We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jackie Vujcich a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jackie , appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

I have a degree in accounting. Although rewarding in salary it didn’t fill my passion of being a creative. So I started teaching quilting feeling since I enjoyed my hobby why not make money doing it!

As I started teaching at various quilt shops in the area, the owner’s would eventually ask me to also work at the shop as a part-time employee. It was definitely a step down going from a salaried position to hourly wages. But I was happy being around like-minded and creative people while teaching or working at the shop.

With each shop I worked at, I gained knowledge of hour quilt shops work. I picked up what worked and what didn’t at each shop. How to price products properly, how to connect with fabric sales reps, how to create community so that customers would keep coming back, how to “re-merchandise” products to avoid putting them on clearance, how to write a newsletter that ended up in sales, and last but not least if you are not on the internet (have a website) then you will be defunct in no time-these are just a few of the lessons I learned during my part-time jobs.

So even though I took a huge pay cut, I gained much intangible information to start my own shop and to do it right. So much so that I started two months before COVID started in 2020 and I was able to not only weather the storm but thrive.

Jackie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been quilting for 24 years and began teaching pieced (patchwork) quilting and designing patterns for classes almost 14 years ago. From time to time I still produce pieced quilt patterns and I thoroughly enjoy the process.

Realizing that this limited me from expressing my creativity, I now immerses myself in pictorial art quilts and creating this type of pattern for you to enjoy. Living near the foothills to the Rocky Mountains, I am surrounded by nature in all its glory. Inspiration “blooms” right outside my studio door. I also love to travel and always keep a camera in my pocket to capture the awesomeness of the great outdoors in my landscape quilts. This is were I get my inspiration for my quilt patterns.

Every business starts because of a problem. I started this business because I believe there’s an alternative to frustration! Back to the art quilts…I loves designing quilts, especially landscape quilts, and I have a 20-year stash of landscape fabrics to aid in this endeavor. Unfortunately, when people see my patterns or take my classes and want to re-create them, they don’t have access to my fabric stash!

So, my mission is this:

The first goal for my shop, Colorado Creations Quilting, is to make your shopping experience a happy one, with plenty of customer service should a need arise. Secondly, to be your one-stop shop for quality products of nature-themed 100% cotton prints and batik fabrics and other products necessary to create your project-including my full-sized, easy-to-follow quilt patterns. This will be a constant work in progress for me! Finally, I believe in fostering education. So, if you ever have a question regarding a product, technique or anything quilt-related look at my tutorial section (with more tutorials being added as I find the time in between creating!). If you don’t get your answer there, please feel free to contact me and of course a Google search is always helpful.

As the years have progressed, I’ve also branched out into lecturing and giving workshops about various quilt topics, commission pictorial quilt artwork, and vending/selling at large quilt shows.

I am most proud of the fact that when customers google nature-themed fabric or patterns, I’m starting to rise in the SEO ranks. Additionally, when I sell at large quilt shows, customers come looking for my booth. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Colorado Creations Quilting is becoming know in the vast quilt world.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think that the best why that society can best support artists/creatives is to shop local, and buy from small-owned shops; not the big box stores.

I can’t tell you how many times I overhear customers say that they can get cheaper fabric at a big box store. What they don’t realize is that it is not only cheaper in price but cheaper in quality. I scan the big box stores to look at the merchandise and many times find that it’s not that much cheaper than the quilt shop quality fabric that I sell. But not only do I supply quality products but I also give valuable advice on anything from which colors go well together, how much to buy for a given project to various quilting techniques. You wouldn’t find a sales person at big box stores that would do that for you!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is that my passion is being fulfilled.

Being an accountant/financial analyst in the past was rewarding but I knew in my heart that something was missing. My dad always stressed that I could NOT be a starving artist and needed to find a means to live at a comfortable level.

When I pivoted to being a creative, I was fortunate to be in a place that I did not need to worry about starving and could really concentrate on creativity. I wish I could have jumped into being a creative sooner in my life, but I think the timing happened for a reason.

Now I can truly devote my time and effort into traveling to get inspiration to make my pictorial fiber landscapes and other pictorial quilts. I find that I see God at His most awe-inspiring in nature. Next, to take the time to draw my inspiration, pick out the appropriate fabric, make pattern pieces and create.

When I complete a piece of artwork and stand back and really be able to take in the piece in its entirety, that passion of the journey feels complete, and I hope that God is smiling on my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coloradocreationsquilting.com/
• Instagram: coloradocreationsquilting
• Facebook: coloradocreationsquilting
• Other: Pinterest coloradocreations

Image Credits
All images were taken by and owned by Jackie Vujcich of Colorado Creations Quilting, LLC