Lori Mason Design Studio

  • Quilts
    • Memorial Quilts
    • Special Event Quilts
    • Studio Collection
  • Testimonials
  • About
  • For the Media
  • Lori’s Notebook
  • Ordering
  • Contact

Lori’s Notebook

What Women Create Magazine Feature

December 19, 2021

Way back in August 2020, I reached out to Jo Packham, the creator of the Women Create suite of magazines, to see if she would be interested in featuring my memorial quilts. I was thrilled when she responded within half an hour, and then disappointed when I read her first sentence, which began, “I do not feature very many quilters in What Women Create…” In fact, as I remember, that’s the only part of her response that fit in my little iPhone 5 screen (yes, I used an iPhone 5 for seven years!) and so I closed out my phone and got on with my day, as I tend to do with polite rejections. It wasn’t until I got home to my larger computer that I was able to read the rest of her sentence, which ended “…but in your case, I think the concept and the materials you use are unusual and very touching – I would love to feature you in What Women Create”. And then I did a little dance around the kitchen.

I’ve never been featured in a magazine like What Women Create, and I had all of these crazy rock star fantasies about their team flying into Portland for a fancy photo shoot in my studio with stylists and makeup and photo lights with umbrellas, etc. When the editor reached out with the submission guidelines however, they were the complete opposite of my wild assumptions. I was asked to write my own story and supply an array of photographs showing the start to finish process of one of my quilts, including photos of me at work in the studio. It turned out to be a fantastic challenge as well as an opportunity to share the most authentic message behind my work.

Right about that time, I had been commissioned to make a series of five memorial quilts in honor of the late mayor of Salinas, California, Joe Gunter. The first quilt in that series became the subject for the article. The next step was to find a photographer whose work would measure up to the quality of the Women Create magazines. It didn’t take me long to realize all I needed to do was ask my mom! My mother, Lynn Weyand, is primarily a fine art photographer, but I knew that she would work her magic documenting my work in the studio. After all, I have been one of the many subjects of her portraiture for as long as I can remember.

Over the following few months, we mapped out a few photo sessions to coincide with the important moments in my process. My mom and I both work intuitively as well as efficiently, so things flowed smoothly. There was a lot of laughter and mutual teasing about how particular we both can get with respect to our work. Collaborating with my mom on a professional project was incredibly rewarding for both of us.

Of course we took way more photos than were needed for the Winter 2021 feature. I wanted to share some of my favorites that didn’t make it into print.

My studio exterior and interior:

Lighting a candle for Joe and unpacking the box of his garments:

Mapping out the design schematic:

Construction:

My fantastic long-arm machine quilter, Nancy Stovall!

Ready for delivery:

All in all, it was an incredible experience and education to put together this feature article and one I hope I get to do again soon.

Categories: Memorial Quilts, Press, Quilts Tagged: Joe Gunter, memorial quilts, What women create, what women create magazine, where women create

From Lori’s Notebook

  • Fernando’s Bandanas

    This is the second of two blog posts featuring memorial quilts I made that honor two brothers, Salvador and Fernando.

  • Salvador’s Collections

    I knew from the moment I got on the conference call with Salvador’s daughter Paulina and Salvador’s niece Monica that this memorial quilt project would be infused with excitement and liveliness.

  • Bill’s Libraries

    Among the things that Bill’s wife Laurie found in his shirt pockets after he died were peanut shells – leftovers from when he would walk in the park with a book in one hand, feeding the squirrels with the other.

  • Olivia’s Library
  • Clifton’s Ties and Shirts

Categories

  • Behind-the-Scenes
  • Designer Collection Quilts
  • Everyday Life
  • Exhibitions
  • Home Decor
  • Inspiration
  • Memorial Quilts
  • My Fabrics
  • Pattern Inspiration
  • Patterns in Nature
  • Press
  • Quilts
  • Special Occasion Quilts
  • Textiles
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Work I Love

  • Long World Services
  • Bolt Fabric Boutique
  • What’s Your Grief Blog
  • Eleanor Pritchard
  • Hawthorne Fabrics
  • Holly Pruett, Celebrant
  • Paula Berman Organizing
  • Selvedge Magazine
  • The Abundant Artist
Email lori@lorimasondesign.com
Let’s stay connected:InstagramFacebookPinterest
Copyright 2023 © Lori Mason Design - All Rights Reserved

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

Lori Mason Design
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.