During the couple of decades I traveled all over the US (and beyond), teaching and lecturing about quilts for quilters’ guilds and at conferences, I met hundreds of quilters every year. The conviviality among the students in my workshops was one of the many pleasures of my job.
Quilters told me often that half of what drew them to quiltmaking was the process itself (the fabrics, the patterns, the joy of making). The other half was the friendships they made with other quilters.
I made lots of friends myself in the quilting world over the years: students I clicked with, colleagues teaching at the same conferences, hosts who put me up in their homes, guests on “Love of Quilting,” and, later on, special friends I made during the seven years I served on the Quilts of Valor Foundation board of directors, my QOVF friends.
I also now have writing friends—fellow writers who discuss plot, character, and dialogue (among other topics) in the same enthusiastic way quilters talk about quilt blocks, border treatments, batting and binding (among other topics). I now count a number of novelists (published and not-yet-pubished) among my friends.
In 2019-2020, I was in a yearlong novel writing class via StoryStudioChicago. I traveled to the Windy City from Iowa (and other locations) once a month to meet in person with the twelve other members of my cohort. Our teacher was the wonderful writer Rebecca Makkai. By March, 2020, when Covid changed in-person everything, we had met eight times. Zooming wasn’t the same as being together, but it was better than nothing.
One of my Novel-in-a-Year friends is Marie. She’s a wonderful writer whose manuscript is now complete. I’ve have the pleasure of reading it, and though she does not yet have an agent, I’m confident her narrative will be published one day. Then, others will have that pleasure as well.
Marie recently launched Blanket Gravity Magazine—a free online literary publication for people who struggle with mental health. An offshoot of Blanket Gravity is Blankie, on Substack. Blankie publishes essays, fiction, and interviews on art and mental health. Marie recently asked if she could interview me about quilting and mental health, in an “Artist Chat.” I jumped at the chance.
Here’s a photo of me with one of my quilting AND writing friends, Frances O’Rourke Dowell, who visited Winterset last summer during the Iowa Quilt Museum’s Iowa Quilt Festival.
And here’s the interview conducted by my friend Marie.
June Moore
So happy to see you following your dreams. Mike has dreams of one more trip to Winterset, but that seems unlikely.
Marianne Fons
June, I would LOVE to see you and Mike in Winterset again!
Cindy Adams
You’ve worked very hard through the years. Do what you enjoy now. I learned so much by watching Fons and Porter.
Thank you!
Frances
How lovely to see the photo of us together last summer! I’m so glad we got to spend time together at QuiltCon in Raleigh (and at the art museum) in February–a highlight of the weekend for me!
xoFrances
Marianne Fons
Frances, I should have asked permission before publishing our photo, so I’m super glad you like it. I had a great time in Raleigh, too, and I’m THRILLED you will be returning to Winterset this summer!
Diane
Marianne
You substituted for daughter Mary at our Kokomo Quilt Show a few years ago. I met you at the airport and then we stopped in Carmel to see your friend I think.
You are an unbelievable person. I was so impressed and still am with all you have accomplished but are still so humble and nice. Although I really didn’t want the job of meeting you at the airport (no offense)–I didn’t think I would be good at it but it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences meeting and talking with you during our driving.
Anyway, take care and you are one of the highlights of my life.
Diane
Marianne Fons
Hello, Diane, and thank you for such kind words! I do remember subbing for Mary, and how terrific everyone was at the Kokomo show. The way I remember it, you dropped me off at my friend’s home in Carmel after my work was done. I spent the night at Mary Jane’s, and she took me to the airport the next day. It was wonderful to catch up with her, and if I had not helped Mary out, I would not have seen my friend again. She passed away late last year, in Nashville, where she had moved post-pandemic to be closer to one of her sons. It hurt to lose my dear friend, but it was less painful because I had such a wonderful memory of our last visit together.
PATRICIA lee van doren ' sharkey
Finally do you remember me Pat Van Doren = Sharkey ?
I am back in Houston at 89
Marianne Fons
OMG, Pat, how wonderful to see this! I was a senior in high school when you were my boss at Joske’s. You were a fantastic mentor, and I love fashion to this day. (The protagonist in the novel I’m writing is a gifted dressmaker.) When we met, you were 32, and I was 18, fourteen years younger. The math still works, as I am about to reach 75. Much love and all the best to you.
Suzanne DiCarlo
Marianne, I know two male quilters who quilt to help their PTSD. If Marie would like to interview them please let me know.
Marianne Fons
Thank you, Suzanne. I have passed this along to my friend.