Virginia Walton

Virginia is teaching class 5011

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Virginia: I have been quilting over 25 years and I started after a surgery that corrected a misdiagnosed back problem that had kept me in bed for close to 7 years. I had always wanted to quilt but knew I didn’t have the patience to do everything by hand. However, this was about 1976 and the sewing machine had just started to become a popular way to both piece and quilt and that approach the quilting fit in my short attention span. As a result, using the sewing machine began a lifelong addiction, avocation and a business that includes teaching, lecturing, developing quilting tools and writing quilting books.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

V: Yes, I actually have two work areas. One is a studio where I design, cut and sew and the other is a business office and additional work ant storage space. Both are additions to our home, I do most of my sewing in our ‘studio/family room’ and do most of the paperwork and store fabric for Fabric Kits in the upstairs addition. (My husband says if I try to add any more additions for my fabric – he’ll move both me and the fabric outside, sigh!)

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

V: I am known for my easy sewing machine piecing techniques especially a ‘No Pins’ circular and oval curve sewing method. In addition, my ability to combine Fabric and Color in a Quilt, in other words, ‘how to’ combine fabric to create the effect desired in a quilt.

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

V: It is easier to list my least favorite color combinations, which would be pastel quilts. I basically love fabric (which is tough on my bank balance), however I do have a slight preference for fabric combinations of blue, turquoise, green purple, fuchsia and black.

M: What books or articles have you written?

V:I have just finished my 10^th book and write numerous articles for both national and international magazines. In the US, my most recent articles were in the May/June ’09 issue of “Love of Quilting: and the Sept. 09 issue of “The Quilter Magazine.”

M: What do you do while you quilt?

V: I usually either watch TV or listen to the radio.

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

V: Almost anything inspires me from traditional patterns to graphics of everything, especially Roman Mosaics. (My children accuse me of never taking pictures of them, but if there is an interesting ceiling or tile work in a bathroom, it will be in my camera.)

M: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

V: While teaching in France I used a common word in the US to describe damaging a rotary cutter blade. While I didn’t know what I had said wrong, the gasps and hands covering faces were a big clue that I had said something very wrong. Once I convinced someone to whisper what I had done or said that caused the embarrassment, I rephrased the statement. However, I have never used that particular word again.

M: What was the best class you have ever taken?

V: The best class I even took was taught by one of Jenny Beyer’s first students. She was teaching Sampler Classes that covered both traditional patterns as well as drafting. She was not only a great teacher, but opened my eyes to the creative potential of essentially ‘painting’ with fabric and also the delight of designing my own original quilts.

Terry Waldron

Terry is teaching 3010, 4009, 5010, 6013, 7017

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Terry: I’ve been quilting since 1995. I played tennis then, and one day my partner told me that she was not going to be playing with us for 6 weeks. When I asked why, she said she was going to take quilt lessons. I said, “What’s a quilt!” I really did say that! Then I walked into the quilt shop she told me about, fell instantly in love with all the cloth, and signed up for a class with the wonderful Blanche Young. I made my first quilt in the next 6 days while teaching high school English in the daytime! It was a queen-sized quilt, and I was hooked! I even liked ironing the fabric!

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

T: Yes, if you consider a guest room to be a studio! It has a full bathroom, though, and a perfect place to iron, AND my sewing machine is right by an upstairs window so I can see the trees and the hills, listen to the neighbor kids play in the cul de sac, and watch a Cary Grant movie as I create! The only thing I wish I had is a maid to help me keep it neat and straightened!

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

T: Well, I have a degree in art education, and I taught high school art classes for many years before changing to English so I really love teaching composition and design. I love two things: working completely by hand WITHOUT patterns from beginning to end, AND I love to do landscapes with my own cutting technique that I wrote about called “Rough Cut.” It makes a landscape or a seascape look REAL!

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

T: I don’t have “color schemes,” actually. I use the colors that each piece calls for. BUT I have a secret about color that all artists know – you MUST know each color’s complement! You probably know that without darkness, we wouldn’t know what light is. Well, for instance, if you don’t add purple in some form to a predominately yellow composition, then the yellow isn’t as yellow! Remember that your elementary teacher probably taught you the color wheel a long time ago. What is most important about that color wheel is to know what each color’s opposite is. They attract!

M: What books or articles have you written?

T: I’ve written an article for the AQS magazine “American Quilter” called “Rough Cut.”

I’ve also written two chapters in Jamie Fingal’s book Embellished Mini-Quilts: Creative Little Works of Art. BUT, my next endeavor is to write my own book!

M: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

T: When I am working on a piece, I am usually listening to an old movie on TV, or I’m listening to jazz, or sometimes just listening to nature right outside my window. But when there is a Cary Grant movie on… I’m inspired and do my very BEST work!

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

T: My inspiration is certainly nature. It’s important to me to look as closely as I can at EVERYTHING! Nearly every morning when I go outside, I see Mount Baldy, and it’s almost like seeing an old friend. Then there are egrets that often fly over my car when I drive near home. But the person who inspired me most is the work of the great Japanese artist Ayako Miyawaki. I bought her book from Kogi Wada at my first quilt show. It’s written in Japanese so I can’t read a word of it, but I still look to her book to inspire me.

M: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

T: Well, I don’t want to say it in writing… BUT, I might just tell it in my classes! Stay tuned…

M: What was the best class you have ever taken?

Hands down, that would be the two classes I took with Joan Colvin. Both classes were 4-day classes, and I will never forget them. Joan, just by her wonderful peacefulness, created a magic that filled the room as she spoke. It was almost like being in a trance! After she finished, everyone in the class would sort of float over to their design wall, and amazingly beautiful work would just seem to create itself for each student in the room. I miss Joan Colvin, and I’m sure that everyone who was lucky enough to learn from her feels the same way.

Sue Patten

Sue is teaching classes 1004, 1010, 2004, 2010, 3013, 4012, 6010, 7016, and 8501

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Sue: I have been quilting for 20 years, the first ten by hand, the second ten by longarm machine.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

Sue: I have a studio that houses my 3 longarms, all my supplies and a comfy design area.

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

Sue: My threadart and unique designs.

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

Sue: Jet black fabric and bright colored thread.

M: What books or articles have you written?

Sue: Adaptable Quilting Designs, Quilting Possibilities, and Freehand Filler-patterns.

M: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

Sue: I listen to my ipod while I dance and sing loud and off key.

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

Sue: I see designs everywhere, first I doodle, then I quilt.