My Quilting Story
Mary Anderson Fibre Artist
I’ve had quite the adventure this life time, from making my living as a weaver to Tipi maker to Herbalist to Celtic Harper to Dog kennel owner and trainer to … …. Fiber Artist. Of course, It all makes sense when you look at my art but that is the tail of the dog. Lets go back and look at the beginning of my quilting adventure. I should perhaps mention here that my life choices have been a bit odd considering the fact that I was born with only one arm.
I was in my mid 40’s and somewhat lost in space since my husband had recently passed away far to young. A dear friend came by to cheer me up and drag me off to a quilt show. I’d never been to a quilt show before, I thought it would be terribly boring but off we went to the arena in Elora Ontario. What I saw there BLEW ME AWAY. It was incredible, I thought maybe I had fallen into an alternate universe where quilts were not at all grannies old cloths sewed back together but rather fantastic works of art. I left with a new purpose in life and a pattern for the TREE OF LIFE.
I asked my dear friend to show me how to quilt but and she said of course … but she had to go away for a few days. I’ve never been known to be the patient sort .. so .. that weekend I up ended the bins of my old hippie cloths and made up a pattern and happily sewed together all the bits of bright clothing with my moms old Janome Memory 7 sewing machine. (First computerized machine ever sold I’m told)
When my buddy got back from her journey I showed her my creation and she looked it over, turned it over and put it down and said … “I hate you” Not the reaction I was hoping for. She then went on to explain that I had broken every quilting rule there ever was and that the result was nothing short of brilliant and nope, She was not going to ruin my free thinking creating style by teaching me how quilters are supposed to do things.
Fast forward .. I went on the create a childrens story illustrated by my quilted pieces .. and toured many local quilt quilds doing trunk shows and telling the story of Joe King with all of it’s quilts. (To see the story of Joe King .. click here :https://youtu.be/wMloGJqzaDs) Time went by and my style was very naïve, Maude Lewis being one of my all time favourite artists. I considered her a mentor … but as time went by something wonderful and terrible happened. I got so much better at my art that it could no longer be called folky art. Friends would ask me to do a pet portrait for their sister or buddy … and well, people love the critter to actually look realistic so slowly my work in the pet portrait line began to reflect an artistic likeness of the real pet.
To do this work, I needed tools, such as … a sewing machine that was easy to see what I was quilting. I bought a long arm machine from a friend in my neighbourhood and quilt guild and then it wasn’t quite right so I got another up grade from the same company. Now these machines are fine and dandy and built for professional quilters who quilt skads and skads of bed quilts … I don’t do bed quilts … I do little intricate detailed pieces and I found the big long arm machine a bit like trying to draw with a pencil tied to the end of a baseball bat.
I tried … several different mid arm sit down machines but the sight line was always an issue not to mention my foot controlled stitch regulation was scary at times… so … back to the long arm.
It was fate perhaps .. but I was still looking for just that right tool and a friend put me in touch with the Innova dealer in Guelph Ontario. They were so very friendly and helpful and I felt like I was talking to family. Jeff & Heather couldn’t have been more helpful in answering all my many questions. It just so happened that they had a 22 inch Classic used machine for sale in a price range that was within our reach and long story short .. with Happy Ending .. well, I hope it is just the beginning rather than an ending, I found my tool of choice for my portraits and other fibre art creations too. I’m very fond of layering things, fabric, paper, ribbon, you name it and sewing it all down. Apparently the Innova can do this too without a problem.
Sew, Off I go on another adventure …
I’ve had quite the adventure this life time, from making my living as a weaver to Tipi maker to Herbalist to Celtic Harper to Dog kennel owner and trainer to … …. Fiber Artist. Of course, It all makes sense when you look at my art but that is the tail of the dog. Lets go back and look at the beginning of my quilting adventure. I should perhaps mention here that my life choices have been a bit odd considering the fact that I was born with only one arm.
I was in my mid 40’s and somewhat lost in space since my husband had recently passed away far to young. A dear friend came by to cheer me up and drag me off to a quilt show. I’d never been to a quilt show before, I thought it would be terribly boring but off we went to the arena in Elora Ontario. What I saw there BLEW ME AWAY. It was incredible, I thought maybe I had fallen into an alternate universe where quilts were not at all grannies old cloths sewed back together but rather fantastic works of art. I left with a new purpose in life and a pattern for the TREE OF LIFE.
I asked my dear friend to show me how to quilt but and she said of course … but she had to go away for a few days. I’ve never been known to be the patient sort .. so .. that weekend I up ended the bins of my old hippie cloths and made up a pattern and happily sewed together all the bits of bright clothing with my moms old Janome Memory 7 sewing machine. (First computerized machine ever sold I’m told)
When my buddy got back from her journey I showed her my creation and she looked it over, turned it over and put it down and said … “I hate you” Not the reaction I was hoping for. She then went on to explain that I had broken every quilting rule there ever was and that the result was nothing short of brilliant and nope, She was not going to ruin my free thinking creating style by teaching me how quilters are supposed to do things.
Fast forward .. I went on the create a childrens story illustrated by my quilted pieces .. and toured many local quilt quilds doing trunk shows and telling the story of Joe King with all of it’s quilts. (To see the story of Joe King .. click here :https://youtu.be/wMloGJqzaDs) Time went by and my style was very naïve, Maude Lewis being one of my all time favourite artists. I considered her a mentor … but as time went by something wonderful and terrible happened. I got so much better at my art that it could no longer be called folky art. Friends would ask me to do a pet portrait for their sister or buddy … and well, people love the critter to actually look realistic so slowly my work in the pet portrait line began to reflect an artistic likeness of the real pet.
To do this work, I needed tools, such as … a sewing machine that was easy to see what I was quilting. I bought a long arm machine from a friend in my neighbourhood and quilt guild and then it wasn’t quite right so I got another up grade from the same company. Now these machines are fine and dandy and built for professional quilters who quilt skads and skads of bed quilts … I don’t do bed quilts … I do little intricate detailed pieces and I found the big long arm machine a bit like trying to draw with a pencil tied to the end of a baseball bat.
I tried … several different mid arm sit down machines but the sight line was always an issue not to mention my foot controlled stitch regulation was scary at times… so … back to the long arm.
It was fate perhaps .. but I was still looking for just that right tool and a friend put me in touch with the Innova dealer in Guelph Ontario. They were so very friendly and helpful and I felt like I was talking to family. Jeff & Heather couldn’t have been more helpful in answering all my many questions. It just so happened that they had a 22 inch Classic used machine for sale in a price range that was within our reach and long story short .. with Happy Ending .. well, I hope it is just the beginning rather than an ending, I found my tool of choice for my portraits and other fibre art creations too. I’m very fond of layering things, fabric, paper, ribbon, you name it and sewing it all down. Apparently the Innova can do this too without a problem.
Sew, Off I go on another adventure …