Karla Alexander
Karla Alexander
Salem, OR
Karla will be teaching classes 4001, 5001, 6001 & 7001.
Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?
Karla: I always sewed as a young girl – I began my quilting career during the long dark winters in Kodiak, Alaska.
Matt: Do you have a quilting studio?
Karla: Yes I have a studio by default. When we purchased our house, it came with a newly built 20’x24′ music studio, entirely hidden from street view, complete with lots of windows and vaulted ceilings, overlooking out back yard. The only thing in my studio that I think is unique is Lucy, my black lab.
Matt: What do you consider your quilting specialty?
K: I like to work and teach designs that can be re-worked into whatever style I want without always having to have a predetermined out come. I encourage students to make projects their own rather than simply duplicating a pattern, to change it up and put their own spin on it. I also love using a lot of different fabrics – often using 8 to 10 different pieces to represent one color, etc.
Matt: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?
K: As much as I hate to hem myself in to one color scheme… seems purple and green are always in the final cut!
Matt: What books or articles have you written?
K: I have written six books; Stack the Deck – 2002, Stack a New Deck – 2004, New Cut for New Quilts – 2006, Baby Wraps – 2008, Color Shuffle – 2009 and Stack the Deck, Updated Quilts – 2010.
I have also designed 4 rulers for Creative Grid, unique for cutting curves.
Matt: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?
K: I listen
to music ALL day long – fill orders and hang with my Lucy.
Matt: What is your quilting inspiration?
K: To begin with – I am fascinated with quilts from the past. I am amazed at what quilters accomplished with the tools and fabric they had available. Quilters from the past are an enormous inspiration to me. with that in mind… I love to find designs in nature, floor tiles, old buildings etc.
Matt: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?
K: That would have to be when I showed up to teach a class and found most of the students had the wrong supplies. I continued on, encouraging them to learn the new techniques I was teaching – claiming they would eventually begin using them in their project. It wasn’t until an hour in that I realized I was teaching an entirely different project than they had signed up for…
Matt: What was the best class you ave ever taken?
K: July 2009, I had the pleasure of taking a class with the Ladies of Gees Bend. Nothing will ever top that experience!
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