North Side
Marie Staiger | Roseville
I grew up on the East side, and currently work in St. Paul. I was immediately attracted to this project as a way to not only use my knitting and crochet skills, but to connect with this hometown project. I am happy that people will be able to see fiber work displayed as a legitimate art form. Many knitters, crocheters, and quilters I know are so talented that I consider their pieces to be works of art.
I always find myself working in bright vibrant colors. My weather cozy, showing average high and low temperatures in St. Paul, varies in most of the colors of the rainbow. It is inspired by my grandpa, Ben Webster, who faithfully kept records of rainfalls and loved his Farmer’s Almanac. My second cozy in the Farmers Market is even brighter, with bright flowers against a background of almost neon green. I hope to bring some color and hope that spring is just around the corner!
Cozy Dedication: “To my Grandpa Ben.”
Suchi Sairam | St. Paul, MN
Wind Chimes (cozy #1) – I love making baby quilts and try new patterns. This cozy was an excuse to try a Wind Chimes pattern I’ve had on my radar for a long time.
Entwined Hexagons (cozy #2) – Though I’m an artist, I’m an engineer at heart – and quilting lets me experience the confluence of both these loves. I loved the spiral shape created by entwining hexagons, and thought it might look cool on a cozy – another excuse to try something new!
Cozy Dedication: “To those who have lovingly given me the gift of art.”
Judi G.|St. Paul, MN
Bridget Adams | St. Paul, MN
I love living in Saint Paul and working downtown. I’m excited to be a part of this project and bring fiber art to the city. All winter long, I love to see the hats and scarves and sweaters of the people around me. I get to enjoy seeing the art that people wear to keep warm. Now, I get to showcase that art so others can see the time, the care, and the passion that goes into things they may take for granted.
Meet the Maker! Watch video here.
Rachael G.
My name is Rachael and I am prominently a musician, getting into “making” these recent years, and grateful to be partaking in a community project that is a different artistic medium than what I’m used to. I also have been living outside of my hometown of St. Paul for the past few years so this is an extra special project for me to be a part of.
I chose to do a cozy for a few reasons.
The first reason being that St. Paul has been nothing short of a fantastic place to live for me.
I grew up in the Cherokee Park neighborhood. I played at that park almost every day. I hiked the bluffs all the time, and those little spots down the bluffs by the river are my favorite places to this day, not to mention the view from the top being almost of equal merit. Growing up, this city witnessed my life from across the river, and I swear I could see it looking back whenever I sat atop the south side of the Mississippi looking down at its nucleus. Of course I had been Downtown as a kid, but my trajectory was small. As I transitioned into adulthood, I expanded into this view of the city I wanted so achingly to explore as a child. I could have gone to college somewhere else, could have just went out West and into the woods I so loved… or just over to Minneapolis… but I went Downtown. I knew there was something for me there, things to give and recieve. I knew I had to be inside the nucleus, live and breathe the city’s center. I started taking the bus around as a teen and for those first couple years you’d find me Downtown (if I wasn’t wreaking havok up in West St. Paul) lingering between transfers – in Rice Park or at the library, down the hill smoking cigarettes at Raspberry Island, listening to a busker, talking with whoever wanted to talk, or happening on a Jazz Festival. Around this time I was really into my music. Recording all the time, but performing almost never. I’m lucky enough to have an older sister who is also a musician. She took me out to a lot of great open mic spots like the Dunn Bros on Grand, Music Go Round in Highland, as well as introducing me to Wild Tymes (and later the Artist Quarters). There are SO many great music spots all over St. Paul But most importantly for me, there’s Lowertown.
A friend I had been playing music with invited me to put on a show at this cafe called Golden’s Deli. Like I said, I hadn’t played many shows, at this point I was just recently out of Highschool. We played one show and the owner and my friend set up a weekly gig for us for the Farmer’s Market. For like, the whole summer. Just like that. And just like that, I was somebody. I was integrated into this pulsating heart of creativity. Playing music almost every weekend, with other friends and musicians, meeting so many amazing and talented individuals, through them being able to partake in other musical shows like First Fridays and the Art Crawls, and so many smaller shows that spilled from studios and galleries into the streets with joyous fervour. I had even more reason to hang around St. Paul and its beacon to the divine I consider Lowertown to be. This place and its occupants established a sincere respect of How Art Works in my mind as well as my character. Which aided my further involvement in our sister city of Minneapolis. And everyone who I met in Minneapolis, I introduced to Lowertown. “You have NEVER been to St. Paul? Well, let’s go and I’ll show you how we do it over there.”
I am forever grateful to the people I have been lucky enough to meet in Lowertown, St. Paul. That brings me to the second reason I am involving myself in the Cozy project.
These two amazing people running it have been two of the many who have shown me gratuity and opportunity St. Paul. Any project they are diligently setting up, you bet I’m trying to be a part of that. You ladies are amazing.
The third and final reason (because 3 is a magic number), is my Grandmother.
Born and raised in St. Paul, an integral part of humanity and kindness in our community through many churches and organizations, my Grandma taught me by example what being a good person means, and what kind of character that takes. She also was the inspiration to me as a singer. And she was a quilter. So, of course, this has inspired me to do my first ever quilt for the Cozy project. Consider this an homage to my Grandmother, and a big hug to my St. Paul people.
Jane Ellison | St. Paul, MN
It began in 1990. I met a group of women that held regular Stitch’n’Bitch gatherings. I did not know how to knit, but wanted so much to be part of the group that I decided to learn how. Since 1990, the quality of yarn has improved greatly and YouTube and Ravelry have become powerful resources. Today I’m almost as excited with the things that I am learning about knitting as I was when I began almost 30 years ago! Knitting is a wonderful meditation for me and I continue to knit almost daily.
Somewhere around 1990, I read an article in the Minnesota Women’s Press about a quilt store in Avon, Minnesota called Aunt Annie’s Quilts and Silks. At the time I was not a quilter, but decided that I really wanted to learn how to quilt. I clipped the article and shuffled it around in my papers for about 10 years. In 2001, I was trying to knit patterns from one of Kaffe Fasset’s pattern books, (before he published quilt books) and decided that I liked working with color and rather than tying in all of those ends, quilting would be a better way to explore color work. My new sister-in-law was a quilter. I told her about Aunt Annie’s and away we went. I was hooked and there has been no turning back.
Over the years, I have taken many quilt classes and spent many hours and dollars at the quilt store. I have made many large bed quilts and lap quilts using various techniques and really like piecing. I have followed the tradition of my grandmothers and exhibited my quilts in the Grant County Fair. I received a 4th place ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair in 2017. Also in 2017, I joined the Minnesota Contemporary Quilters Guild at the Textile Center and am transitioning to making smaller Art Quilts, that is if I can ever finish up my WIP inventory of bed quilts. In October 2017, I joined the Lowertown Underground Artist Group in the basement of the Northern Warehouse where I display my varied textile creations.
In my work time, I am an accountant and feel just as passionate about designing my accounting systems and software as I do about my textiles.
I’m always drawn in by the people, the learning and the wonderfulness of the textiles.
Thanks to Tara and Rachel for organizing this project. It is a really neat opportunity for us fiber-istas!
Meet the Maker! Watch video here.
South Side
Judith Hibbard | Lowertown, St. Paul, MN
For my mother, whose love and scholarly appreciation of color, architectural preservation, feminism, and public art has always inspired me. If she were still here, she’d crochet one too and her cozy would look completely different from mine.
Cozy Dedication: “For my mother, whose love and scholarly appreciation of color, architectural preservation, feminism, and public art has always inspired me. If she were still here, she’d crochet one too and her cozy would look completely different from mine.”
Meet the Maker! Watch video here.
Sara Julson | Brooklyn Park, MN
Yarn has been a passion of mine for nearly 16 years. It has run in my family. This project was a way for me to create a fun piece and work on teaching my daughter the love of yarn.
Tara L Tieso | Lowertown St. Paul, MN
I love to knit, it’s like meditation for me. Simple stitches are especially relaxing – slow and rhythmic and calming. I also really love knitting for others – so this project was a wonderful experience!
My cozy is dedicated to the amazing volunteers at The Show Gallery – Lowertown, who create a one-of-a-kind community where creative people of all abilities come together as artists to support, empower and learn from one another – and bring their art to the world! Just as each stitch we knit creates a cozy fabric, each volunteer’s talents, ideas and love come together to create a warm community that supports a diversity of artists whose work might not otherwise be seen in a gallery.
Like the warm burst of colors spilling out of my cozy, The Show’s volunteers are the undying spark that nurtures a unique and ever-growing artists community! They are the best!
After you view all the other beautiful cozies, stop over at The Show Gallery, just 1/2 block from 4th Street on Sibley (346 N Sibley Street, St Paul, 55101.
Cozy Dedication: “To the AMAZING volunteer team at The Show Gallery – Lowertown! You are THE BEST! Thank you for all you do!!!”
St. Paul Cozy 