Tisha Nagel, the artist behind Quilty Therapy, recently completed a stunning project based on the colors and design of the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater. Nagel said she took notice of the building in the summer of 2020 after passing by multiple times before. After a few months of planning and working on a quilt based on the design, Nagel completed the project in late January.
Quilting has pretty much always been a part of Nagel’s life. She laughs that she remembers “doing ABC’s and 123’s with the sewing machine”. Throughout high school and college, Nagel spent more and more time experimenting with quilting as a hobby. Her first official quilt was completed during the winter of her senior year in college, but Nagel says she was surrounded by fabric almost her whole life.
Today, Nagel runs a blog, makes tutorials, and creates custom baby quilts on her website Quilty Therapy. She estimates that by now she has completed over 400 quilts. Nagel says she enjoys making custom baby quilts because normally she is allowed to get creative with the design and fabric. While she’s normally busy with quilts for her business, Nagel says she is always looking for inspiration around her.
The decision to make a large quilt based on the amphitheater colors came from the need for some decoration in her family’s new house. After deciding on this design, Nagel got all the fabric necessary to start working in July 2020. However, the project didn’t really get started until October. Nagel says she can make a baby quilt in an afternoon, but this project was a much bigger feat. The quilt is large enough to cover a queen-sized bed and encountered a few bumps along the way.
Completing a project of this magnitude takes some serious dedication. Once she got started, Nagel said it took her around a month to finish. Most of the work was completed on some free weekends when she would work for hours at a time. When working on the quilt she realized that she had cut some of the fabric strips too long, which changes the calculations for the entire quilt. After scouring her house for extra fabric, Nagel was able to finish the quilt successfully.
After finally finishing this massive project, Nagel took the quilt back to the building that inspired it. Once she had gotten some photos of the quilt with the building, it was returned to her new house where it serves as the cover for a queen-sized bed. For Nagel, the most important thing is continuing creativity every day. Inspiration can be found in all sorts of unexpected places and can even turn into masterpieces like this one.
Cassidy Robertson is a former Community Engagement and PR Intern for the City of Fishers. She enjoys shopping and eating local in downtown Fishers, and in her spare time, she loves working on puzzles and reading a good book. She also enjoys playing with her three dogs and loves watching Fishers continue to develop both as an economic and social hub.