We're continuing the Member Spotlight series this year in order to learn more about our fellow guild members. Meet PMQG Member Anne Woodman!
Many people are amazed that I
have time to make quilts because I have two children still living at home, a
seventeen-year-old boy and a thirteen-year-old girl that I home school and a
part time job. I have worked at the Hilton Portland and Executive towers for
sixteen years and I love it. Working in a hotel is like living in a small town,
it is a little community. I don’t really have time to make quilts, I neglect
other things to do it, and I try not to feel guilty.
I love to travel but I have not
gone anywhere since I went to Costa Rica with a girlfriend two years ago. I
have taken my children as far as Africa and Nepal. I have special fabric from
Africa that I only use a little at a time. Africa and Nepal are special to me
because the women who live there appreciate fabric.
Q: What got you into quilting?
A: I have always been sewing
something or other for years. I made my first quilt from an AOL tutorial when I
was pregnant with my youngest daughter thirteen years ago.
Q: How long have you been a PMQG
Member?
A: This is my third year as a
guild member, and I love it! I have learned so many things from guild meetings
that I would not have learned otherwise.
Q: What’s your quilting
philosophy?
A: Quilting time is art time! I
need to make time to quilt and make art so that I can really be the person I
was meant to be.
Q: What’s your favorite
sewing/quilting tip?
A: Do not worry about mistakes.
Mistakes are part of the learning curve. I just helped a friend sew a bunch of
old baby clothes together for a keepsake quilt. I do not normally sew knits,
but I dived in and laughed at my
mistakes and my friend LOVED the blocks I made.
Q: Do you have a favorite quilt
pattern? Fabric designer?
A: I do not have a favorite
pattern. I made so many Dresden plates when I started that most people who know
me outside the guild would say it is my signature block, but now I do not
normally make any pattern more than twice.
As far as a favorite fabric designer Sandi
Henderson is great, also, Petra and Monica are special to me because they are
local and I love to follow what they are doing.
Q: Do you have a favorite
notion/tool you couldn’t quilt without?
A: My rotary cutter is one of my
best friends.
Q: What’s your favorite part of
the quilting process?
A: I adore improve piecing.
Q: What part of the quilting
process do you dislike the most or find the most difficult?
A: Basting. I do not pin baste, I
am too suspicious that it will not stay smooth, so I baste all my quilts with a
four inch grid of purple serger thread. This is not fun. My knees do not like
this activity.
Q: What inspires you to create?
A: I feel blessed to live in a
beautiful world.
Q: Do you do any other crafts?
Which ones?
A.I paint watercolor paintings.
Watercolor is a very hard medium, and I have had little training. Hillsboro has
some wonderful affordable classes and I have taken a few, but I am not very
good. I do love it though. This is really the time of year I get inspired to paint.
Q: How many quilts have you made?
A: More than 25, I have given so
many away I cannot count them accurately.
Q: What are some of your upcoming
projects?
A: I will probably make another
Urban Nine Patch. The one I have completed was not to my satisfaction, but my
seventeen year old son loved it, and when I told him I was not happy with it he
begged me for it, so I gave it to him. I would like to make another one though;
I am looking forward to it when I can find the right fabric.
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Thank you so much for sharing with us, Anne!
--Mary Ann VP