had always, there was always music in the house and I had taken piano lessons, so I knew how to play the piano. And then probably as a young adult, I started well probably around 13, 14, I started learning how to play the mandolin and then took on the guitar. And then eventually I decided I wanted to do a CD of my own original music. So. I completed that, but not until I was about 30. But but that was fun. And so, so that was kind of, that was kind of the creativity I thought I had. And then now in the last probably almost 10 years moving into playing with color. Ooh. It's just been a blast. An absolute blast. Yeah. So.

Catherine Dutton:

What got you moving into. You that like exploring with the fight for arts, exploring with color and the visual side versus the music

Chris Davies:

Well, I'll tell you completely, honestly, it was Project Runway.

Catherine Dutton:

Really? How so?

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

fun

Chris Davies:

well, I watched it for several seasons and I was fascinated with these people who could create garments to fit on the human body and they could do it so quickly. And one night I was going to sleep. A design for a dress popped into my head and I was like, oh, wait. If I have the idea coming to my head, maybe this is something I could try. So I mean, it took me a long time to get to the point where I actually bought a machine and then tried to sew clothing and then failed and went to quilting. But nonetheless, that was what, yeah, that was, that was what got me going.

Catherine Dutton:

love that. That's so cool.

Chris Davies:

yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so now 10 years on whatever it is. I don't know. I'm just having so much fun. It's just, and you know, as you and Ella know, I, I love improv, so I think I just finally found exactly what I want. But I will say this is a bit strange, but I feel like I'm starting to get interested in. Precision and accuracy and, but, more as a process, I don't really care if, if I'm learning about that and I'm getting better at it, I still don't care whether or not the end result looks like a perfectly created block. It's more that interested in the process of learning about it. I've gotten to the point where right now everything's a process. If, if the end result is comes out and I like it, that's great. If it doesn't, if it's a fail, it's a fail. And then, you know, I move on and I try something else. So, and that's, that's a really fun place to be, to not be worried about what you're doing, you know?

Catherine Dutton:

Do you, do you feel like your experience with music has made that easier to focus more on the process versus the end product?

Chris Davies:

That's a good question. It, it's possible because that a lot was always about the process. And not to mention, you know, if you're learning a song, you practice it over and over and over and over and you, until you get it right. So yeah, that's a, that's totally a possibility. You know, I think I chatted with y'all a little bit about this concept of synesthesia, which I can't even pronounce very well. but think I talked, yeah, I think I talked with you, maybe both of you separately.

Catherine Dutton:

You have?

Chris Davies:

Yeah. And I honestly didn't even know what it was. I didn't know. I don't even know that that's what I have. But it's. Basically the way that I would describe it, it's like I feel like when I learned certain things when I was young, there must have been a crossover, an overlay, or a cross pollenization of the senses as I was learning a concept. For instance, one of the things that I have is all words have colors like the word. This will be confusing, but the word red is actually blue for me because the vowel, the eval is blue and it colors the whole word. And so my theory is that when I was a little kid and I was learning my letters, they must have put a blue E up on the board. And so that transferred to my brain as well. Okay. E is always blue. That's, that's my guess. And I, I've read that some people have, you know, have that and it's, for me, fortunately, it's, it's certainly not an impediment or anything. It's not like I read a book and I'm totally distracted by the colors. The color is just contained within the word, and I know the color belongs to the word. I know the word is that color, and I, it doesn't. It doesn't cause me to get off track with reading or anything. That's just one of those things. And then the other thing I've also noticed with songs, and I am hoping this will tie back to what you were asking is for me, a lot of times when you're listening to songs, first of all, they're like, you dip into a little river of time, right? Because you're listening to a song for maybe three or four minutes, but. Several of them for me, this, I'm gonna sound crazy also, they also have a they, they have a, a structure or a heft or they take up space. So certain songs that I listen to in my brain, all of a sudden they're, they're actually these big purple, red, green, deep colors, and they're actual structures. They're actual. I don't even know how to explain it. So I think I was seeing all of that in my head with music before I ever even got to the quilting, if that makes sense.

Catherine Dutton:

Hmm.

Chris Davies:

I don't know

Catherine Dutton:

How do you think that informs your quilting now?

Chris Davies:

So this is what's crazy is I this piece behind me.

Catherine Dutton:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Davies:

Ellen and I did a challenge. She can, she can probably explain better than I did. We, what we did is we decided to spin the wheel for several weeks and whatever color, yeah, whatever color and whatever shape we did it. So that's, that was the start of this. Right here behind me. And I realized it took me a long time to make it. And I, and I kept thinking, I know what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to make two pieces that are very different, but they might still seem to go together. I really like the intersection between, is this interesting or is this really weird? That's just what I like. But I realized after I did this one that, this could represent a lot of the songs, any of those songs that were written in the late sixties or seventies where they had multiple parts of the song that were related, but they were very different. Like maybe anything by the Beatles, like A Day in the Life, or Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds or. I don't know. I, this one is not a, a particular song, but it is very much the structure of a song with two completely different parts, and it could be a good flat representation of, of, of a song to me. So I don't know. I'm just.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

I love your your interpretations of colors. Chris, you've got a great color sense. Even though we worked that challenge, like we gave each other prompts and we worked from the same colors, our quilts are so different. Not just the structure, but the colors and the, the play of colors within our quilts are totally different, and I love seeing how yours interprets the same prompts that I worked from.

Chris Davies:

Yeah. that's, that's what's really cool. That's what was really fun about that. And we need to do it again because I love the one that you created, and I think it would be great to have those two hanging somewhere together. And people look at those and then you explain to them this is the very same thing. And then look what two different people can do. I mean, this is what's so wonderful, right? I mean,'cause you're Matilda, I mean, I don't know. Anyway, she was so

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

way different than what you're sharing.

Chris Davies:

Very different but really fun.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Is that something that's important to you in both, in both the arts and and in your music in both areas?

Chris Davies:

Oh my goodness. Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. In terms of music there's a band I've played with and a guitarist here who is I think hands down, one of the best guitarists ever. And we are practicing when we can. And you, you just, the synergy when you're. Working with somebody else who's so good just amazing. Yeah. His name is Dwayne Brown and it's the band is the e flat porch band. If you ever get a chance to go hear him, you should go here because they're, they're wonderful. They do like blues, Americana, that kind of stuff. And then in, in terms of quilting, of course, I mean, I mean, I cannot tell you how, how juiced I am to get to. You know, do our prompts every month in quilts, unscripted, or even just any, any, any kind of influence that you get from our Guild meetings. Just seeing what other people do. I mean, that's the wonderful thing about it, right? Is you can, you can see what somebody else is doing and let's say you don't really even necessarily like what they're doing. You can still take something away from that, right? You can still look at what they're doing and go, oh, I still like how she did this or, or that. And then you can, you can, you know, tuck that away in the back of your head and, you know, maybe it comes out later. So, yeah, for sure.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

So talk a little bit about when you start a new project. I. know, I mean, where does it come from? Some of it might come from there. where do

Chris Davies:

I, Hmm.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

inspiration usually come from?

Chris Davies:

I wish I knew. I mean, I think sometimes it comes from ideas as I'm going to sleep. Sometimes it's just color that I have. Out in my sewing room. Sometimes it's serendipity and one project will be next to another and there's a fabric, right, that you go, oh, that could actually work there. It's just, it's kind of letting the fabric decide what it wants to become. And it's also, I'm to the point where I'm no longer just making things because I feel like, oh, I need to have a quilt for this. Now I make. Because that's what I wanna do. And whatever size the object becomes, the object becomes that size. And I like that it's so much more freeing instead of thinking, I've gotta some guidelines. I will say I hardly ever use a pattern when I do use a pattern. I don't. Tend to focus well enough to follow it, and then I,

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Yep.

Chris Davies:

yeah,

Catherine Dutton:

appreciate that.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

I get it

Catherine Dutton:

There's, there's been many times where I'm like, oh, I know what I need to do from here forward. I don't need to look at this anymore.

Chris Davies:

yeah. Or then you get it kind of laid out partially and you go, oh, but then I could do this. And then you flipping pieces around and. Yeah. And you end up with something completely different, but, but that's fun too, right? I yeah. So, yeah.

Catherine Dutton:

When you get ideas, like if it's a, before you go to bed idea or you're looking at something idea, like how do you capture those? Is it something where you just, you're gonna remember it? Or book where you keep things written down or scraps

Chris Davies:

I'm not very good at that. I gotta get better at that. Usually I, I think I'm gonna remember it or sometimes I try to draw it, but I'm just, my drawing is atrocious. So it's just, it's just kind of one of those things. And I'll be honest, I feel like that is the way of starting a project has probably been one of my least successful. I'm I'm way, yeah. I'm way more successful. Well, okay. I'm way more successful at creating something I like because sometimes if I start with that idea and I'm trying to recreate it, I don't have either the ability or it's not possible to recreate it or. You know, I have this idea in my head, but I can't, I can't get to that idea somehow. Yeah, that's something I kind of wanna work out, work, work on more, but in the meantime, it's not like I don't have other projects that me busy the whole

Catherine Dutton:

you're more of a sit in front of the fabric and let the fabric speak to you. Okay.

Chris Davies:

would say so, yeah, I would definitely say so. And again, I like that intersection of interesting and really weird. It's have I crossed the line and, and is this just flat out ugly or is there something, you know, interesting that I can pursue here? So

Catherine Dutton:

you think that that overlaps in how you approach music as well? Like the, that

Chris Davies:

Oh yeah, definitely.

Catherine Dutton:

and weird

Chris Davies:

Yeah. I, yeah, my, the, the band, they, they would laugh at me because sometimes I would write songs and there would be in songs, there's a meter, like maybe four beats to the measure. and sometimes I would write songs that in the middle of the song. We would go to a different meter and then come back to that pet original meter, they're like, okay, whatever

Catherine Dutton:

Keep it going

Chris Davies:

Yeah. I don't know. You're really gonna make us count,

Catherine Dutton:

Do does this inspiration so with the visual arch, you're inspired by like the materials in front of you with music. How does that work for inspiration for you

Chris Davies:

I multiple ways too. Either, either a melody comes to me or words come to me one way or the other. So I work on both of those and then I just excuse me, I go to the guitar and. Or the piano and miss about and go, okay, is this gonna work? Is this not gonna work? Is there something, full on idea? Or is it, you know, just whatever. And it's just, it's really fun. That's a really fun thing to do too. So, yeah, just creating, it's fun, right? Any, any way you find to do it. It's like you just, I mean, I think, I think you two are both the same way, but you're just compelled to create. Something because it just, it feels like it's the right thing to do. Yeah. I don't

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Do you ever, do you ever go through stretches where you're, you're stuck, you're not feeling creative, and what do you do about that?

Chris Davies:

Yeah. So for music, yeah, definitely. I've been more in a lull with music for a while. With the sewing, it's pretty easy. I just leave the project. Right. Leave the project for a bit and then come back to it and see, you know. See if I like it again. I feel like when you know, even if you're, if y'all are in the middle of a project and you get to this point where you go, okay, I'm just, I'm tired of this. Right? That happens a lot. You just go, kind of, don't really feel like doing this one anymore. But I just find if you, if you leave it. And then you come back and you finish it, even if you feel like once it's finished, well, maybe that wasn't my best work. I think if you go back and you look at it a year later or two years later or whatever, you still are gonna look at it and go. There were a lot of really cool elements in this, or, you know, I really did like this, or I've rarely gone back and said, oh, I hate that. You know, it's usually you just look at it for too long and then you just, you just need a break from it. So, Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Do ever, do you ever go back and change something or redo something when it's, when it's done, it's done. How do you know when it's done?

Chris Davies:

Oh, it's just how does the mood strike me? Do I feel like chopping that thing up? Yeah. I'm gonna chop it up, or, you know. Yeah, let's, let's what happens if you run that rotary blade all the way through it and you add something in there. It just, I think it just depends on, on my mood, right? I mean yeah. I think, honestly, I feel like some things could never, ever be done, and you just have to decide. I'm gonna say it's done.

Catherine Dutton:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Davies:

I, I don't know. That's kind of where I am. I mean,'cause you could, honestly, I feel like there's a lot of stuff you could just work on and work and overwork and overwork and then eventually you're just like, well, what's the joy here? I wanna just do something else. You know? That's just me. So, yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

did you realize that you were creative? Were you creative as a kid? Did things like this compel you as a kid or.

Chris Davies:

I have no idea. I mean, I'm, I will say. There was always music in our house. My mom played the organ at our church. My dad played blues, my brothers played deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Jackson Brown, I mean, everything, just constant music in our house. So I don't, I, that was just like the air we all breathed. It was not,

Catherine Dutton:

That's cool.

Chris Davies:

it was just, it was there. So, yeah, I, I just was so integral to me, to all of us. I just, I just don't know. I don't know how to describe it any other way, so, then, yeah, sorry.

Catherine Dutton:

oh no, go ahead.

Chris Davies:

No, no. I just was gonna say, I have no idea how it got into sewing. I did find out. Yeah, I did. I did find out my. My paternal grandmother she made quilts during the depression. And then my sister had been sewing and quilting for quite a while, and both she and my sister-in-law did those cute little smock dresses for their girls when they were little. So it was around me. Thank goodness I had my sister because she helped me when I started doing all the quilting.'cause I didn't know what I was doing. So, yeah. Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

But I think that's really awesome because you started out from a place of more improv. Quilting. I'm gonna do what I want. I'm gonna jump in. Rather than learning all the rule. A lot of modern quilters and even improv quilters that I know started out very traditional and little by little.

Chris Davies:

Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

over you're just now coming the other way where you're some of the precision skills and whatnot. And I, I mean, your work is so impactful that, you know, it didn't hurt you at all. Not having the traditional skills, know what I mean? To start out with.

Chris Davies:

Yeah. You know, I, I think sometimes. Not just me, but I think sometimes when people just wanna do something, but they don't have the, they don't have the I don't wanna, I don't wanna call it a burden, but you just don't have maybe the, the baggage of having to figure, thi having to think that, okay, these are all the rules and I have to follow'em. If there's something you lo you love and you just wanna do it. You just jump into it and you go, oh, I really like half circles. That's gonna be the first shape I try to sew. Why? Why did I pick that? I just,'cause I love, I love half circles and, and, yeah, yeah, maybe they're not easy, but I like that shape. So I think it's I think it's a, it's a point of reference that anyone could start from. If they find something that they're interested in doing. Right, and then you kind of, you figure it out as you go. Yeah.

Catherine Dutton:

always enjoyed

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

oh, go ahead, Catherine.

Catherine Dutton:

go ahead. It's fine.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Do you feel like your process is changing along the way, or do you still create pretty much the same way you did when you started out?

Chris Davies:

I have more confidence now. I don't, I don't feel like I. I don't, I definitely don't feel like I have to follow a pattern. I definitely don't feel like a quilt I create has to look like it's ordered. Yeah, I think it's basically just more confidence in, in whatever happens and in being and being okay with whatever the result is, because if the result isn't. Isn't perfect or it becomes something different, for instance. I feel like every quilts, unscripted quilt that we've done, I've sent the prompt out to people and I might have had a little bit of an idea in my head, and then the things that come back are so much more interesting or different are not what I thought. So then I'm like, okay, this quilt is gonna be something very different than what I thought, but it's still gonna be really, really cool. So I'm just like. Wherever it's going, it's going, and I'm just gonna go on along for the ride, right. So,

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

know what you mean about that. Yeah.'cause there are of us in the group and we're all improv quilters, but we all think differently and all have different processes. Yeah. So I really try hard not to have a preconceived idea when I send out a prompt because. Whatever comes back. Yeah, like you said, it's like it's more interesting and better and different than what I even imagined.

Chris Davies:

Yes. Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

sometimes even the theme of my quilt appears after I get the blocks back. You know, it's like asked for, you know, this certain kind of blocks in a certain colorway and they come back and I'm like, oh, those are buildings, whatever, you know? But yeah, it's, it's fun. It's fun to see how everybody thinks so differently, even though we're technically all making the same kind of quilts.

Chris Davies:

it, yeah, it shows you how much variety there is in, in how people create. And again, it's just, that's just so fun to see all the different things. And I love that you said that sometimes the theme comes to you after you get the blocks back. I mean, how fun is that, you know?

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

so fun.

Chris Davies:

Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

really great. I had something else and it went away. I'm sorry.

Chris Davies:

no, that's okay.

Catherine Dutton:

Chris, I have a question for you. So I want to like kind of connect back a little bit to the anesthesia piece, if you don't mind. So with music, it sounds like you do write your own lyrics too.

Chris Davies:

Mm-hmm.

Catherine Dutton:

am I hearing that correctly? So like, when you are doing that, does the color do the color of the words inform, like which words you use and the order you put them in?

Chris Davies:

interesting. Now I have to think if that happens. I honestly, I don't think so. I think I'm probably thinking more in terms of concepts and Phrasing.

Catherine Dutton:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Davies:

I, I really, I really don't think that the, that the colors have any kind of an effect. But now that you've said that, I'm gonna back

Catherine Dutton:

It'd be interesting for you to look at it and

Chris Davies:

Yeah, Analyze. Oh

Catherine Dutton:

or, yeah.

Chris Davies:

yeah,

Catherine Dutton:

Huh?

Chris Davies:

I, I will say, like this one that I made behind me, I would like to take some more songs and try to interpret how I see them into fabric. I

Catherine Dutton:

Oh, I think that would

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

thinking

Catherine Dutton:

so cool.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

that how cool that would be.

Chris Davies:

Yeah. Yeah. I, I would, I mean, I've seen some, I think I saw somebody do that. Ooh, it's been several years. I think I saw someone take the notes of a song or something and then she had given them colors and, and so I thought, okay, that's kind of cool. I mean, I can see doing that, but I think I'd like to actually do some based on what do I see when I that song.'Cause yeah, I think that would be really fun.

Catherine Dutton:

I have a cousin who is a composer and he has synesthesia and what he composes is he composes them in like gradients and rainbows and like it

Chris Davies:

oh, wow.

Catherine Dutton:

is a colorful experience for him based on what he is composed.

Chris Davies:

does he draw it out or sketch it out so you could actually see?

Catherine Dutton:

I've never, I've never seen that, but I think

Chris Davies:

Oh my gosh, that would be so cool to see what he saw as the piece, you know?

Catherine Dutton:

it would It really would be.

Chris Davies:

The things that the brain does, it's, it's

Catherine Dutton:

It's amazing.

Chris Davies:

it, It's crazy.

Catherine Dutton:

It's so cool.

Chris Davies:

Yeah. It's cool. So, yeah. Yeah. So

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

would, how would you encourage someone who is new to either music or quilting, how would you encourage them to explore their own? Or would you, tell them to learn the rules first and then branch out, or what would you say to someone just getting started creatively?

Chris Davies:

That's a, that's actually kind of difficult just because I know with music I had. Piano as a basis. And if I didn't have that I feel like that would've held me back, or I would've at least experienced making music in a, in a different way. With the quilting, I didn't have the background and just went for it and I'm, I, I'm fine with that. I think. I think it just depends. I mean, if you have a passion about doing something, you should just do it. You should just try it, learn everything you can in whatever order, you know, whatever order you decide to do. Because, you know, different personalities might feel better if they learn the rules. And then there are other personalities kind of like mine that might just go, Hey, let's just go dive in and figure this out. Play and we'll see what happens and, you know, yeah. So I think there's, there's both of those things. So I think, yeah, it depends on the personality. The main thing is if it's something you wanna do, if it's something you wanna try to do, just do it. Just do it. And I think the other thing I would say to anybody is, and maybe some of this stuff is kind of cliche, but I just feel like. You just have to not care sometimes about what the result will be, about what other people will think about it. About whether you're afraid you're gonna fail because you are just not, you are not gonna really get farther along in terms of learning more about yourself and. Creating experiences that you want unless you just dive in and do it. So that's what I would say is just, just, just do it. Don't, don't, don't hamstring yourself because you think you can't do it, or you think you're gonna fail or you think, you know. Somebody's gonna look at your your work, and they're gonna say, well, that's pretty crappy. I don't really know why she did that. Because it doesn't matter. It's your work. And if it's what you wanna do and you're in the process, then it really doesn't matter what other people have to say. And then the other thing I would say that I need to remind myself of, and I think I'm getting better at it, is when you do fail, you just go, Hey, and you give yourself some grace. you have this expectation for yourself. I've gotta do this, I've gotta do this, but no.

Catherine Dutton:

Well, and you, and you learn from it, right? You go, okay, so what is it that didn't work this time? What is it that I will do differently the next time? And I think that's, that's part of that growth as humans that we get to have is failure is actually so critical to us discovering what does work because.

Chris Davies:

Nope.

Catherine Dutton:

never gonna have a hundred percent success rate in life. And I loved what you said earlier, much earlier you were talking about like when you go back and look at art or look at things you've created like six months later, a year later, five years later, like you're like, this is awesome. I was great. And I think there's so much like internal critique that we have that goes on. As we're doing something because we're looking at it like so close, right? We're looking at all of those details. We know what those expectations were, and just like in relationships with people, we have these expectations for things, right? But like sometimes when we step back and we go, you know what, this is still really beautiful, what we're creating is absolutely beautiful. It may not have been exactly what I had in mind as I was doing it, but. What it has evolved into has become something incredible and, and sometimes I'll look at things and I'll be like, I made that. I wrote that. And I

Chris Davies:

pretty cool

Catherine Dutton:

those moments, right? Like

Chris Davies:

Yeah. And, and I don't think we have enough of those moments. But yeah, I, I agree. And I love that idea of you talking about, you still step back and you go, wait, this is really great. Yeah, I totally agree with that. And I, I feel like personally I don't do that enough and I wanna do more of it, but I do try, I am conscious of it. And It applies to the artwork you're doing. It applies to your relationships. It applies. It applies to everything.

Catherine Dutton:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, like I think we sometimes we put so many expectations on things and sometimes we need to take a little bit of those off and just go, okay, but what is right? What is here and what can I celebrate about what is here?

Chris Davies:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree a hundred percent.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

what are you working on right now and what are you, what's coming up ahead? What are you looking forward to working on?

Chris Davies:

Let's see. I have so many things going. I'm really trying to get the binding done for our quilts, unscripted landscape quilts, so that I can enter it in Quilt Con again with no expectations that it will get in

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

I have found that to be the best way to

Chris Davies:

There's zero expectations there, but it's a great goal for me to get the binding done. And I'm honestly looking at that we've talked a little bit about potentially having a, an exhibit at some point, and so I really want my quilts, unscripted quilts to get done and, and be ready and be a representation of some of our work. So whether it goes to Quilt Con or not, which again, I don't think it will, I wanna get that done. So there's that. And then what do I have? Oh, this is really fun if it works. I just took a class from quilt Folk. I love those ladies. They're from, they're from Ilkley. And it's about making a a quilted jacket and,

Catherine Dutton:

Ooh, fun.

Chris Davies:

Very fun. So I'm gonna try to do one of those. They used some traditional blocks on theirs, but of course I'm gonna do improv blocks online, so, so yeah. So I'm gonna work on that. And then

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

circle, isn't that kind of

Chris Davies:

Yeah, it

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

you started out in garments and wasn't jam and here we go.

Chris Davies:

Well, I mean, why not give it a try again and see, if I've gotten any better and if I haven't, hey, I've given it a shot again, so,

Catherine Dutton:

yeah.

Chris Davies:

So

Catherine Dutton:

very fun.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Very cool.

Chris Davies:

yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Very cool. Tell us about where you create your quilts. Tell us about your space.

Chris Davies:

Well, I took over our daughter's room when she left, so, yeah, I'm very happy to have the space. I usually use the, the bed in here as my, sort of, as my design wall, but then I also have a couple of small design walls, and then I have two long tables, one with a sewing machine and the other with a bunch of projects and then a little bookcase with, with all my fabrics and stuff, and then two built-in closets that are also kind of stuffed full of materials. So I'm not gonna show you what it looks like right now.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

No.

Chris Davies:

but it's a wonderful space. I've got a couple of windows and everything, so yeah, I'm very happy, very, very happy to have it. Would love to have a whole warehouse, but, you know, I'll take a room, right?

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

That can get overwhelming too though.

Chris Davies:

True. You're right. You're right.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Too many choices. I don't

Chris Davies:

yeah. Yeah,

Catherine Dutton:

I think I'd take a basement.

Chris Davies:

Oh yeah. Like a whole floor.

Catherine Dutton:

yeah. Just the whole floor at the bottom of the house, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Chris Davies:

I like that Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Or, or maybe we'll win the Powerball one of these days. Catherine and I have a whole plan. We're all gonna have

Catherine Dutton:

We do

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

to create when this plan comes to,

Chris Davies:

Oh, I love it.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

We'll see

Catherine Dutton:

It does hinge on winning the lottery though, so.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Very Yeah. Very much so, but don't worry, be a part of that excitement if it ever happens

Catherine Dutton:

Yep

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Is there anything that we missed that you wanted to share?

Chris Davies:

I don't think so. I mean, again, like I said, it's been fun to talk to both of you. No, I think it's just always fun, right? To talk about the things you're doing.

Catherine Dutton:

It really is

Chris Davies:

Yeah. And I do really, really appreciate that.'cause it kind of helped me think a little bit more about my process and where I am. And then it helped me realize it is all about my process. I don't, that's where I am right now. It's yeah, I don't have some goal, but I'm gonna finish, you know, 50 quilts and this is what's gonna happen. It's just No things are gonna just get created and they're gonna, they're gonna be what they need to be and yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Catherine Dutton:

Thank you so much, Chris, for spending time with us today. We have really enjoyed getting to chat with you.

Chris Davies:

Oh, it was a blast. It was a blast. So, yeah. And I love your podcast. I really love listening to all

Catherine Dutton:

you.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

Oh, you're sweet

Chris Davies:

All the people that you've interviewed. I, I just, I get a lot of insight from, you know, what other people are

Catherine Dutton:

enjoyed it too.

Chris Davies:

Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool.

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

it's fun to find out how different, how different we all are in the way we think and the way we create.

Chris Davies:

Yeah. And I, and I think too, taking that time, you know, I, I think when you take that time to listen to what somebody is creating, you learn a lot more about their, what they're doing and their, what's going on them. So, yeah. thank y'all very much. Really appreciate it. Enjoyed it so

Ellyn Zinsmeister:

it was lots of fun. Lots of And thanks everybody for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed the conversation and gave you some things to think about too. We'll talk to you next time. Bye-bye bye.

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Catherine Dutton

Co-host
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Ellyn Zinsmeister

Co-host