[00:00:00] Lisa Woolfork: Hello, stitchers. Welcome to stitch, please. The official podcast of black women's stitch. The sewing group where black lives matter. I'm your host Lisa woo fork. I'm a fourth generation sewing enthusiast with more than 20 years of sewing experience. I am looking forward to today's conversation. So sit back, relax, and get ready to get your stitch together.
[00:00:53] Lisa Woolfork: Hello everyone. Good morning. Good afternoon. Or good evening wherever you are joining us from. This is Lisa woo [00:01:00] for coming to you from Charlottesville, Virginia, and I am so excited to introduce you all. I introduce you all reintroduce and welcome back to the stitch please podcast. Miss Linda Nance of gotta be handmade.
[00:01:16] Lisa Woolfork: Now, Linda was kind enough to come onto the program last year on December. 2019, we talked and had an interview. Her episode was released December 18th. Her episode is number 10 in the stitch, please podcast roster. I encourage you to go back and listen to that. She was amazing. And luckily for us, she still continues to thrive and be amazing.
[00:01:42] Lisa Woolfork: Last year we talked about in, in 2019, we talked about Christmas crafts and this year we're talking about something similar, but I want to talk. But just the wonderful work that Linda NA does. And she's such a ju such, she's such a, just a [00:02:00] beautiful spirit. Have y'all ever met somebody who. When you talk to them, like your heart gets warmer.
[00:02:07] Lisa Woolfork: That's what I feel when I'm talking to Linda Nance. And so I am so happy to welcome Linda, back to the program, joining us from South Carolina in the home of the South Carolina pine cone, which I learned a lot about in 2019 when we had our con our first conversation. Welcome back, Linda. Thank you for being here today.
[00:02:27] Linda Nance: Hello.
[00:02:28] Linda Nance: Thank you for having me.
[00:02:32] Lisa Woolfork: This is so amazing. So when we spoke back in 2019, Linda, you were doing a lot of work with the South Carolina PI pine cone. And you were talking about all the different parts of the pine cone, which I didn't know anything about. Are you still doing pine cone, crafts or pine cone work?
[00:02:50] Lisa Woolfork: This. Yes
[00:02:52] Linda Nance: I am this year. I have South Carolina pine cone [00:03:00] angels. My angels have been selling all season long and I'm busy making them every day from the world's greatest pain comes. South Carolina pine comes.
[00:03:16] Lisa Woolfork: This is fantastic. I am so happy that you have found. A a way that the pine cones can communicate beyond.
[00:03:25] Lisa Woolfork: I actually don't even know what the purpose of a pine cone is. I guess maybe is a pine cone where a pine tree grows from. What is the purpose of a pine cone? How about that? That's the best question. What is the point of a pine cone? Miss Linda dance. Like I, I see them on the ground. You're interesting, but I'm just like, is this just litter from trees?
[00:03:44] Lisa Woolfork: I don't know. What is a pie cone? What is it?
[00:03:48] Linda Nance: When I lived in DC, that's exactly what I thought they were litter, but you know what, since I moved to the country and [00:04:00] nothing is here, I used to say that all the time I would sit on my porch and that is dirt and trees and we no people. And I used to say, it's nothing here.
[00:04:13] Linda Nance: I was driving back our high. and on the ground with pine cones. And I said, Lord, I don't like it here. It's nothing here. And I looked over and I said, oh, there are some pine cones I pulled over and I picked up a pine cone and I said, I can make things from here. And that's how it got started. The Lord was answering my prayer.
[00:04:38] Linda Nance: It's something new pine cones of a home for pine. Seeds, they protect the seeds. The cone itself protects the seeds. So we can have our pine trees and you know [00:05:00] what pine trees are good for. We need the pine wood. They are making everything from pine, uh, nowaday.
[00:05:10] Lisa Woolfork: Oh, that's
[00:05:10] Lisa Woolfork: such a, that is such a good point. It was so funny when you said, you know what we need pine trees for. I was like for Christmas trees in our. And you were probably like, no, that's not why I was very excited. I thought I knew the answer. I thought for sure the answer was so we could have Christmas trees in our house, but of course that is obviously not the answer, but you said you're right.
[00:05:30] Lisa Woolfork: So I guess they're making everything out of pine, like so many like furniture and so many other shelving home accessories. Yes.
[00:05:39] Linda Nance: And my sew machine table. Oh, my word.
[00:05:46] Lisa Woolfork: Would you make that yourself? you made some, made something really spectacular.
[00:05:53] Linda Nance: My husband made the, the, my cutting table, which is, yes, my [00:06:00] cutting table is about nine feet long and it is approximately two and a half.
[00:06:12] Lisa Woolfork: Wow. Mm-hmm
[00:06:14] Lisa Woolfork: oh, that's wonderful. I wanna back up a little bit in your story, because one of the things I love about what you're doing is that you're reminding us that even when we think nothing is there, there's always something. And the idea that you could look over after saying, oh, there's just nothing here.
[00:06:36] Lisa Woolfork: I'm just, I'm, I'm bored. It's lovely to be out in the country, but I don't have anything to do. And then everything that you see around you is responding and saying, wait, you can do something with this.
[00:06:49] Lisa Woolfork: Yes. And my paintings paintings, I'm not trained artists. I always wanted to take classes and learn to.
[00:06:59] Linda Nance: But [00:07:00] I'm not a trained artist. I paint and I take the scales, which are the little sticky things that hang all around the pine cone that we know the pine cone for. I cut those off. Yes. And I apply them somewhere on my paintings. So I use the pine cones not only to make my angels and Christmas ornaments. I also use the scales on my painting.
[00:07:29] Lisa Woolfork: I remember that you had this beautiful painting that I, I think we used it as part of the cover art for last year's episode of a black woman in profile. And you had used some of the, what did you call them from the pine cones, the leaves or the, the scales of the, and you had to rank them in the shape to be her.
[00:07:51] Lisa Woolfork: Yes. Oh my goodness. That was incredible. One of that black
[00:07:57] Linda Nance: lady a couple months ago. [00:08:00]
[00:08:00] Linda Nance: Hey, wonderful. It was a real, it's a really beautiful, it's a really beautiful image and I really love I how organic it is. And I, when I think about the work that you're doing, I return to the idea of something being organic, things that grow naturally, and that you are participating in this cycle of elevating these things and bringing these things to our attention and reminding us that you can make art out of everyday things because everyday life.
[00:08:34] Lisa Woolfork: Is the subject of art. That's right. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about one of your most recent, and do you have a favorite from the, the video log that you've been doing? I always love watching your video logs because your voice is so calming and you would sit on, on that porch and talk about things like.
[00:08:54] Lisa Woolfork: Just listening or being calm or something like that. And it just made me [00:09:00] feel more calm. Do you, have you been doing that lately as well?
[00:09:04] Linda Nance: Yes, I have. I started my blog because I saw a young man doing it and I said, oh, my friend told me, Linda, I need you to teach my, uh, dorm when you come on. And. I want you to teach her something so combined with watching him do his blog post, and my friend asking me to teach her daughter something about life.
[00:09:36] Linda Nance: Every time I went live, that's how my blog started. And every time I think, okay, it's time to close these out and end this and not do this anymore. I'll get a message or so. And I'll keep 'em going. So I just did my Thanksgiving blog, which is my 35th blog [00:10:00] post.
[00:10:02] Lisa Woolfork: Congratulations, 35th. I'm getting
[00:10:04] Linda Nance: so many comments about it.
[00:10:07] Linda Nance: I'm glad people are liking the blog posts.
[00:10:13] Lisa Woolfork: They are there really, it really is like a word. It is a word like either you're sitting in your car, you're sitting on your porch or you're sitting in the craft studio and you are sharing things that you have learned. With us who might, who may or may not have learned them, or may not have learned them in the way that you are explaining.
[00:10:35] Lisa Woolfork: And that's something I just find really exciting, but also very reassuring. And another thing that I really appreciate about your vlog is that you have this beautiful record of the lessons that your friend had requested for her daughter. That you are able to, to let us know and to remind us of things that are [00:11:00] essential.
[00:11:01] Linda Nance: Yes. Yes. That's what people are telling me. So I'm keeping the
[00:11:06] Linda Nance: blogs going.
[00:11:09] Lisa Woolfork: That is really excellent. So let's talk about one of the very first pine co angel ornaments that you made this year. You said that these have been doing really well. They're selling, and you've been really happy with how the, the outcome of this project has been.
[00:11:24] Lisa Woolfork: Talk about how you get started with making those like what's required. To work on a pine cone ornament, other than of course, a pine cone
[00:11:33] Linda Nance: the angels came about because I needed a product that I could sell all year. And I said so much is happening. We need angels, we need angels and we need all year. And I take the pine cone and the top of the pine cone.
[00:11:54] Linda Nance: Is where I put the head. The heads are made from polymer play, or I [00:12:00] use, uh, the, the pine tree balls, the circles die. You can buy, uh, round balls. That's made from pine trees. I use those mm-hmm and that's the head. And then we go from there. The hat is whatever I come up with at the time. And I add the. And the wings are made from a bow, from any type of ribbon.
[00:12:29] Linda Nance: And that's the basis for my angels. And I always put a hook some way for you to hang them and you can hang them from your car. You can hang them on a hook or you can hang them on your Christmas tree. If you're gonna use 'em for
[00:12:45] Lisa Woolfork: the holiday. This is so cute. I'm looking at one now, one that you made, I believe, uh, a couple days ago, and it's the, it's an angel and her hair looks like it's made out of ribbon itself or tool or something.
[00:12:59] Lisa Woolfork: [00:13:00] And she's got this cute little sweet expression on her face. Oh my gosh. Adorable. Absolutely adorable. Thank
[00:13:10] Lisa Woolfork: you. I've been making them and they've been selling as quickly as I get them made. I had a shop full of them and they're all gone today. I'm I have a big shipment going out and I think that only leaves me two in my Etsy shop.
[00:13:26] Linda Nance: So that's a good thing. I'm blessed with things that.
[00:13:30] Lisa Woolfork: That is a good thing. Indeed. I, I keep going back to your original story about the pine cones and how you were looking at them and not seeing them before, when you would look around and you would say, Ugh, there's nothing here. I don't, there's nothing here.
[00:13:46] Lisa Woolfork: There's nothing here. And then you start to, and you say that's a pine cone and that's another one. And then there's so many, and now you have this new avenue for your creativity. That's based in the [00:14:00] world around you. Yeah. And it's helping you to see. Yeah. And it's like helping you to see things differently.
[00:14:06] Lisa Woolfork: And I wonder if you might talk a little bit, do you think that there's a lesson in that for everybody, whether it's about pine cones or not about perspective?
[00:14:18] Linda Nance: I really do. Especially in the time, like. This day and time. I think this is an amazing time. The best time in this old bird life is today. I'm so grateful that I live to be here today.
[00:14:39] Linda Nance: Today. I see black artists, black business owners on your broadcast. I learn about so many that I never exist. This is our time during this time. If we look at all of the negatives that's [00:15:00] happening and branch out, we'll take over. It is amazing. I used to sit on my poet and I say, Lord, there's nothing here.
[00:15:16] Linda Nance: And I would cry. I couldn't sleep. I, I miss BC. So. DC was my city when daddy and I would go, we daddy missed his brother so much. When we moved to Atlanta from DC, that he, we would go at least three times a month. He missed his brother. So, and when we would hit the district, daddy would say, baby, do. And I had a little of that, daddy.
[00:15:45] Linda Nance: I missed it just that night. And. With the pine cones with this heat and the flies and the bugs. The Lord is opening up so many avenues for me. I am simply [00:16:00] amazed. I use the scales on glass on a miss for Christmas as my new pine cone art for the year, the angels are selling like mad. For the first time in this old village life, I had a black Friday sale.
[00:16:19] Linda Nance: I had a small business Saturday sale, and today I'm having a cyber Monday sale as a senior citizen in business in that's. Today is right now is 74 degrees and it's getting water and combine that with hot flashes. And girl is.
[00:16:42] Lisa Woolfork: I'm oh, my word.
[00:16:44] Linda Nance: I can grow Rosemary Rosemary from, to December Rosemary and rose and rose and grows.
[00:16:59] Linda Nance: I have it in [00:17:00] a pop and it is, it must be five feet. My husband's gonna have to get a chain. And cut it into four pieces so I can repack it. It just thrives. I started offering it in myy shop and I sold one or two orders every now and then I met Marcus Lamons and I told him I need to make some money. I'm a senior citizen.
[00:17:30] Linda Nance: And I had Rosemary. Anything I can do. He started giving me suggestions. I have a new website coming out January for my Rosemary
[00:17:42] Linda Nance: and I give yes. Yes.
[00:17:46] Linda Nance: I give basil and save, save rose, maybe 7, 8, 8 months in the year here I give, I grow safe all in the [00:18:00] country. That's what we can do. Look at our businesses and we can no longer do what you were doing and see what we can do.
[00:18:13] Lisa Woolfork: Yes. Yes. Oh, it's a less, it's a lesson about pivoting. Yes, it's about, I think that recording as we are now at the end of 2020, and we've had this very difficult pandemic year with so many things changing with so many people being unable to see their loved ones for all these different reasons about isolation and social distancing.
[00:18:39] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. It's been a real challenge for all businesses, for people, for schools, for governments, for every. But this story that you're telling about making a change yes. And noticing what's around you. Yes. Growing where you're growing, where you're planted. Yes. Is such a beautiful [00:19:00] story. And that Rosemary, oh my goodness.
[00:19:02] Lisa Woolfork: A five, five feet across. That is amazing. It's like you have a.
[00:19:10] Lisa Woolfork: A hedge in a pot. Yes.
[00:19:13] Linda Nance: You know what happened? Because the Rosemary is growing and I'm gonna have a website and people are buying the Rosemary. I had to get out and search for the nearest to get me some kind to search for nurseries, but so I could buy more Rosemary and more. and more basal and more urge, which caused me to have to meet new people.
[00:19:47] Linda Nance: It's been amazing. That
[00:19:49] Lisa Woolfork: is wonderful. Really wonderful. And I, again, this idea of plants, they will, they will grow. If you give an, if you give them an environment [00:20:00] that is hospitable, like the, the, the continued warmer temperatures in South Carolina, you will get these beautiful blooming results. And so now you have a whole new branch.
[00:20:14] Lisa Woolfork: Of your artistic practice that's based in plants. So what are you, what are you doing with the Rosemary basil and Sage that you are growing and finding? I
[00:20:27] Linda Nance: sell it. I sell it by the Springs and orders used to be eight Springs, but I'm realizing that's a bit much for a home. So I cut that down to six spreads, and now I tell you how to use it on my Facebook business page.
[00:20:47] Linda Nance: It gotta be handmade every day or every other day. I post things you can do with the Rosemary here. We have a lot of flies, for example, and in studying Rosemary, I found out [00:21:00] that it's good for insects. So I made a leap out of the Rosemary and hung it on my back. To see if it really works. And it does, it really does a few sprays around the door or attached to a reef or something like that really helps with birds.
[00:21:21] Linda Nance: And Rosemary is good for your memory any way you can digest it and get it in your system. And I have all sorts of recipes. I had duck for Thanksgiving and I used Mary for my duck that I cook. It's just amazing.
[00:21:39] Lisa Woolfork: that's. That is amazing. That is fantastic. I wanna take a, a quick break, but when we come back, I wanna talk a bit more about what's.
[00:21:48] Lisa Woolfork: What is next for you? And also some of the folks that you have been meeting with all your work and involvement in social media. So everybody, we are talking with Linda Nance today of gotta be [00:22:00] handmade. She is such a wonderful, generous soul. She was on the program back in December of 2019. I'm so happy to have her back with us now.
[00:22:09] Lisa Woolfork: Stay tuned and we'll continue this conversation. The stitch please podcast is really growing. Um, I wanna thank you for listening to the podcast and ask of favor. If you are listening to this podcast on a medium that allows you to rate it or review it, for example, apple podcasts, or it. Please do so if you are enjoying the podcast, if you could drop me a five star rating, if you, um, have something to say about the podcast, um, and you wanted to include that a couple sentences in the review box of apple makes a really big difference in how the podcast is.
[00:22:55] Lisa Woolfork: Evaluated by apple, how it becomes more visible. It really is a way to lean [00:23:00] into the algorithm that helps to rank podcasts. Um, so if you had time to do that, to drop a little line in the review feature of the podcast, that would be really appreciated and it would help us to grow. Even further and faster.
[00:23:28] Lisa Woolfork: Welcome back everyone. Thank you. You are just joining us. We are listening to you are listen to this excuse. I'm your host truth for world Ford. And I am speaking today with Lindon, N of gotta be handmade, who is a returning. Who was on the program back on December 18th, 2019. And now we are here in 2020, um, cause she was just so much fun and I learned so much about what it meant to live your full life, discovering new things.
[00:23:59] Lisa Woolfork: We know that for [00:24:00] many of us, it could be challenging to learn things as an adult has really. Thrive in her retirement. And she talks about herself, um, as a senior citizen who is just all over the internet, she's got the Facebook page and this page for her business and her YouTube channel and she's on Twitter.
[00:24:21] Lisa Woolfork: And she was talking earlier about in the previous segment about how, when she went to the nursery to learn about these new plants and to get new plants for this new part of her business, that she was meeting new. And so this was one thing I definitely wanted to ask you about Linda. I was on your, I think this was, I saw this on one of, I think must have been an Instagram live that you had done.
[00:24:46] Lisa Woolfork: And so you have to tell us about your friend because I was flipping through I a, this person is. So tell me, so this is Kathy Ireland. Y'all and Kathy Ireland is like a celebrity spokes [00:25:00] model. She had a line of linens and she does lot, lots of different things. And she, and, um, Ms. Linda NA of course are buddies.
[00:25:08] Lisa Woolfork: So tell me about how you met Kathy
[00:25:13] Linda Nance: buddies, but Kathy, Kathy would talk with me about my blog post on Twitter. And I just knew her as Kathy. I thought she was such a nice young lady and I was telling my sister something that she had asked me about something on one of the blogs. I can't remember what, and I told my sister, I said, her name is Kathy Ireland.
[00:25:38] Linda Nance: And we talk on Twitter. And my sister said, are you saying Kathy Ireland? And I said, yes, She said, you know, Kathy, I, I said, no, I know her on Twitter. She said, yes, you do. I said, [00:26:00] no, I don't. She said Google her. And when I Googled her, I immediately went to Twitter and apologize to her for not knowing who she.
[00:26:12] Linda Nance: I did not
[00:26:12] Linda Nance: know the famous
[00:26:15] Linda Nance: billionaire TA Ireland. I never cross size, so swimsuits and stuff, fashion and couture fashion. It doesn't come my way. and, and she agreed to do it. Interview with me. I asked her, would she do an interview with our summer camp crafters and tell. One piece of business advice. So she did a live interview with me for a few moments and gave.
[00:26:45] Linda Nance: Uh, a piece of business and house and it was wonderful. And we still talk on,
[00:26:53] Lisa Woolfork: oh, that is so great. That is so well, I think that the thing that I love about that, I don't think you needed to go on and [00:27:00] apologize for not knowing who she was. I think that it's because of who you are. I just find you to be such a genuine.
[00:27:09] Lisa Woolfork: Openhearted person. Um, and so creative and so committed to the work that you're doing, but also so much of the work that you do is also forward facing. And by that, when you're talking to the camera with your vlogs, it's, you're talking to each and every one of us', you have a special message that you are giving.
[00:27:30] Lisa Woolfork: And I know you mentioned earlier in the previous segment, This was something that was motivated by one of your friends who wanted you to offer like some kind of life wisdom and advice to her daughter. And I feel like I really benefit from that even though I'm not the person that this advice was motivated by, but I do feel like when I watch her vlogs, I am benefiting because I am learning something.
[00:27:57] Lisa Woolfork: I think that your voice does such a beautiful [00:28:00] job of making people, at least making me feel held that you're like acknowledging that things might be difficult or there might be challenges or that there might be storms, or sometimes you need to just sit with things or to slow down. That was one of the things that that's a big lesson for me.
[00:28:18] Lisa Woolfork: I'm the type of person that's always busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. And I think you had a message about. Just sitting and being still. And sometimes you need to, sometimes you need to sit on the porch and watch the rain. Sometimes you need to, sometimes you need to do that. That's pausing. That's what? Yeah.
[00:28:36] Lisa Woolfork: Pausing mm-hmm I love that one. I, I think that was one of my favorites. And again, y'all you all can go back and you can listen to these wonderful vlogs. They are on her IG on IG live and also on IG TV. I think we have a lot of them archived there on IGT. For people to access. So that's so do. Yes, [00:29:00] absolutely.
[00:29:00] Lisa Woolfork: On her YouTube channel. This is someone who is doing it all. This is someone who is she's, you are on far more social media channels than I am. I find Twitter, very confusing and YouTube is a world that's so far away from where I'm comfortable, that I really admire you for, for being there and being in that space and, and, and really thriving.
[00:29:22] Lisa Woolfork: So I'm just so excited for you. I'm so excited for all the growth and this new line of. Work and artistic product that you've been able to create for yourself. That's really wonderful. I was also saying that I looked on a couple days ago and you it's. So right now it's early December. When I hope this episode will be released and your house is already decorated.
[00:29:42] Lisa Woolfork: How is that? Do you normally decorate for Christmas right after Thanksgiving? No, I
[00:29:48] Linda Nance: usually decorate in September. Remember we are coming from DC, so I used to put up my decorations and lights and everyth. In September, because it would be too [00:30:00] cold for the old bird to be outside. I just happen to do it down here as well.
[00:30:06] Linda Nance: So it's on it's up, but it's not turned on. This is my last year of doing that. I feel like I'm missing out on Thanksgiving and this year I've been so blessed that I need to really enjoy Thanksgiving as well. So I'm not gonna do that anymore. This is my last year of doing that. I'll wait until December of the first, for the first week of December to put up lights.
[00:30:36] Lisa Woolfork: Wow. It, it looks really nice. And if you are the type of person like I am, who appreciates a good kind of Christmas landscape or Christmas scape, or I'm not sure how to describe when people decorate their rooms or houses for Christmas. I admire it even though I don't. Really do it. We've never hung up lights outside of our house.
[00:30:57] Lisa Woolfork: I just, I don't know why maybe because I'm [00:31:00] afraid of Heights. So I know I for sure would never be the one to do it. and I can't really put that on somebody else to do, but we do a lot of stuff on the inside and I do having the nice tree and all of those kind of, those are the things I really do. And so that's why, when you said a lot of things come from pine, the first thought I had was actual Christmas tree.
[00:31:17] Lisa Woolfork: I think I'm ready for some seasonal joy right now. Can I ask you about. Is next for you? You said that you have a new website and that's gonna be coming out in January of 2021, or is, do you, do you have an estimated date for it?
[00:31:31] Linda Nance: Yes. The blue website should be coming out around the 15th of January, 2021.
[00:31:38] Linda Nance: And that's gonna be totally devoted to my Rosemary. And it's gonna be your website just for that. I will still have my pine cone art and my pine cone. In my et shop mm-hmm I just started a brand new [00:32:00] quilting group on Facebook. Oh
[00:32:05] Lisa Woolfork: yes, that's right. That's right. A quilt because you've been designing some quilt patterns.
[00:32:10] Lisa Woolfork: I saw this. You had a little, I think it was a little black girl with ponytails. I believe. Yes. You are designing quilt patterns. Yes.
[00:32:17] Linda Nance: I. Black quilt patterns. And I'm not a quilted. I just instead designing the patterns. My mom was a master quilter and, but we never had quilt that represented us as old as I am.
[00:32:36] Linda Nance: Our home was always filled with magazine and things. And thankfully for, uh, Mr. Johnson, we had every type of. Available in our home. Mm-hmm how yes. Art was not black and the quilts were not black. And I decided [00:33:00] to, uh, design black quilt cattles. I designed my first cattle and I know 30 or more years ago, probably over 40 years ago.
[00:33:08] Linda Nance: Mm-hmm and I love designing qu patterns, but I'm not quilted. So I had to, I have to learn. Put my blocks together to make certain day of, right. So I said, I don't want to do it alone. So I started pu quilter journey on Facebook and together we'll learn how to re.
[00:33:34] Linda Nance: In
[00:33:38] Lisa Woolfork: that is wonderful. So you, this is, this just shows how you have this such a great, like a really fun spirit of adventure, because you're like, I don't quilt, but I would like to make some quilt patterns and I would like them to be black girls. And so now I shall learn how to do that. and that's what you're doing.
[00:33:58] Lisa Woolfork: And you're just doing that. [00:34:00] That's brilliant. That is brilliant. And so you're,
[00:34:03] Linda Nance: mm-hmm I create, uh, the Quil patterns, but I couldn't get help. I contacted tech style companies. I con contacted other Quil pattern designers and they were always asked, are you crooked? And when I would say, no, I'm not crook. and they said, but you are designing quick patterns.
[00:34:29] Linda Nance: Okay. That would end the conversation. Hmm. So I have to learn to quit even though that had nothing to do with designing my patterns. I don't mm-hmm
[00:34:44] Lisa Woolfork: mm-hmm . And so for your group now, for the group of Quilter's journey, it's about you learning to. As well as learning to design and build upon some of the patterns that [00:35:00] you've already drawn.
[00:35:01] Lisa Woolfork: And are you designing these all by hand?
[00:35:04] Linda Nance: Yes. Learning to construct the design patterns.
[00:35:11] Linda Nance: That's what I did. Yes. And learning the language of quilt. And you've helped me tremendously when you post. Your fabric samples, and you tell us what you are doing and how to cut it out and everything that helps me so much.
[00:35:33] Lisa Woolfork: Oh, thank you. Mm-hmm . Thank you. And I
[00:35:37] Linda Nance: have all types of Quil patterns. Now, this church taught, which is a man's hat back in the day.
[00:35:46] Linda Nance: Daddy is church. Hat was a big deal. You couldn't sit. Okay. You couldn't sit it on the. You couldn't see, of course not on top of the car after church. Oh no, no,
[00:35:57] Lisa Woolfork: no. It had no in the
[00:35:58] Linda Nance: back windshield [00:36:00] of the car and be
[00:36:01] disgusted
[00:36:03] Lisa Woolfork: that's right. And men
[00:36:04] Linda Nance: would meet outside. Lot of times, smoking cigarettes, daddy smoke, camel cigarettes with no filter and they would be talking about the stepson.
[00:36:15] Linda Nance: Wow. So one quilt. Saturn is devoted to my dad. Daddy's church
[00:36:22] Lisa Woolfork: hat. It's a man's house. Daddy's church hat. And so this is another one of the beautiful things that you do is the way that you're preserving things that you are looking back on your personal history, as well as a larger cultural history. Um, about black men and dress and spirituality and community, all of these things that church represented.
[00:36:45] Lisa Woolfork: And also the idea that this is a form of adornment. This hat is a form of a dormant. That's so special that you want to take precautions with it. Like you're not gonna just throw it on the top of the car and you're not just gonna just throw it any old. [00:37:00] You're going to take it seriously. And this is something that, that, that someone could pass down that it's, it, it really is a way of thinking about the relationship between you and your family, and also sharing that outward.
[00:37:15] Lisa Woolfork: That's really beautiful. So you've got the daddy's church hat pattern. You have the little black girl pattern. Are there others you're working on now? Afro puffs, Afro puffs, Uhhuh.
[00:37:29] Linda Nance: I have that one. I have, the family reunion is coming out next.
[00:37:36] Lisa Woolfork: It's gonna have, oh, that's exciting. Multiple
[00:37:40] Linda Nance: faces. And you decorate the hat in honor of your, uh, people at your family reunion.
[00:37:47] Linda Nance: I'm gonna, my block will have three heads. One that represents not many. She had a high squeaky voice and she always wore some sort of. Around her head, kinda [00:38:00] like I love blue seal bone mm-hmm Uhhuh. So I'm gonna have a wrap on her head. And then my uncle always had a big Afro, even when he went great. He didn't shave it off.
[00:38:12] Linda Nance: He kept his Afro until he died. So I'll have white and black hair on him. That's gonna be uncle Hub's. Uh, And then I'm gonna have a block for my aunt, Mary Lou, aunt, Mary Lou, more pearls, every strain I had in place. So there was three heads on the one Quil block and you take the block and remember your family win.
[00:38:40] Lisa Woolfork: Wow. Oh, that is so beautiful that you can take this block and you can decorate the hair according to how people wore their hair in your family. And this idea of assembling your family in art of putting them together is really so special. Especially [00:39:00] again, during this time here we are in 2020, when there is a lot of.
[00:39:05] Lisa Woolfork: Distance for reasons of keeping the pandemic down and that people can't get together and have family reunions in the way that we might have, but mm-hmm you have this quilt block. That's been able to do that as well as to honor people from the past. It really is such a beautiful way of honoring the, your ancestors and honoring your family and also helping us and encouraging us to do the same.
[00:39:32] Lisa Woolfork: So. Yes, absolutely. Linda, this has been such a beautiful conversation. Thank you so much for taking your time out of the, of your day to talk with us, tell us how we can find you on the socials and how we can get some of these patterns and pine cones and stuff.
[00:39:48] Linda Nance: Okay. You can visit my shop. atnc.com gotta be handmade, and I'm sure I'll pop up on Google and you can go right to my exit shop that's for my, [00:40:00] uh, art and my time home.
[00:40:03] Linda Nance: You can follow me on Instagram and there I will post my blogs and please subscribe to my YouTube channel youtube.com/gotta be handmade. And on YouTube. I have my interviews for my talk shoulders, my handmade artists, as well as my blog, post and senior citizens. I want you to please, please. Please get on Instagram.
[00:40:35] Linda Nance: We need you on Instagram. They have this new thing called reels and I always post on real using old school music and you'll love it. So get on Instagram and follow me. It got.
[00:40:54] Lisa Woolfork: Okay, everybody, you got your instructions. And if my Mo, and if my mother is listening, she [00:41:00] I'm trying to get y'all to be new best friends.
[00:41:02] Lisa Woolfork: If she is, if she is listening, what she says, she does. Mama, you gotta be more active on Instagram, miss. Linda's trying to give us some words here. So she does have an account. She does have an account. My mother does have an Instagram account, right? Yes. I don't know how often she uses it or goes to it, but she absolutely does have one.
[00:41:19] Lisa Woolfork: You gotta get on that Instagram. I will let her know. I will send her a reminder. This has been such a delight. Thank you so much for coming back and talking with us, and I wish you a really very pleasant and positive holiday season. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.[00:42:00]
[00:42:04] Lisa Woolfork: You've been listening to the stitch, please podcast the official podcast of black women's stitch, the sewing group, where black lives matter. We appreciate you supporting us by listening to the podcast. If you'd like to reach out with, to us with questions, you can contact us at black women's stitch@gmail.com.
[00:42:21] Lisa Woolfork: If you'd like to support us financially, you can do that by supporting us on Patreon. P a T R E O N. And you can find black women stitch there in the Patreon directory. And for as little as $2 a month, you can help support the project with things like editing transcripts and other things to strengthen the podcast.
[00:42:40] Lisa Woolfork: And finally, if financial support is not something you can do right now, you can really help the podcast by rating it and reviewing it anywhere. You listen to podcasts that allows you to review them. So I know that not all podcast. Directories or services allow for reviews, but for those who [00:43:00] do for those that have a star rating, or just ask for a few comments, if you could share those comments and say nice things about us at the stitch place podcast, that is incredibly helpful.
[00:43:11] Lisa Woolfork: Thank you so much. Come back next week and we'll help you get your stitch together.
