The First Five Years 2017-2022: Learning and Experimenting

 

In the Summer of 2017, Sid Gard and  Elizabeth Townsend Gard set out on a (literal) journey: by train and car, to learn about quilting.  That began what became Just Wanna Quilt and the Quilting Army Krewe.  Those first five years were about exploring the field of quilting (making 125+ quilts), interviewing over 400 guests for the Just Wanna Quilt podcast, participating at quilt shows, including QuiltCon and International Quilt Festival and Market,  having sew-alongs, and most important to our mission, learning and exploring the needs of quilters, crafters and artists in their legal journey, both as artists and as either hobbyists and/or  businesses.  We wrote books.  We held workshops.  We answered 1000s of questions through Facebook.  Dr. Townsend Gard’s law classes also participated -- over ___ students engaged in the project, researching and working with makers on trademark, contracts, and other entrepreneurial activities.  And of course, COVID.  When COVID-19 first struck, we were in one of the epicenters here in New Orleans, and we saw across the country, as many did, the sudden shortage of masks.  Just Wanna Quilt, like many, turned into a mask-making space, and we worked to donate 1000s of yards of fabric to our local community.  We received two grants from the university to assist.  But that was not enough.  We were frantic to understand how to help keep our families and communities safe, and so we did 60 interviews within the space of three weeks, with nurses, scientists, and those on the frontlines of making masks.  This culminated in the Tulane Homemade Mask Summit, a two day virtual conference.   And then we were exhausted.  

 

We were sewing.  We were in lock down.  We were worried.  We did a few interviews, but we had lost our mojo.  There were so many things vying for our attention.  Mostly, we were writing.  We had two projects going -- one on medallions and museums (with Willow Olson and Elizabeth Townsend Gard), and the other on legal issues that crafters, artists, and quilters face (with Sid Gard and Elizabeth Townsend Gard).  We had been working on both for a while. During COVID, we continued to focus our time on these quieter projects. 

 

In 2021: we did a few episodes but things were not back to normal.  Hurricane Ida hit just as we were taking the kid to college - and I stayed in Chicago for most of the semester.  It was a weird time.  Nothing was quite right.  And I was always almost ready to come back to New Orleans.  

 

2022 - we are going to call that the lost year in podcasts.  But we made up in writing.  

 

In 2022, Sid Gard and Elizabeth Townsend Gard secured a four-book contract with C&T publishing that focus on Legal DIY for Makers:  Just Wanna Trademark, Just Wanna Entrepreneur/Start-Up, Just Wanna Copyright, and Just Wanna Contract.  These are based on but a significant extension of our original writings on these topics, and expand from merely quilters to makers of all kinds.  The first, Just Wanna Trademark, is due out in September 2023.

 

Sid Gard, now a sophomore at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, focuses on the world of artists and crafters.  Elizabeth Townsend Gard, professor at Tulane University Law School, provides the legal stuff.  Together they merge their work into one.  It’s been a blast.

 

We have so much to be thankful for -- the friends, the experiences, the learning.  And we have had 25,000 subscribers to the podcast, over 4000 in our quirky Facebook group, and over $100,000 in sales of our self-published books.  

 

And so now onto the next five years, which we are calling - Engagement and Action.  But before we do that, let's take a look at what we thought we were going to do, and what we've done so far.