Today we’d like to introduce you to Mel Beach

Hi Mel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

Both of my grandmothers introduced me to the needle arts as a young child. I especially enjoyed needlepoint and plastic canvas. Through my 4-H participation, I entered several pieces into my county fair and earned several blue ribbons. Fast forward to graduate school and a growing stack of t-shirts that inspired me to create my first quilt: A T-Shirt quilt. My mother gave me a crash course using her Kenmore sewing machine. I learned so much from the many mistakes made while making that first quilt—but the biggest takeaway was how much I loved making quilts! Once I finished it, I went out the very next day to purchase quilting fabric and started to plan my next quilt with many more to follow!

For years, I made many traditional quilts for family and friends while honing my technique and building my fabric stash. While mostly self-taught through reading books and watching quilting programs on tv, my quilting skills greatly accelerated once I joined a quilt guild here in California and started taking workshops through the guild and local quilt shops.

It was through my local quilt guild that I was introduced to quilt challenges. While completing my first quilt challenge, I forgot to put on the quilt backing before adding the quilted stitches! Whoops! That is why I love this quote by Nelson Mandela: “I never lose. I either win or I learn.” Over the years, I have learned so much from completing 100+ quilt challenges. Each quilt challenge inspires me to experiment with new techniques, explore new sources of design inspiration, while developing my artistic voice.

For many years, quilting was my hobby and form of stress relief from my regular day jobs working in higher education, non-profit organizations, and animal rescue. In 2016, I was in between jobs which was further marked by two events that altered my quilting trajectory. First, my local guild invited me to lead a Quilting 101 workshop which was filled with 30+ enthusiastic quilters. Less than a week later, I was beaming with pride as nearly more than 20 members showed off their fabulously finished projects at our monthly guild meeting! A few weeks later, a Las Vegas quilt guild invited me to present a lecture/trunk show for an upcoming guild meeting. Both experiences were immensely rewarding and prompted me to start teaching quilting full time. I took a few business courses through the local library while marketing my programs to quilt shops, guilds, and conferences. It was excited to have more and more guilds reach out to book me for lectures and workshops in that first year of starting my business! Pivoting to online teaching during the pandemic helped to expand my reach to include quilters all around the world.

As my quilting style and techniques evolve through quilt challenges and continued art education, my teaching has also shifted to reflect my ever changing voice. Each year, I launch 2-3 new quilting programs so I always have something new to offer, especially for groups who have previously booked me as a teacher.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

Since 2011, I’ve been celebrating my quilting journey via my Piece, Love & Happiness blog, and soon thereafter via Facebook, Instagram, and my monthly email newsletter. At first, my blog started as a way to document my inspiration, materials used, process, while reflecting on the lessons learned from making each quilt. With time, I started to share with a few family members and friends, who then started to share with their quilting friends. While I love that so many quilters have drawn inspiration from reading my blog posts, I suspect just as many views are from me going back to past posts to remind me of what materials and/or techniques I used!

I frequently revisit those blog posts while teaching and answering student questions. In my workshops, I share a little secret about many of my blog posts: There is a strong correlation between the length of my blog posts and the level of challenge faced making each quilt! The longer blog posts that include lots of process photos are usually indicative of me getting stuck on the design and/or construction! Instead of giving up, I pause to take pictures which helps provide a new perspective. I may make a few changes and take more photos. Some quilts include lots of detours and explorations, but those are usually turn out to be my favorite finishes!

Of course, there are always challenges with the business/teaching. There is never enough energy or time to do everything on my “to do” or “to make” lists. I resonate with Duke Ellington’s quote: “I don’t need time, I need a deadline.” Deadlines for quilt challenges and/or art calls provide the boost of motivation for making time for quilting/creating!

In between deadlines, there are times that I lose my “sewjo” aka desire or energy to quilt/sew. At first it was a bit alarming as quilting always brought me great joy. But with time, I’ve learned to embrace these downtimes from sewing and while I may not be producing any art, I am still exploring the world around me for inspiration and percolating for future projects. I’ve found one of the best ways to get my sewjo back is to clean and organize my studio. This allows me to take stock of my fabrics and supplies, purge some items that no longer appeal to me (taking care to donate to my local guild and/or creative reuse centers where they may inspire other artists), and I love rediscovering fabrics and/or supplies that get my creative juices flowing again! Back in 2022, I found a stack of quilted samples that I used for teaching free motion quilting via Zoom. They were filled with incredible patterns and textures, so I couldn’t bear to throw them away. Instead, I got the idea to cut out hearts that I then embellished with my new-found paints, beads, buttons, ribbons, sequins, and yarns. During the month of November, I set out to embellish one or more of those hearts to send out into the world as part of the I Found a Quilted Heart Project. By the end of the month, I had embellished 75 hearts and sent more than 50 of them out to local parks, libraries, and other community centers to be found and adopted by whoever found them!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

As an Artist, I love to create through play each and every day. Since 2020, I have been rolling the dice to provide daily prompts for completing seven 100-day projects. These dice rolls have inspired me to explore new designs, mediums, and techniques while producing a large body of artwork. I offer a variety of fun & inspiring online lectures, workshops, and content to inspire fellow artists to create with confidence and joy. I’m especially passionate about teaching with a focus on machine quilting, modern improvisational design, and most recently surface design.

After learning how to hand-carve my own stamps in late 2021, I’ve carved 300+ designs as part of a several daily carving challenges including 100-Days of Hand Carved Stamps and two Carve December daily carving challenges. Soon afterwards, I began layering block printing onto Evolon non-woven fiber, hand dyed fabrics, as well as recycled designer swatches to create a growing series of block printed and stitched art quilts that have been juried into prestigious art quilt exhibitions as well as purchased by collectors.

How do you think about luck?

Pollyanna was one of my childhood favorite movies. The main character, Pollyanna, teaches others how to play “The Glad Game” in which they look for something to be glad about in any situation. The Covid pandemic was a difficult and overwhelming time for so many around the world. Like Pollyanna, I looked for the silver linings that included lots of time in my studio which included participation in several 100-day projects, as well as pivoting to virtual teaching where I was able to connect with quilters all around the world while also taking classes to stretch my own skills!

Rejection is part of being an artist. By working with a coach, I’ve embraced the idea of sprinkling seeds out into the world in the form of promoting my workshops, entering art calls, and posting my art online, as you never know which ones will take root and bloom! Last summer, I applied for an art call to create a series of 50 small pieces in 50 days. Yes, I was initially disappointed when I learned that my project was not selected. However, that rejection didn’t stop me from pursuing that project and now I had to freedom to create larger pieces at a pace where I could incorporate lots of hand embroidery which I found incredible meditative! That series of work was very successful as several pieces were either juried into art shows and/or purchased, plus it led to the development of a new Block Printed & Stitched lecture presentation for guilds/groups.

Earlier this year, I presented a virtual lecture where I shared “WIN-WIN Wind Energy” art quilt which celebrates the benefits of wind energy and is currently traveling with Prism Play, a regional SAQA Exhibition. Turns out that one of the guild members in attendance forwarded the quilt information and my website to her friend who worked in the wind energy industry for almost 10 years, as did her husband for nearly 30 years! She reached out to purchase the quilt and I am delighted by this perfect fit!

These instances motivate me to keep sending my art quilts and teaching out into the world!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://melbeachquilts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melbeachquilts
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melbeachquilts
• Other: Piece, Love and Happiness Blog: https://pieceloveandhappiness.blogspot.com

Image Credits

Professional Headshot taken by Carla Morgado (with permission to use)

All other photos are taken by artist/author.