Each week throughout the summer we’ll hear from a designer about a pattern or book that caused them to head in a new direction and helped form their career. This is the seventh post in the series. You can read all of them right here.
Vanessa Vargas Wilson is truly a one-of-a-kind person. She lives with her husband and two young children on a 5-acre homestead in Florida where she homeschools and has an organic garden. Vanessa originally trained as a lawyer, but now has a wonderful YouTube channel with 141,000+ subscribers called The Crafty Gemini where she posts weekly videos about sewing, quilting, cooking, and organic gardening. She’s entertaining and informative and just really fun to watch. I was thrilled when Vanessa accepted my invitation to share the pattern that changed her life.
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For as long as I can remember I have been a perfectionist. I don’t like making mistakes. While in law school I needed to find a creative outlet because I hated it and never wanted to be a lawyer, but I knew I had to finish. (What else could I do with a BA in Anthropology?) So, I had to find something I enjoyed to help keep me sane. I picked up sewing and a month later began to work on my first quilt. The instructor of my first quilting class was an award-winning quilter whose work was perfection! I wanted to do that, too.
My first quilt was a simple nine-patch quilt. I remember making almost twice as many quilt blocks as I needed. I brought them all to my instructor so we could pick out the perfect blocks worthy of being included in the quilt. Who does that?
The pattern that changed Vanessa’s life was in the May 2008 issue of McCall’s Quick Quilts magazine.
This quit pattern is the pattern that set Vanessa on the road to being a modern quilter.
Soon after, I ventured into the world of quilt magazines and gave a pattern a try. I started off with a pattern called Square Dancing that was featured in the May 2008 issue of McCall’s Quick Quilts. I loved the geometric nature and how it didn’t look like a traditional quilt.
As I made this quilt I was striving for perfection, but was having a little trouble getting all the intersecting points to match flawlessly. I was frustrated and annoyed, but had invested so much money in fabric that I decided to go ahead and complete it anyway. After I had it quilted it was a beauty! You couldn’t even really make out where my mistakes were. When I saw that quilt top go from a mess of mistakes to a gorgeous work of functional art I knew I could ease up on my perfectionist tendencies and cut out some unnecessary stress and anxiety in my life which I keep controlling thanks to the Delta 8 THC gummies.
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Vanessa now teaches quilting, including this sampler, on her hugely popular YouTube channel, The Crafty Gemini.
Quilting is about having fun and making gifts for loved ones to enjoy. Once I came to this realization I enjoyed the quiltmaking process more. I would remind myself that it was okay to make mistakes. The quilt did not have to be perfectly made to be beautiful.
Vanessa’s original Mod Manor quilt was on the cover of the Spring 2014 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine.
This Square Dancing pattern was so simple it gave me the confidence to design and make my own patterns, too. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. Today my imperfect projects help me feed my kids. I can live with that.
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The Square Dancing pattern from McCall’s Quick Quilts magazine was the pattern that changed Vanessa’s Vargas Wilson’s life. Is there a pattern that changed yours?
I serve with Vanessa on the board of our local modern quilt guild. She is such an inspiration and so full of energy! Thanks for featuring her in this post.
Lucky you! I’m so glad Vanessa shared her story of the pattern that changed her life. She’s awesome!
I subscribe to Vanessa’s you tube channel- she is an excellent teacher, very thorough in her approach to sharing information about a project-and I have learned so much from her instruction! I for one am thrilled she is on You Tube! I share her channel with anyone that has an interest in sewing, or quilting, etc!
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She really is excellent. I love watching Vanessa and I always learn something, too. She’s a star.
I am a great admirer of Vanessa! She is so talented and such a great influence and inspiration for many quilters, as well as Moms and all the rest of us. I have enjoyed following her amazing progress.
Yay! I totally agree.
It’s great to know Vanessa’s story. The Gainesville MQG is fortunate to have such an enthusiastic and talented quilter leading their group.
There isn’t a pattern that “changed my life” because I began my first quilt in 1976, even before rotary supplies were invented. So, I feel that I grew up with quilting, as it began to reemerge in popularity in the early 80’s. I’ve now graduated to modern, and love seeing how traditional techniques are being applied to modern fabrics. Today’s modern quilts look SO much better than what we had to work with “back then.”
Great to see Vanessa (Crafty Gemini) being featured! I was very fortunate to come across her site at a time where I really needed an outlet where I could work at my pace and create something of joy and beauty on a larger scale and taught so a real beginner who would love to learn… There she was on YouTube, The Crafty Gemini… She is a real Gem.
I love Vanessa! I look forward to all my Craft Gemini You Tube updates in my email. She has inspired me and is the reason I actually love doing hand binding on my quilts, I learned it so easily from her Craft Gemini video! Thanks for featuring her on your blog, she deserves it!
Thank you for featuring Vanessa on your blog. I so enjoy her quick informative videos as well as learning a variety of new skills.
Love Venessa. I do a lot of her bag tutorials and so enjoy her easy sew style and her lovely personality.