Interview with Christine Brown - January 2011
by Penny McMorris
This month we were lucky to snag some time with Christine Brown, the busy Editor-in-Chief of American Quilter magazine. Chris, as an editor, did you like my “To Bee or Not to Bee?” Or did you groan? OK, don’t answer that.
(Christine: No discernable groans coming from me – I’m as corny as the next quilter.)
You intrigued me when we talked briefly at Quilt Market last November. You mentioned having fun at your EQ Bee. I HAD to find out more!
Q: Please tell me more about your Bee. How did it get started? Was the idea that many heads could learn better than one?
My own interest in EQ began many years ago, I think with EQ3 back in the ‘90s when I actually once hired a “tutor” to come to my home to teach me the program. Although I didn’t pursue learning EQ back then, I realized that working alongside someone else at the computer was far more valuable to me than plodding solo through the manual. After taking EQ classes (in Houston and online) for the last year and a half, I decided to put out a call through local quilting friends and guilds to find other EQ fans who might want to join an EQ self-help group.
Q: How often and how long are meetings? (I’m thinking details about your bee might inspire others.)
After an initial planning get-together, the group decided that meeting twice a month would keep our skills sharp and knowledge current. The meetings last no longer than two hours, and we each bring laptops loaded with EQ7 and our projects installed.
Q: Do you have a regular meeting location? Or does it vary?
We have eight members, about six of whom are able to attend regularly. The first few times we met in my home. Now we are very fortunate to be able to meet at a centrally-located Denver quilt shop, Great American Quilt Factory, owned by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith. The group is very appreciative of this courtesy, and Lynda has even joined the group.
Q: Is someone the “leader?” You can tell I’m really wondering how your bee is organized.
No, we all contribute, which is exactly what I envisioned when I started the group. With six to eight members possessing varying degrees of EQ skills, there are always questions to discuss and new ideas tossed around. We learn from each other. Some of us are better at appliqué, some at piecing, and some at designing, so there is plenty of knowledge to share.
Q: What are some of your activities? Have you worked through any lessons or Mystery lessons on the EQ Web site for example? Or do you invent your own learning ideas….and are they really easy things to do, or things a beginner might not discover?
Several of our “homework assignments” have been the EQ Monthly Challenge. After working independently at home, each member then shares her sketchbook, design process, and final results on her laptop at the meeting while others observe. One assignment was to create a new quilt with two specific blocks, including scanning fabric already in our stash. Another involved choosing an image from the Library (or scanning and importing a personal image), then making a block by tracing with Patch Draw and putting that block in a quilt.
One of the more challenging (but rewarding!) assignments was to recreate a pieced and appliquéd non-patterned quilt found in a book or magazine, starting with the original quilt dimensions and working “backwards.” We brought the original quilt photos and our final EQ blocks and quilt drawings to share, and all agreed it was a terrific drafting experience. So, the assignments are chosen as a group and vary in scope and difficulty from meeting to meeting. (With everyone having busy schedules, it’s nice to occasionally have an “easy” homework assignment.)
Q: As an EQ7 user and magazine editor, what do you use EQ7 for: for fun, for work? And when do you have TIME?!
Now that I have achieved a little proficiency in EQ, I’ve found many uses for it, both personal and professional. I’m excited to have just finished cutting out all the patches for my first EQ-designed original bed-size quilt. Because I scanned fabrics already in my stash to design the quilt, there’s a double feeling of accomplishment. On the job, pattern designers often submit designs to me as EQ files, so it’s handy to be able to navigate within those files. And I recently worked with Linda Poole in arranging to share (via the AQS website) an EQ design file for Linda’s beautiful new Elegant Hearts appliqué block, published in the January 2011 issue of American Quilter. This was a first for both Linda and American Quilter.
Free time is at a premium for me, as it is with most working women, but I know from experience that we all manage to find time to accomplish the things important to us. I truly enjoy this group and love learning new ways to document the many quilt designs floating around in my head, so I make time to use EQ.
Q: A bit more about you please: How did you get started in quilting? From your bio on the AQS site you’ve done everything in quilting!
It’s true that my background draws from experience in almost every nook and cranny of the quilt industry except owning a shop. Since purchasing my first quilt magazine in 1974 and becoming a self-taught quilter, I have worn the hat of student, teacher, designer, writer, editor, photographer, guild president, quilt museum board member, and membership chair for several quilt organizations. I’ve also been an event planner, fund raiser, exhibit curator, quilt boutique buyer, consignor, statistician, quilt judge, award-winning quilter, and prolific purchaser of fabric. In 1985, a national magazine published one of my original quilt designs, which encouraged me to write about quilts and develop more patterns. In 1997 I became a certified quilt judge through the National Quilting Association, which in subsequent years has allowed me the privilege of getting “up close and personal” with some of the best work being done in today’s quilt world.
Q: And how about magazine editing? Tell us more about your writing/editing background.
Although I had written, edited, published, and distributed a full-color yearly catalog of escorted tours for the group travel business my husband and I owned in Atlanta for 13 years, I did not major in journalism or English. But I’ve learned along the way, and was both humbled and flattered when AQS asked me to apply for the job of editor-in-chief (which AQS then referred to as Executive Editor) in early 2005.
Q: You became Editor-in-Chief of American Quilter about 6 years ago. What is it like having to originate new ideas so quickly, with such quick deadlines? Are new ideas for articles always running through your mind?
There was a very steep learning curve for me the first year—without a deep stash of articles in the files, it was a struggle to fill my first issues. But even though I had not been a highly visible quilting personality before AQS, my varied experiences had allowed me to develop an extensive network of quilting contacts, and I called on many of them that first year to provide me with quality articles and patterns. Just six months after I was hired, our publisher, Meredith Schroeder, took American Quilter from a membership-only magazine to newsstand sales (increasing the number of issues from four to six per year). This presented another enormous set of challenges for the entire magazine staff. But, it has been a highly successful venture, and our numbers are increasing substantially around the world.
Ideas for new articles are not especially hard to come by, but bringing those ideas to fruition as a well-organized, well-illustrated magazine article takes dedication, hard work, and months—sometimes years—to accomplish by an entire staff of people. Deadlines are a way of life in the magazine business, but that’s really a good thing.
Q: How many quilt shows do you attend each year, and are they a source of article ideas?
I try to attend all four AQS shows (Lancaster, Paducah, Knoxville, and Des Moines) as well as the International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston each year. Additionally, I travel to many local and regional shows as both attendee and hired judge. Quilt shows are an excellent source of article ideas, both for my contributing editors (who live in Oregon, California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania) and for me.
Q: How do you structure a variety of articles in each issue? Do you plan “one of these and one of those” or is it much more free-form?
Luckily for me, there is a lot of creativity involved in choosing the content for each issue; we have several ongoing features, but no set formula for filling the pages. I enjoy thinking about the magazine as a lovely gift box of quilt-related surprises arriving in mailboxes every other month to delight and satisfy our readers.
Sometimes I develop a theme for an issue (previous themes have included appliqué, longarm quilting, Asian designs, circles, and heart motifs), which helps focus the editorial choices. As editor, I strive for a good balance between newsy lifestyle articles and the more technical how-to articles and patterns. Recent surveys have shown our loyal readers appreciate both. One of the things that makes American Quilter magazine unique is that our articles are written by a variety of writers and told in a variety of voices as well as my own. I think this makes for interesting reading and presents valuable information from a wide variety of perspectives.
Q: Last question Chris: Have you been able to read through my questions without dying to edit and re-write them? Ha!
As any editor will tell you, editing is not a job you can leave at the office. I’m always finding spelling and grammar mistakes in public signage, menus, business cards, the newspaper, and just about every other publication that doesn’t hire a competent copy editor. But I also realize there’s a lot I don’t know, and that keeps me grounded and humble. I can appreciate what others do in their jobs—grammar is important, but it isn’t everything!
Thank you so much for telling us more about your bee (we hope it inspires others) and your incredible job as American Quilter magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. I appreciate your taking the time!
It’s been my pleasure, Penny. I’ve enjoyed putting these thoughts about EQ into words. I can be reached by e-mail at chrisbrown@aqsquilt.com.
Chris, thanks so much for letting me interview you. You do know that if you have questions at a meeting that no one can answer you can call us (of course I’m sleeping in Ohio when you’re actually meeting in Colorado) then report the answers back at the next meeting, right? We’ve had others do that and I love getting those calls.