Cheryl Arkison, Canadian Quilter Becomes Fabric Designer

How fun is it to watch a published Canadian quilter take things to the next level and become a fabric designer! Meet Cheryl Arkison.

Cheryl is no stranger to CQA/ACC and you know her generousity, as she has allowed us to use her 'slab block' pattern for the Big Quilt Bee to make 1,000 quilts for kids in care at Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada.

A little about Cheryl:

Writer, quilter, and mom. I write and teach on quilting, craft, creativity, food, and family. And it all comes from my dining room empire in her crowded, colourful house. From this space I wrote Sunday Morning Quilts (co-authored with Amanda Jean Nyberg), A Month of Sundays, and You Inspire Me to Quilt. I teach quilting around the country and online via Craftsy and Creative Live. A proud first generation Ukrainian, I am committed to not letting the artistry of food and craft from my heritage pass by unnoticed in the modern age. With three kidlets running through the house, on top of an incredible barking dog, it is amazing that I get anything done. My compulsion to create is fueled by that chaos. Not only does my family, especially my daughters, inspire me to be true to myself, they drive me to create. In part so that they don’t drive me crazy! Whether at the end of the day, in the early morning darkness, or in a stolen moment of quiet I find joy and respite in fabric and words. And feed me a really good burger and I will love you forever, ask my husband.

When we asked Cheryl about designing fabric, she had this to say:

When tasked with designing my first fabric collection I first went to the idea of graffiti. I love good graffiti - the colours, the text, the idea of leaving your mark (even if it is illegal). But graffiti is an art form in and of itself, so I took the notion of making marks to my design work. I started with the first literal marks we often make, scribbles on the wall, and worked my way up to our last words. The collection is text based, graphic in nature, and available in black, grey, and white. There is a range of scales of prints too. I think the versatility shows through, making some prints great where you might otherwise use a solid, some are perfect backgrounds, and others are wonderful features. Together the entire line has good contrast and great potential. You can get the fabrics directly from Connecting Threads.

Congratulations Cheryl! We look forward to see the exciting things that happen in 2017 for you!