Remembering by Linda Anderson won Best of Show Quilt during Road@Home 2021
Linda Anderson’s Quilt Journey
Linda Anderson has been creating art quilts since 2009, when she returned from living in the Caribbean for 10 years and saw her first art quilt. For Linda, art quilts are the perfect comingling of her passions: drawing, painting and sewing. She started entering contests in 2010. Of the art quilt experience, Linda says, “It’s still amazing at this age and chapter in life to experience such positive acknowledgement from peers and judges I could not have predicted.”
Making Best of Show Quilt, Remembering
The inspiration for Road@Home’s Best of Show Quilt, Remembering, came from a travel photograph. Linda remarked that she is a “fiend” for good composition and that this photo had perfect composition. Linda also has a “love affair with everything Oaxacan,” where the subject of her quilt is from. “We all get lost in our thoughts, and the woman in Remembering captured that perfectly for me,” said Linda.
Linda’s art quilts usually take a full 5 months from start to finish, working 6-8 hours a day, at least 6 days a week. She says, “It is very labor intensive with a myriad of steps. And I love getting lost in the detail of each step.”
What techniques did Linda use in the Best of Show Quilt, Remembering? “Every square inch of my work is hand painted, usually on white on white printed fabric. It is not whole cloth, which sometimes is thought. It is all raw edge applique pieces that are painted before assembling.”
Entering Road@Home’s Quilt Contest
Linda attends the in-person Road to California annually. She loves to “soak up all the art inspiration” which fuels her for the coming year. In addition to going to the show regularly, another Road tradition for her is to enter a quilt each year.
Her most recent entries (that were also winning quilts) were in 2019, for Outstanding Artistry
and in 2017 for Director’s Choice.
Road@Home had only three categories for quilts to be entered in. Remembering was originally entered in the category, “What You See.” Why did Linda choose that category? “My work is figurative and storytelling, so it is straightforward to know which category to enter.”
Linda said she “was stunned, to say the least, when I heard I won Best in Show.”
What’s Next for Linda Anderson and her Quilting?
Remembering is scheduled to show in other exhibits throughout 2021, including one in France in September.
In the coming year, Linda intends to “wake up each morning to working in my studio. Since each piece takes so long, my goal is to just keep on working.”
While Linda was glad that Road to California was able to offer an alternative to their traditional event, she noted that “nothing can replace a live opportunity to see art work. Something is always lost when viewing art online. Fingers crossed we will all get together safely next year.”
Congratulations to Linda Anderson for winning Road@Home 2021’s Best of Show Quilt.
