Have you tuned into Running Stitch yet? We’re excited to share new episodes with you this summer!

In our latest episode, host Janneken Smucker speaks with Canadian quilt artist Libs Elliott, whose bold, geometric quilts are designed using generative code. Libs shares her journey from seeing antique quilts at an auction house to creating a digital design process that blends computer code with centuries-old techniques like English paper piecing. The conversation explores the ethics of AI, the power of algorithms, and the ongoing conversation between craft and computation. Libs discusses how social media transformed her access to the quilt world and reflects on how she teaches others to “embrace the chaos” of chance in quilt design.

Running Stitch, a QSOS podcast, is a project of the Quilt Alliance that brings the rich stories of quiltmakers to life. Each episode connects contemporary conversations in quiltmaking with reflections from nearly 25 years of interviews in the Quilters’ Save Our Stories (QSOS) oral history project. Hosted by quilt historian Janneken Smucker, the podcast explores themes like creativity, community, identity, and tradition through the voices of quiltmakers past and present.

Season 4 of Running Stitch dives into the relationship between quiltmaking and technology. From the revolutionary introduction of the rotary cutter to the rise of longarm machines, this season explores how tools—both digital and analog—have shaped and reshaped how quilts get made. Each episode pairs new interviews with recordings from the QSOS oral history archive, highlighting how makers across generations have embraced (or resisted) new technologies.

It’s an auditory look at how quiltmakers can harness new technologies without letting go of tradition. And as always, Janneken brings in voices from the QSOS archive to explore what quilters throughout the decades have thought about accepting and rejecting the technology that’s changed quilting, and how contemporary culture intersects with tradition.

Listen now to the Libs Elliott episode of Running Stitch, and stay tuned for two more upcoming episodes in Season 4 – follow us wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you don’t miss these episodes! Find out more at quiltalliance.org/runningstitch