Spotlight: Ginny Robinson, Modern Appliqué Quilter

Try to keep up with Ginny Robinson! She balances a full-time job, family, and makes award-winning quilts. Her preferred technique? Appliqué because she is not bound by seams.

How long have you been quilting and designing? How did you get started?

I started sewing after the birth of the my first daughter. My husband was in his medical residency at the time, and it was winter in Philadelphia. I had left a job I really loved when we moved, and that season of my life was very lonely.

I asked for a sewing machine for my birthday because I remembered how much I loved making little projects on my mom’s old Singer when I was a kid. I began to sew little upcycled dresses for my daughter, stuffies, and blankets (definitely blankets, not quilts!). That was the beginning of a very long journey.

Writing, quilting and photography. How do they all work together in your creative process?

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.

Even when I was a kid, creativity was a huge part of my identity. It was the thing I was always good at – except in music! That continues to confound me!

My brain just thinks in ways that make the making of things fun and engaging and challenging. So, I don’t find those mediums all that different; they’re all about composition and considering the parts within the whole. The ingredients are wildly different for each, but I find the thinking routines quite similar.

What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours?

My signature is modern appliqué and likely always will be. I can do other techniques, but when I design, appliqué is alway at the center of the design.

I like that I’m not bound by seams in the same way as I would be if I were paper piecing or doing traditional piecing. Placement is easier and less “mathy,” and the toughest constraint are the angles and curves when I need to turn under the seam allowance. 

I stick to solids for all of my show quilts because I want my design to be doing the work. I love to include prints in other work I do, but a solid palette is my go-to when I want to indicate that a quilt is an original design that I’m proud of. I think I see more of myself in my solid quilts; I tend to see the surface pattern designers in quilts that use their prints, and that’s wonderful a lot of the time!

Congratulations on winning Best of Show at QuiltCon 2024! Tell us more about the winning piece and your inspiration.

That quilt was one of the toughest I’ve made, emotionally. I’m a teacher, and the quilt honors teachers and students who have had to use ordinary classroom items to defend themselves against active shooters, and all of us who have to think about what we will use for that on a daily basis.

I was particularly horrified by the school shooting in Uvalde, and that’s when I began the quilt, which was eventually named “What We Will Use as Weapons: A List of School Supplies.” The front of the quilt acts as a catalogue of the things teachers told me they would throw, and the objects vary by the grade and subject each teacher teaches.

I came to the quilt with a storyteller mindset. My graduate degree is in writing – poetry in particular – so I already have a brain that thinks in symbols.

The quilt, which is the size and shape of a door, is four colors total: yellow background with black applique on the front, and a white background with a red applique on the back. Here in the US, school buses are that particular shade of yellow, and always with black writing. I chose white for the back because white is often associated with innocence and because I wanted the quilting to pop on that side.

The only appliqué piece on the back is the silhouette of an AR-15 rifle. The quilting is of a person with a target inside their outline, so it represents the shooter on the front and the teacher on the back.

I was and am overwhelmed by the response to the quilt. I’m grateful to the Modern Quilt Guild for amplifying its message and for choosing it to travel in Selections from QuiltCon.

Does your work have stories to tell?

I don’t know if all of my quilts have stories to tell that others can perceive, but I “see” stories in all of them: where I was, the friends or family I was with as I was making them, the problems I had in their construction (because there always are!!), the way they have been loved since.

When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?

I have to do enough planning that I can get myself to a starting point, and after that, it’s improvisation!

Do you have a dedicated space for creating? If so, what does it look like?

I’m actually in the middle of a move to a new home with a studio above the garage. It’s been a dream to be able to think about a space dedicated to my creative pursuits and those of my family.

We love sewing, watercolor, collage, jewelry making, and pottery, and while we can’t cram all of those crafts into one room, with some good planning, I think we can make it a wonderful space! The room has hardwood floors and lots of natural light. In the future, I would love to host classes there.

How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?

I start projects as I want to, and then one will pull ahead or have a deadline and get all of the space and time. Once I finish that, I do a reset and the process starts all over again.

Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?

My favorite part of the design process is the moment when I know that the design I’ve drawn or at least envisioned can actually be made – and by me.

The challenge is, as it is for so many of us, finding the time inside of a life that includes a full-time job, a marriage, two children, and all the other things that make life wonderful and full. There are a thousand reasons not to sew (or have a hobby at all), but I think everyone should have a “third thing” beyond work and family.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?

My quilty friend Melanie Tuazon and I are always talking about our processes and how we have both felt lucky to find a process that works for each of us. She loves handwork, and I could never!!

The best advice I’ve received is in those conversations with her, that this work is personal, that flow looks different for each of us, and those sparks of joy happen at different moments. Just embrace what each of those is for you – that’s your practice and part of your signature.

How is your work different than it was in the beginning? How is it the same?

The funny thing about confidence is that you have a better sense of what’s you and what’s something else, whether that’s a grumpy sewing machine, a bum needle, a weirdo fabric.

I’m far more forgiving of myself now, even when I’m to blame, because I’m not blaming myself nearly as much as I did in the beginning when I thought everything was me and my lack of knowledge.

I think I play with blocks and techniques differently now because of that confidence, and my work shows that risk-taking and is better for it.

Follow Ginny on Instagram
Learn more about Ginny on her website