Member Spotlight--Anne Woodman

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