Meet Cole Whitaker

We recently connected with Cole Whitaker and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cole, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was a child but my journey into the quilting world didn’t really happen until 2021. In the summer of 2020 I came down with odd symptoms that doctors had trouble diagnosing (no it was not covid). The symptoms got worse until I had to quit my job early in 2021. I was in bed for almost two months. As time when on i was able to get up and do some things around the house. I fell into a deep depression because I had wrapped my self-worth up in my job so I felt useless. Also, I was going to doctors appointment after doctors appointment and was getting no answers. During this time I decided to take out my sewing machine to make a quilt for my guest room. I hadn’t quilted in years but I couldn’t find what I wanted on Amazon. Working on this quilt gave me a reason to get out of bed. It was something I could do at my own pace and I had no deadline for finishing it. My husband told me to post a picture of the quilt on Reddit and I got such a great response. Next thing I knew, people were paying me to create custom quilts. Quilting and interacting with people in the quilt community helped pull me out of my depression. To create something beautiful, gave me a feeling of purpose that got me through that difficult time in my life.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I do many quilty things. I take commissions for custom quilts as well as custom quilt patterns. I offer longarm service and sell digital quilt patterns. I also teach quilting classes and speak at quilt guilds. What makes my work different is that I design quilts that are unique. I design quilts and quilt patterns that are pictures. The design process is my favorite part. There are not many other quilt designers out there who design quilts like mine. My quilt patterns are unique because, although they are foundation Paper piecing patterns, they are divided into blocks. It is a bit of a combination of two styles of quilting. Although I have enjoyed all the different quilty things I have worked on, creating quilt patterns is my favorite. The collection of patterns for sale on my website is still small but it will be growing.

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?

Three qualities that have helped me are my hyperfocus, my visual/spacial skills and networking. My hyperfocus has helped me complete many projects in a short period of time. My ability to visualize what a quilt will look like is a type of intelligence that I believe I was born with and has been helpful in many endeavors. Lastly, I am a shy introvert, but connecting with other quilters online and going to quilt shows has been so helpful for me and my business. When you meet people and they click with you, they want to help you. The people in the quilting business are wonderful people. For people just starting out on their journey I would say, when you notice something that comes naturally to you and you love to do, lean into it! Connect with other people who have similar interests and you never know what will happen. I never thought I would have a quilting business but it has ben one of the best things that has happened to me.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I completely believe in focusing on your strengths. If you really struggle with something that needs to be done for your business, hire someone else to do it. They will do it better and quicker. When you focus on your strengths it increases your self-esteem and self-efficacy. It also makes work more enjoyable. With so many different types of people, if everyone focused on their strengths, where ever they are weak, there will be someone else who is strong. In our society we focus too much on independence and not enough on interdependence. Anyone who is successful, didn’t do it alone. No-one does.

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