Dual Personalities How two quilters interpret ideas differently Laura’s Story
“Good morning. Do you answer to Pat or Patricia?” I asked that Fall Saturday morning. She answers to both, I learned of Pat Cox, my new appliqué teacher. Many years of stitching had made me comfortable with a needle, but I had not yet encountered applique quilting. So began our first meeting as teacher and student. Pat started our group of beginners with the basic appliqué shapes and soon encouraged us to select a project that she would patiently instruct us to finish. I’ve been working on Pat’s designs ever since, learning about colors, values, textures, shapes, sizes and applique techniques as we go along. We have had particular fun with Pat’s Asian designs using Kona Bay prints for Asian effect and other fabrics as appropriate. She has the designs of fans, butterflies, fish, cranes and others often in her sizable drawing stash, and she draws others as we need them. We sometimes use the same patterns with different fabrics or different patterns with same fabrics. Patterns mean for tops might end up as quilting designs. In every case, we pleasantly surprise each other with very different quilts. Three or so years and many classes later, we continue or Asian quilts and I, with her help, expand my experience to other types of projects. Pat knows the answers to all my questions not only because she reads and travels but because she has taught all aspects of quilting in a wide variety of settings and countries. She tells wonderful stories about textiles and quilts and their histories. She simply loves quilts and their makers. I am fortunate to have found my favorite kind of stitching and an international treasure all at that same first meeting—I, the perpetual student, and she, a teacher, friend and mentor.