Season 5 Recap

In this episode, Andi and Tori reflect on their journey through five seasons of the Quilting on the Side podcast. They discuss the importance of community engagement, key business insights shared throughout the season, and highlight memorable guests who brought unique perspectives to the quilting industry. The conversation also touches on industry trends, the impact of AI, and preparations for the upcoming year, emphasizing the need for collaboration and support within the quilting community.

Chapters
00:00 Reflecting on Five Seasons of Podcasting
05:02 Engaging with the Community
10:50 Key Business Insights from Season Five
16:56 Guest Highlights and Unique Perspectives
24:20 Industry Trends and Future Directions
30:20 Planning for the Holidays and Beyond
39:04 Looking Ahead to Season Six

Mentioned in this Episode:

Craft to Career Podcast with h+h Americas’ Darrin Stern https://quilterscandy.com/hh

Season 5 Guests:

Jennifer Long @sewastory_jenniferlong
Dara Tomasson @dara_tomasson
Tasha Hayes @tashaquilts
Theresa Benson @theaiquilter
Laureen Smith @ttquilts
Meredith Marsh @meredithmarsh.co
Jessica Steele @jessicasteeledesign
and Karlee Porter @karleeporterdesign

Want More Quilting Business Content?
🔗 Support us on Patreon for exclusive perks
🔗 Grab Tori’s new book, Workshops Unleashed
📌 Follow us on Instagram

Co-Hosts:

Tori McElwain @heytori.tech

Andi Stanfield @truebluequilts

Transcript

Andi (00:05.804)
Welcome to our latest episode of Quilting on the Side. It is so fun to look back here at the end of the year. We are in December of 2025, and so you've got all of those kind of year-end feelings to reflect and anticipate the holidays.

And we have a tradition here on the podcast of a season recap. And so we just run down all of the topics and share some reflections. So before we get into the specifics, overall, Tori, how are you feeling here at the end of five seasons of podcasting together?

Tori McElwain (00:46.869)
Specifically after this one, I'm feeling relieved. I don't know that's a good thing or not, but I'm feeling relieved that we're at a recap. I am really enjoying the podcast. So I love our last, this last season, season five. We've got some really great guests. had some really fun topics. How are you feeling, Andy? How overall about this? What'd you say? Five seasons. Oh my goodness. Five seasons.

Andi (00:50.286)
Hahaha

Andi (01:08.172)
Yeah, yeah, no, it's just a fabulous part of my week to be able to chat about the quilting business with you, with our fabulous guests, and yeah, I just, I'm kind of amazed that we've made it this far. So it's a, like you said, it's that relief of putting out a good product because that's the other great thing that we've had this season is

We have enough momentum now that people are reaching out to us and it's wonderful to get that feedback and to hear from people that they're actually listening and enjoying our content. So that's always a gratifying feeling.

Tori McElwain (01:50.471)
It is, we've gotten emails, we've gotten comments. If you haven't left a review for the podcast, please take a second to do so and let us know how you're feeling about this season, season five and what you enjoyed. We would love to hear about that and then we can move it, those topics and things that you love we can keep doing for the next season, season six.

Andi (02:07.374)
Yeah, for sure. We definitely take our audience comments and use them to plan our next conversations. So definitely keep those comments and reviews coming. We really, really do appreciate it and it helps us increase our reach a little bit. So thanks so much. while we're on the topic.

Tori McElwain (02:27.679)
that's

Andi (02:33.132)
remind people that you can join Patreon and be involved in that conversation in real time.

Tori McElwain (02:39.495)
Yes, we have our community on Patreon. It's been a really fun community. meet for the $15 level, $15 a month. We meet live every month and we get to network and talk and chat and commiserate and answer questions and come up with strategy for your business problem. it's just not me and Andy. It's also the rest of our community. So we give the floor to everyone. It's very much like a hot seat coaching feeling, almost like a mini mastermind.

I would say, what would you, would you agree with that? What it feels like a mastermind.

Andi (03:10.308)
absolutely. Yeah, we really do dig into the specific tactics and brainstorm ideas for business activities within that Patreon community. So you are not going to find that level of support for that price anywhere else. So if you are just starting out with your quilt business and you want some real actionable

advice and support, definitely join the Quilting on the Side Patreon.

Tori McElwain (03:43.925)
Yes, we have ladies at all, couple different levels. Most of them are within their first couple years of business. And some of them are more idealizing. They're more like they're getting ideas for business and haven't quite jumped in yet. Or they're trying to take the next step. They figured out they want to do a pattern design or they figured out they're going to do long arming, but they don't know what to do after that. So they come in and we talk about it, some options and you know, like I said, we answer questions and we talk about it.

Andi (03:46.733)
Mm-hmm.

Andi (03:54.84)
Mm-hmm.

Tori McElwain (04:09.045)
do a lot of talking with those. And it's really, really fun to see what everybody's doing and networking. And we also within the page, we don't just have the live Q &A's. We have all of the podcast organized so you can listen and watch and see the extras that come with them. So there are a few podcast episodes where we've created workbooks so you can actually go through the workbook with the podcast, like things like planning a quilt along. That was a favorite, as well as annual planning. We have a goal setting sheet that is

three pages and it just helps you put down those ideas so you can work through the podcast episodes and actually get physical workbooks to go with these episodes. Not all of them have one, but there are some really handy ones that we've gotten some great feedback on. And then we do our annual and our quarterly planning, which is open to everyone, whether you are free or paying, it's open to everyone. So I hope that you consider joining our Patreon. It's a community-based platform.

and it's really simple to use and it's really fun to see everyone interacting.

Andi (05:10.028)
Yeah, exactly. Just that, like you said, that interaction, being able to talk things through in real time or on a discussion board is obviously better than for us as hostesses, it's better than the podcast because we do get that more immediate feedback and conversation going. So with that, let's dive into our season five recap. And we actually started out with

a really good conversation about market research and how to do it, why it's important, all that great stuff.

Tori McElwain (05:47.465)
We did, and I think that's such an important piece of business is to really get into who our customer really is and how specific we can get with each product and who is going to love each product and helps with all kinds of things. And it really helps with marketing.

Andi (06:04.554)
Yeah, for sure. It's definitely a topic that we need to revisit in our business fairly regularly. So go give that season five, episode one, another listen for market research.

Tori McElwain (06:18.685)
And then we had our first guest of the season, which who is Jennifer with Sewist Story. She was so much fun to talk to. She I remember what stuck out with me with this conversation was how she walked through her design process from idea to when she got the fabric in her hand and her role in it. And I just I really loved that level of detail for our audience. I feel like that is a wall that not a lot of people get to hear the story behind. If that makes sense. I that was a great.

Andi (06:47.094)
Yeah, it sure does.

Tori McElwain (06:48.775)
A great look behind the scenes.

Andi (06:50.516)
Yeah, and she was actually the first fabric designer I think that we have talked to. So it was really interesting getting that, like you said, that perspective of how a artist, quilt designer works with a fabric company. So definitely a wonderful episode with Jennifer from Sew a Story. And then we talked about a topic

near and dear to both of our hearts, which is self-publishing. And I had dabbled in, not dabbled, I produced two self-published pattern books several years ago that are still available on Amazon. And you have a brand new offer out there with self-publishing, so tell us about that, Tori.

Tori McElwain (07:38.089)
I did. during that time, like I published my own book, Workshops Unleashed, and we also opened up the self-publishing incubator, which helps crafters and specifically quilters right now to publish self-published their own books. So it puts together three experts in one room where we've got a content editor, a tech editor, and me as your marketing specialist and an accountability partner, me as your accountability, to help you write.

and complete and publish and then market and launch your book. And that has been so much fun. We had almost filled the entire program on our first launch and our authors right now are like in their, their like their drafts are being written. They're writing and they're coming. I'm just so excited because I just had a meeting yesterday with one author and it was just wonderful to watch her ideas come to life because this is something she's been thinking about for years and she never had.

the framework or the structure to sit down and actually make it happen. And it is so much fun to watch these authors blossom and write. And if you're looking, if you're thinking about a book might be in your future, if you think that might be something you want to do, that episode that we recorded, it walks you through a few prompts to kind of get ideas going and see if there is a book there that you might want to write in the future. That's a great episode to listen to for the first year, I think, with like yearly planning.

Andi (09:00.886)
Yeah, yeah. Full disclosure, I am in the self-publishing incubator and I don't want to talk too much about it because it's, you know, still in the baby stages, but as I work through Tori's program, you will definitely hear more about my ideas there and I can, you know, five stars. It's been a wonderful program. So when you open up the doors again, I will be

shouting from the rooftops because I think it's been a very valuable experience and I can't wait to finish it up. more to come on the self-publishing stuff.

Tori McElwain (09:38.069)
Yes, we're going to put you in the hot seat. I don't know if she knows it yet, but we're putting her in the hot seat when her book is about ready to launch. And we're going to let you guys know exactly what this book is going to be about.

Andi (09:46.902)
Yep, yep, more to come in 2026. So then we invited back Dara Thomason for our life coaching session. And we did not realize how timely that conversation was that just, you know, being able to deal with controversial stressful topics as a business owner.

We just, know, serendipity, lightning strike that it all just, it was perfect timing for that conversation. with the state of the world, you know, we definitely need to revisit that and just be comfortable with our own decisions and values and communicate that.

Tori McElwain (10:39.719)
I totally agree. I think that's one to save and come back to whenever something is really emotionally heavy for you and whether you're sitting and deciding whether or not as a business how you want to show up and kind of address what's going on in the world. I think that is definitely episode to listen to often. I'll definitely save it.

Andi (10:57.462)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I'm hearing one of the things that makes that such an important episode is that everybody is talking about authenticity and that's one of the ways to show up authentically is to share your opinions and that can be scary and stressful. So, like you said, definitely give that episode a listen if you're

you're feeling anxious about those kind of things. Dara is a wonderful calming presence for some of those topics.

Tori McElwain (11:31.977)
And it's been wonderful to invite her back on multiple times. And we've decided that we're going to invite her on for every single season. So you'll also hear from Dara in 2026, if she'll agree to be on, which I think she might. So I think that is a great reoccurring guest to have for quilters and our mindset, because business is so much about our mindset and having her come on and share those specific topics and ways to get around those barriers we all face has been, I think, very valuable.

Andi (11:38.647)
on it.

Andi (11:42.914)
Yeah.

Andi (12:01.89)
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Tori McElwain (12:02.997)
So the next one we got into was a lot more detail, a lot more practical in the sense of business planning, which was all about holiday sales systems for Black Friday. So whether to do a sale, how you can structure a sale, and that, Andy, I think this might be one of our best ones for any time that you're thinking of a sale, whether that's in the summer, whether it's at Black Friday, but that was a fun one to record. Do you remember talking about that?

Andi (12:28.534)
Yeah, yeah, it was very, a very detailed conversation. Even from the initial question of should I run a sale? And that's, like you mentioned, a good topic to think of at any time of the year, because we are such a consumer focused retail society. And, you know, you look at the world, the business world and

how they're marketing and the events and you know there's something for for every month of the year and having those strategic discussions and thought process as reflections in your business is important so that's another episode that people can go back to especially as they start planning their next season or year in their business.

and when and if they're going to have sales. Exactly.

Tori McElwain (13:29.961)
Yes, but don't under price. Don't under price, even with the sale done under price.

Andi (13:36.278)
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Tori McElwain (13:37.941)
I'll keep talking.

Andi (13:41.39)
Yep. So our next timely topic, it seems like, was on a discussion point for everybody, no matter what business they're in, was AI. And we talked to Teresa, who is the AI quilter. And again, another person I can't wait to invite back and get deeper into that conversation because she really had some interesting points about using AI in

business and in your quilt business specifically.

Tori McElwain (14:13.373)
You know what she mentioned that stuck with me was that color is math. And I have not forgotten that. I'm just like, my gosh, how, how, how? And I want her on just so that we can ask her more about that and explain what she like really meant like in detail. Like I'm excited to hear more about that. But that conversation was, you're right, very timely with AI coming out and how I love her approach to this because I, I know that there's a lot of conversation on AI and the environment, but I also feel like

Andi (14:23.352)
Yeah.

Tori McElwain (14:42.471)
AI is here and those that are deciding not to use it are going to start. I hate to say falling behind, but it's almost like when the internet started and people decided not to use it, they also started losing customer base because they weren't where people are. And I think that that conversation was super important to understand what AI is. So if you're not sure what AI is, we had a great conversation with Teresa about what it actually is.

and how best to use it. And if you're using it sparingly, if you're using it strategically, it can help with that huge environmental impact that we're trying to avoid. We don't want to the environment, but we also, as business owners, do have to consider how much time and effort and energy we're putting in on a day-to-day type of basis. But I love the way she explained it, and I love her math is color thing, and I'm so excited to hear more about that.

Andi (15:31.982)
Yeah, she does have a book out about how to use AI in your crafting, quilting endeavors, and that's been a great resource to kind of walk through because I am one of those slower adopters on this thing. Usually I try to keep up with, you know, what's what the current

technology is, but I've just found myself a little bit resistant to that. But, you know, New Year's resolutions, we're diving in and making it work for us. definitely chat with or listen to our chat with Teresa to get some ideas about how you can do that for yourself.

Tori McElwain (16:11.317)
So, yeah.

Tori McElwain (16:17.939)
I did read her, I did read her book cover to cover on the airplane. It was an easy read. It's easy to understand. She has great prompts in there. I didn't get to use the prompts because I was on airplane, but it was a great book to learn more about the history of AI, how it developed and what it is about. So if you're more of a reader to really understand those things, I would definitely care.

Andi (16:21.442)
Yeah.

Andi (16:27.16)
Mm-hmm.

Andi (16:37.998)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And then we jumped right into a recap mid-season because we celebrated our 75 episode milestone. again, kudos, pats on the back to both of us because we've been consistently showing up now for over 75 episodes, which actually puts us in like the top 10 % of podcasts because a lot of people just

throw a few episodes out there and then quit. you know, that is not our style. So go, go Tori, go Andy.

Tori McElwain (17:15.668)
Yeah, yeah.

Tori McElwain (17:21.356)
Oh my gosh, our next guest, I had to miss this interview and I'm really sad I did because I loved listening to it. But our next guest was Tasha. What do you remember from Tasha's interview?

Andi (17:30.614)
Lasha has become such a good friend, actually, you know, we've connected and are in several other message groups and, you know, other platforms where we can get together and hang out online. And she is just a great example of building a business that works for you because she is a busy mom.

working full time outside of quilting and she has, she's done such great things in terms of starting a YouTube channel, starting a membership community, putting out patterns. It's just been really fun to watch.

Tori McElwain (18:15.541)
And her patterns are gorgeous. Like I love what she's created. And I'm really excited to see how her journey goes. Like how next year will go for her. Cause she is such a go getter. And I love being in those, I've been in a few of those spaces, not all of them, but a few of them with her. And it's just like, yay, go Tasha.

Andi (18:17.282)
movie.

Andi (18:31.075)
Yeah.

Yep, yep. And then we had another great discussion on what to do with your quilt samples. And that was, I think, you know, one of those things that is on everybody's mind, but nobody talks about it.

Tori McElwain (18:51.475)
Yeah, I agree. That was a fun discussion on how can we sell our quilts? Because I know we went deep on selling on that one because it's like, it worth selling? Do we keep them? What do we do with these? And like, which ones do we keep if we're going to get rid of some? then, yeah, that was an interesting conversation. So if you are overwhelmed with your quilt samples, that would be a great episode to go back and listen to.

Andi (18:59.736)
Mm-hmm.

Andi (19:11.618)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And then we had another wonderful guest, Laureen, and that actually I've looked back at our stats. That was one of our most watched episodes on YouTube and she just is a powerhouse of pattern writing.

Tori McElwain (19:31.901)
She is, I told her that I was so excited to get her on after she told me she had 750 patterns. I was like, what? So she has, she is, she's a friend and she is so much fun to talk to you, but that episode specifically, I think helped outline a business model for other pattern designers. How do, how do, how she.

took what she was really good at and was able to build it from there. And then she even started like reaching out to see what else she could do in the quilting industry. I think it was a really, really fun episode. What do you remember from Laureen's, anything else you remember from Laureen's interview?

Andi (20:09.192)
Yeah, I think you hit the biggest takeaways was just kind of how to produce at that level and stay organized and work within a system. You know, she does things maybe a little bit differently or with some older tools. I think she said she still uses Microsoft Word for her pattern writing and she makes it work, you know, whereas other

newer designers are using the Adobe Suite and, you know, it's just a testament to do what works for you and you can be successful. So yeah, I thought that was a wonderful episode.

Tori McElwain (20:54.581)
And our next one was all about, cause I think I wanted to record this episode. I don't know what you were thinking about this, but I was thinking we needed to record something to help individuals raise up the quilting industry. And that was our, how do we work together? So like, I forget what we named it. That's what we named it.

Andi (21:11.444)
Yeah, collaboration over competition, which was another really well received episode. We got a lot of comments on that and just because I think one of the important things that you mentioned in that episode was how pattern designers need to work together with the fabric shops as like raising both of them up, not just using the fabric.

store as the place to get our materials, but really supporting them and making sure they're being successful, not just a place to feature our products.

Tori McElwain (21:51.731)
Yes, definitely. had, I think we kind of shared a peek behind the door in that episode too, because sharing our perspective on how a quilt shop might think or how quilt pattern designer might think and how they can work together because we're seeing a, I don't, you know, it's weird because so the industry is we've seen a lot of clothes, at least in my area, I'm seeing a lot of local quilt shops closed, but I'm seeing a few more like open, not.

It's not like a great balance. It seems like a little more closing than our opening. We saw that this week, Quilt Market is canceled indefinitely as of now. They still have Quilt Festivals, so you can still go as a consumer to a show at Houston, and the dates had changed. But we're seeing this shift in the industry, and I don't know exactly what it is, but my prediction is it's more about individuals. And if those individuals keep trying to be individual,

it's going to be a lot harder for the industry to rise. So we do need to take our individual businesses, but also look at how it fits in the big picture and how we can work together. So everyone is more successful, not only us as solo producers, but also the people we want to help, like the quilters, the quilt shops, because we can't survive without each other. I'm like a quilt pattern designer. When they design a quilt and they put it out on the internet, they sell like 30 and that's great. But if they get it in a shop, they get to sell to

the people who go to the shop, get support from the quilt shop and the quilt shop gets an amazing pattern that their customers are going to love. Then they can also, if the quilt shop requests these patterns from the distributor, then the distributor reaches out to the pattern designer and then now more people get to see that pattern. The quilters get to create this wonderful pattern. The quilt shop gets it at distributor pricing. There's so much that goes on that I don't think everyone sees all those bits and pieces. And I think that

part of that episode we recorded, I think it started that conversation and I hope that people are taking it and continuing that conversation. And we did get some really cool feedback from that one. So if you haven't heard that one yet, that one was the collaboration of a competition and it's just ideas. We're just kind of throwing stuff out there to see how we can, as individuals, help raise up the quilting industry. So we're not feeling so alone.

Andi (23:58.712)
Mm-hmm.

Andi (24:08.774)
Exactly, yeah, that was very important for a lot of us that are solopreneurs. So, you know, we feel like we're working in isolation, but we really are part of a larger community and we can tap into that, like you said, to make it better for everyone. so that was a great topic. And then we brought in someone from outside the quilt world, but we had a great conversation with Meredith Marsh all about YouTube.

which is my favorite topic.

Tori McElwain (24:40.669)
Yes, she was so much fun to talk to. What do you remember most about Meredith's episode?

Andi (24:47.234)
I immediately put one of her ideas in action because she was telling us about how you can launch a course almost from a Google doc. It was really a good kick in the pants to be able to... You've got all these resources if you are a video content producer and you can package them in all sorts of interesting ways.

Tori McElwain (24:59.7)
Yes.

Andi (25:16.811)
That was my biggest takeaway from Meredith. And I just, like you said, I enjoy talking to her and diving deep into the strategy and the things that go on with your analytics when you are working to produce content.

Tori McElwain (25:32.213)
And I did link her crash course below that episode. So if you want to go take her crash course on YouTube, that looked like a really good one. I watched like one episode because I've been like super sick. I've been really sick the last couple of weeks, which I think is part of why I'm so relieved that it's like a recap. Anyway, so Meredith, I instantly put her advice to work too. So I opened a brand new YouTube channel. Still getting used to the terms. YouTube channel.

Andi (25:48.846)
Mm-hmm.

Andi (25:56.418)
Mm-hmm.

Tori McElwain (25:58.901)
and I immediately did a series. did a series. posted a video every day for two weeks about my book and that was interesting. it wasn't successful by any means, but what it did do was it allowed me to set up a rhythm for how I could do videos. It got me over that fear of being live on video. Like not live, I can do live. I'm a lot more comfortable with live than I am on recording, editing, and I'm posting a video, right? That makes me really nervous.

Andi (26:09.11)
Ha ha ha.

Tori McElwain (26:28.031)
helping getting over that, not great yet. I still sound really nervous, especially my intro video. Like if you wanna hear what nervous Tori really sounds like, listen to my intro video. Cause I'm like shaking like in that video. But like I put that into practice too. I also put into practice her bingo idea for my digital marketing and magic community. We played bingo for Halloween for like a celebratory thing. And that was really fun. So I'm glad that you guys mentioned the bingo card cause that inspired my holiday party with that.

Andi (26:55.51)
Yeah, now that you mentioned it, that was a fabulous technique for engagement and, you know.

spurring people to action for business improvements. And so if you're wondering about Bingo, then you need to go listen to our episode where we chatted with Meredith Marsh all about YouTube and obviously dabbling in other marketing and business strategies. So then we moved right into a

another recap type episode where I shared my experience with summits, with online summits that are taking the quilting world by storm, it seems like in 2025 and continuing into 2026. This idea where someone hosts a collection of teachers for, you know, two, three days a weekend.

Andi (27:59.502)
Excuse me, you'll have some editing to do.

Tori McElwain (28:01.653)
Bye.

Andi (28:04.344)
But I wasn't the hostess of the summit, but as a participant, really opened the curtains, pulled them back so people could see the good, bad, and the ugly. yeah, it was, you know me, Tori, I'm always willing to share what's going on in the nitty gritty, even though it's not, I don't have those skyrocketing sales numbers, but.

You know, it's, my little business is chugging right along.

Tori McElwain (28:38.309)
What you share is real. And I think that it was timely as well. I think that was a timely episode because a lot of the summits are starting to look for presenters in the new year. So we had a lot of people reaching out saying, thank you for this. Like I really needed that episode to really understand what a summit was, how it works on the backend, what my role as a teacher might be, because they're all just a little bit different. And I think that was a great episode to share with our audience. And I'm really glad that you agreed to be in the hot seat for that, because I that can be intimidating.

Andi (29:07.534)
Yeah, sure thing. So I do think it's a valuable experience. you know, as you said, there are summits coming up in 2026. And I need to take my own advice and go listen to that episode again and get my mind in the right place and make sure I have all my ducks in a row as we move into a new year.

Tori McElwain (29:30.677)
Speaking of New Year, our next episode was all about how to have a happy holiday, how to set yourself up so that you can step away from your business and enjoy the holidays. So little things you can do, but also keeping in mind the trends of the industry, which is, I think, a really important topic that we don't hear enough about.

Andi (29:35.329)
you

Andi (29:50.114)
Yeah, yeah, we'll definitely have to listen to that one again. You know, it's one of these things that we take a break in our podcast schedule just because we're busy, busy moms, busy working women, and it, we are quilting on the side. This is a side hustle. We don't have, you know, full-time efforts into this podcast, so it needs to fit our lives.

But that means that during the off season, people can go back and re-listen to these because they do have each evergreen value. definitely listen to that holiday planning episode and figure out how you can work with the seasons and make your business fit your lifestyle as well. And we had a guest in there too.

We had a wonderful episode with Jessica Steele who has a beautiful business built around sports themed quilts, which is so cool.

Tori McElwain (30:58.897)
It was, my gosh, I can't believe I skipped her. Like, because we were going in order, but my eyes must have missed it. I'm sorry, Jessica. Yes, Jessica was so much fun to talk to. She has such a unique niche and I thought it was awesome how she has developed sports designs in like a modern quilt aesthetic. Like it's so cool and it's so, it's so like.

Andi (31:01.326)
I'm

Yeah.

Andi (31:12.782)
Mm-hmm.

Tori McElwain (31:26.277)
It's how do you describe it? how would you describe it? Cause like, think it's awesome because it's not screaming sports, right? It's still something I could put on my couch for my mom to come and see when I'm visiting, like, or when she's visiting, like stuff like that, where my husband's sports stuff is like a Jersey on the wall. And like, cause I shared that episode, my husband's a huge football fan. So he's like a Jersey on the wall guy. He's got his rally, I don't know what to call it, rally towels, towels, hanging up next to it. Like his sports decoration is very like in your face sports.

Andi (31:28.054)
Yeah.

Andi (31:50.638)
Yeah.

Tori McElwain (31:55.859)
and her stuff is wonderful. Like I think it's wonderful because it's like a hint of sports. It's fun, but it also allows it to be more decorative and useful in other parts of the house, not just like in a man cave, which is, it's kind of a syrup.

Andi (32:07.99)
Right, right. And it definitely, yeah, it definitely has that fresh modern aesthetic, a little bit minimal, like you said, that it doesn't scream, you know, soccer or softball, but it definitely works for those sports fans. And, you know, we, I just see it as such a perfect

personalization effort because everybody has their favorite team, their school colors, their, you know, and you can you can honor those milestones for the younger folks in because, you know, the kids are the ones usually doing playing sports. So you can honor their their achievements and their milestones with these wonderful quilts. So good job, Jessica. It was wonderful to talk to you and hear your story.

And that brought us to our final guest of this season was Karlee Porter. And we kind of traded on the episodes that we missed. I was so bummed that I had to miss the conversation because she is like, you you said during the episode you were fangirling and I would have been also because she is has made such an impact on the quilt industry that

It was really, really fun to listen to your conversation and get those wonderful insights into her journey and how she has packaged her ideas. It just is fabulous.

Tori McElwain (33:51.389)
I love and I totally am bang on. You said Karlee Porter immediately. Like she's so much fun to talk to. I really love how open she is and how willing she is to share like what she did, how she developed things like her site, her business side. I loved all the advice she gave. I had a hard time picking reels for that episode. Cause I'm like, want to put them all out there, but I have to like narrow this down. Cause we did talk for a while. So we had one of our longer episodes was the episode with Karlee Porter.

Andi (33:54.656)
Hahaha

Tori McElwain (34:17.459)
which I think is timely, because she's been in this quilting industry for so long. And I think that she had some really great insights and advice and just stories to tell. And it was so much fun, so much fun to have her on. And maybe we can have her back if you can be there. So we can have another conversation with Karlee Porter in the future, because that would be amazing.

Andi (34:37.096)
Yeah, that well, you know, it's one of those things that I'd love to have conversations with all of our guests over again. So, yeah, it, it, you're right, she was very open. And it's a good reminder that quilting is not just for older people in their retirement years, that younger women are

Tori McElwain (34:46.933)
Yep.

Andi (35:07.006)
And man, I'm sure there's, there's, you know, the younger guys out there too, but that quilting is for all ages. So.

Tori McElwain (35:16.309)
Yeah, that reminds me. I just listened to Elizabeth Chappell's podcast, Craft 2 Career, heard an interview with Darren... Oh, I don't know his last name. It's an H &H dude, right? I don't know if he listens. I hope he doesn't listen to this. I don't know if he's listening. I could see his face though. But so he is in charge of H &H and organizing it. And one thing that he was talking about when it comes to

Andi (35:29.448)
Hahaha

Andi (35:35.971)
Yeah.

Tori McElwain (35:45.811)
the ideal customer for H &H and the craft festival that's going to come with it this year. It's our first year doing a customer-based show, not just a business to business, but also business to consumer show. He was talking about how you'll notice that when you get on TikTok, you'll see thousands of young people sewing, crocheting, making things, but they don't identify as a knitter or they don't identify as a quilter. And

he's finding a way and I think he's doing a really great job by the way he explained his thinking and reasoning behind all the things he's doing this May for H &H of bringing that audience in and it's really a really cool conversation. I'll link up below this podcast because I think it would be really cool for our audience to hear more about H &H as well because that is

Now our only, I think it's our only trade show for the quilting and fiber industry or less the quilting industry for 2026. And then 2027, there at least is one more happening that I know of, which is Crossroads in California, which is going to be next. It's going to be with like Road to California. So that guy who runs Road to California is also doing a trade show. It's going to be their first year in January 2027.

Andi (36:58.318)
Mm-hmm.

Tori McElwain (37:06.729)
So that'll be interesting. But this year, 2020 is its coming year, I should say 2026. The only trade show that I know of is H &H happening in May. Have you heard anything?

Andi (37:19.022)
Yeah, like you said, that whole business to business quilt industry.

event business segment. I can't even find the words to describe what I'm talking about. But like you said, that business to business event landscape has changed because as at the time of this recording, we just heard a few days ago that Quilt Market is not happening in the future. That's the big Houston show that

Tori McElwain (37:38.879)
This is, this is, yeah.

Andi (37:59.73)
all the quilt shops owners used to attend and be able to talk to the fabric companies and the notions and pattern designers would go and network and all that kind of stuff. And over the last few years, we saw that the rise of H &H, as you said, has now become the destination. But it is...

useful to have multiple events in different locations. know, people can't always travel across the country and, you know, the time of year depending may make it hard. So I'm glad that the folks at Road to California are putting out the Crossroads event.

So yeah, that's definitely a topic for the future because we've reached the end of our season five recap and yeah, it's been a wonderful journey and we're so glad that people are finding value in our conversations and we're looking forward to continuing in the future.

Tori McElwain (39:09.127)
Yes, 2026 is going to be so much fun. We have a lineup already of topic ideas, but we love to hear from you. So if you have a topic you want to hear on, we're definitely going be talking more about H &H because I'm going. And we are it's a it's a great show for our industry. So we're definitely talking more about that. But if you had a favorite topic this season, let us know what it is. Send us a message. Send us a email. Message us on Instagram. We're all over the place. We'd love, love, love to hear from you.

Andi (39:21.442)
Yes, yes.

Andi (39:37.816)
Thanks so much for being here and we'll be back for season six real soon.