I am willing to try just about anything artistic or crafty. I’m not particularly great at any of it but I’m happiest when I’m creating and sharing my creations. My current creative endeavor is quilting.
At the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, I started collecting various fabrics to make masks. I figured if we were all going to have to wear masks, we might as well be as comfortable as possible, look good, and have fun. But now, I have a little bit of leftover fabric, so I shifted my creative energy to quilting.
I volunteered to make a quilt for an auction supporting the Montgomery County Free Clinic where my husband is the executive director. I chose to mash-up a couple ideas I found on Pinterest using 2 ½” x 1 ½” rectangles to start. I began with 3,600 pieces and worked my way down to one queen-sized quilt in a crazy array of patterns and colors. It’s my favorite of anything I have ever made.
What I loved most about the quilt, is that while I was cutting, sorting, ironing, pinning, and sewing, I could remember when I had purchased the various fabrics and for whom I bought them. Lots of space patterns for my daughter who had attended Space Camp the year before; Dr. Seuss, soccer balls, stacks of books, and math equations for teachers; and for me, anything bright and playful.
As I pieced all those little rectangles together, sometimes I had to work to get them to fit right, and sometimes it felt like my idea would never work. But when I stepped back and looked at the entire quilt, I saw a beautiful story of the people I love, the people I met through mask making, and the variety of colors and fabrics that make us all unique.
Feels a little bit like Wabash. Our community is made up of alumni, students, faculty, staff, friends, and families who bring all sorts of stories, colors, and varieties of patterns and shapes to the conversation. Sometimes there’s a perfect fit. Other times, not so much. But if we stick with it, the end product turns out better than we could have ever imagined.
This issue is full of creation stories—art, architecture, music, games, connection, and more.
Meet Patrick Alston ’13 and Roscoe Wilson ’97. Both were art majors who studied under Professor Doug Calisch. Both credit him and the other art faculty as inspiring them to pursue their careers—one as a full-time painter and the other as an art professor.
Ever wonder if you have what it takes to create the next greatest game to hit the shelves? Read about the imaginative approaches of game developers Chris Zimmerman, Nathan Fouts ’97, Adam ’11 and Julia Phipps, and Logan Weilbaker ’25.
I am particularly pleased to introduce a new writer to Wabash Magazine. My daughter, Paige, takes us through being part of her first theater production at Wabash. She was one of many cast and crew members to stage the musical “Something Rotten!” Along with Paige, there are glimpses from several of the talented people involved.
These pages also show off some of the amazing work of a few other gifted members of our Wabash family.
It has been a joy to gather these stories and see what some of you are up to. If you are so inspired, please share with us. No matter the pattern, color, or texture of your story, you belong. You are an important part of the fabric of Wabash College, and I would love to showcase your piece as part of the quilt that makes us who we are.
I look forward to seeing what we can create together.
Kim