Sara? Sarah? Quilt: An Actual Fun Fiber Project

Have you ever sat and thought long about your name? When I was in middle school, a bunch of boys and girls at my lunch table talked about the names we wished we had. I swore to everyone that I loved my middle name, Ruth, because it was funky and cool. They jeered and said Sarah was a much better fit. But why would it be more fitting? Because Sarah... means princess, of course. And however I presented myself at the time was, more of a princess nature? Who knows.

As I got older, I started to like my very '90s baby name. I liked that it wasn’t unique. I liked that it wasn’t the most POPULAR name, and that it was just kind of plain. I liked that it was in the Bible. I also really liked that there was a DIFFERENT WAY to spell it—and that the different spelling didn’t bother me! Anytime someone misspelled my name, I was determined not to care because it wasn’t a big deal. I could be a cool cucumber. I could be the cool, Greek Sarah instead of the old-fashioned , Hebrew Sara, uptight about a misspelling.

There’s one thing I’ve noticed about me and a bunch of other ladies with my name—we are all fierce, strong, and powerful. I have never met another Sarah who doesn’t make the thunder clap when she steps into a room. There is something about the name Sarah.

You’ll notice that my other recent art quilts are full of deep, complex emotions. Truthfully, I was looking for something fun and bright. I am who I am, and while I feel deep things, I also wanted to do something fun. So you know what? I reached out to some of my favorite other Sarah artists and asked them if they wanted to come aboard. Let’s make a quilt together—not just any bee or community quilt, but one that spells out our name.

My favorite part? Even among the Sarahs, we didn’t all spell our name the same way! Sara Brown doesn’t have an H, but she’s an artist I admire, and I yearned to work with her. The rest of us are: Sarah Goer, Sarah Bramhall, Sarah Ruiz, Sarah Bookwalter, Sarah Morris, Sarah Cain, Sara Brown, and Sarah Holst.

So the eight of us each took a block: S, a, r, a, (, h, ), and !. I chose a parenthesis, and so did Sara Brown. Everyone else quickly sorted (the S was the last to be selected, which shocked me—I love the letter S!). We decided to keep our blocks and designs secret from one another. This made a few of us stressed... but we thought it would be worth it to push ourselves creatively.

Sarah Cain made a great suggestion: we should follow a similar color palette so it’s at least cohesive when we put it together. I loved this idea—it gave us eight colors to work with. I put forth my favorite shade of pink, of course, and everyone else chose colors that matched so beautifully. We designed our blocks individually, with full creative freedom and zero sneak peeks. Each block was 20 inches tall, but as wide as we needed. QuiltCon has a length restriction of 90", so we quickly started tossing out our measurements to make sure we were okay. Other than that, we trusted our collective Sarah energy to harmonize and shine.

When I received all the blocks, I sewed them together. “We are a silly group 🤪,” someone said. Once the quilt top began its journey, it traveled across the country, stopping at each Sara(h)’s home for hand quilting and embroidery. I embroidered a map of our states to represent our locations, and added phrases that resonated with me about being a strong Sarah.

While the eight of us might not be in-real-life friends, we all know we share something meaningful—what it feels like to be a strong woman, a strong Sara(h). We loved the community and fun we had together, and I know several of us felt this was a refreshing palette cleanser from the chaos of our current political climate. Through the shit show of life and politics, we are still strong Sara(h)s, still lifting the world on our shoulders every day.

PS: We used Emily Van Hoff's Groove Fabric and Aurifil 12 wt thread to hand quilt our Sara? Sarah? Quilt. Minus needing an aqua and not needing the dark green, it was perfect for us!

Artist statement: Eight Sara(h)s, eight blocks, eight colors. This quilt celebrates fun, friendship, and creative community. Each block was self-drafted by each Sara(h), sight unseen, then stitched into a vibrant top. This quilt traveled across the country for each of us to hand-quilt and embroider. Each Sara(h) added her own magic, just as each Sara(h) adds her own meaning to the name we share. The final quilt is a nod to individuality, connection, and Sara(h)hood.