We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jackie Vujcich. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jackie below.
Jackie, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I grew up in a family that didn’t have much money; but when I was young I didn’t know that! I did know that my father worked 3 jobs to make ends meet and that he literally built our house from the ground up because that’s what he could afford at the time.
He also took pride in his work. One of his jobs was doing construction wood work-the corners of any furniture he made were at perfect right angles or it was redone. I do this in quilting. If corners don’t come together exactly, I rip out this stitches and do it again!
He also worked at the local still mill and was responsible for ringing the midnight whistle. It was never once late. I also am never late; whether starting a lecture or quilt class. I believe that people’s time is important to them and I will not be the one to waist there time.
So my work ethic comes from my sweet dad. Watching him day in and day out do what needed to get done without grumbling just to make sure that a roof was over our heads and food on the table.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’ve been quilting for 24 years and began teaching pieced (patchwork) quilting and designing patterns for classes almost 14 years ago. From time to time I still produce pieced quilt patterns and I thoroughly enjoy the process.
Realizing that this limited me from expressing my creativity, I now immerses myself in pictorial art quilts and creating this type of pattern for you to enjoy. Living near the foothills to the Rocky Mountains, I am surrounded by nature in all its glory. Inspiration “blooms” right outside my studio door. I also love to travel and always keep a camera in my pocket to capture the awesomeness of the great outdoors in my landscape quilts. This is were I get my inspiration for my quilt patterns.
Every business starts because of a problem. I started this business because I believe there’s an alternative to frustration! Back to the art quilts…I loves designing quilts, especially landscape quilts, and I have a 20-year stash of landscape fabrics to aid in this endeavor. Unfortunately, when people see my patterns or take my classes and want to re-create them, they don’t have access to my fabric stash!
So, my mission is this:
The first goal for my shop, Colorado Creations Quilting, is to make your shopping experience a happy one, with plenty of customer service should a need arise. Secondly, to be your one-stop shop for quality products of nature-themed 100% cotton prints and batik fabrics and other products necessary to create your project-including my full-sized, easy-to-follow quilt patterns. This will be a constant work in progress for me! Finally, I believe in fostering education. So, if you ever have a question regarding a product, technique or anything quilt-related look at my tutorial section (with more tutorials being added as I find the time in between creating!). If you don’t get your answer there, please feel free to contact me and of course a Google search is always helpful.
As the years have progressed, I’ve also branched out into lecturing and giving workshops about various quilt topics, commission pictorial quilt artwork, and vending/selling at large quilt shows.
I am most proud of the fact that when customers google nature-themed fabric or patterns, I’m starting to rise in the SEO ranks. Additionally, when I sell at large quilt shows, customers come looking for my booth. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Colorado Creations Quilting is becoming know in the vast quilt world.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I was a want-to-be artist when I was young, but my dad said I needed a career that would put food on the table! I was good at math so I became an accountant/CPA. With quilting and designing quilt patterns math is a must even though it’s simple math. If you can’t do fractions in your head, you better have a calculator close by!
I had a love for nature – viewing what was going on in my own backyard, own state and around the world. I take my camera everywhere I go. I take more than just one picture of any given scene as you never know when a person (or wildlife) might step into the picture or the lighting might change for better or worse. I take these pictures and then make fiber artwork to hang on the wall as well as quilt patterns that others can use to create their own masterpiece. I believe to be successful, you need to have the best tools that you can afford available at a moments notice.
Art in high school at my time was a joke. Today it’s amazing what trade schools and high school art classes have to offer with technology like graphic design. I went back to school in my later years for some drawing classes just to feed my creative sole and to hone my skills a bit. You’re never too old to do something you love.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I’ve gone from quilting as a hobby to designing patterns and teaching quilting to owning my own online quilt store, ColoradoCreationsQuilting.com
In doing this, I’ve become a “slave” to paperwork which wasn’t what I had envisioned when I started this journey. I’d like to get back to really being able to take time to create more fiber art landscapes and pictorial work to hang on the wall for pure enjoyment.
I would love to take the next step and get my work out there in galleries. Would love to get my foot in the door so to speak. So any gallery curators willing to work with me, please reach out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://coloradocreationsquilting.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coloradocreationsquilting/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/coloradocreations/quilts-by-jackie-vujcich-of-colorado-creations-qui/
Image Credits
All images were taken by Jackie Vujcich
