Ellen Rushman

My mom grew up in a town that smells like chocolate.

I don’t know what my dad’s childhood town smelled like.

My parents met in sunny Los Angeles.

I was born a bit later in Hollywood.

My little brother and sister joined us along the way.

We all lived in Vermont.

I learned to knit and cross stitch.

I made ugly things.

We went on a train trip across America.

We moved to Phoenix.

We moved back to Vermont, couldn’t resist it.

I knit a lot in high school.

I went to college.

I knit a lot more.

I studied sociology and archaeology.

I learned to quilt while living in New York City.

I went to Europe.

I brought some fabric with me.

I hand pieced two quilts in six months.

They are still not quilted.*

*Approximately five years after I pieced them, I quilted my first two quilts.

After school, I moved to Phoenix.

I got a dog, Maybe.

I did the 9-5 grind.

I got a sewing machine.

Revolution.

I made many quilts, I even started quilting them.

My brother and sister made fun of me.

I got another dog, Also.

I decided to go back to graduate school.

But I didn’t like anything except quilts.

My dad and google determined my fate.

I moved to Nebraska to study quilts.

Go Big Red!

I detasseled corn.

Road trip: Houston Quilt Market/Festival.

Life. Changing.

I am finishing finished my thesis on the Modern Quilt Guild.

You can read all about it here.

I am outta school in May.

I need a job.  Hire me?

I got a job and moved to Cleveland.