Newsletter for Crescent Quilters White Rock and South Surrey British Columbia: Quilting Biography of Linda B.

In writing this bio I realized several things: 1. I have been making quilts for a LONG time, 2. I have WAY too much fabric and it keeps growing; 3. My enjoyment comes from sewing together little pieces of fabric, often randomly. I do NOT like to quilt the pieces; 4. I can only follow patterns so far and then something goes awry with good or sometimes bad results. This is why I stopped sewing my own clothes as soon as I had a real job.

My first quilt was made for my brother in 1971.

My first quilt

My second quilt was made for a cousin’s birth in 1972.

Second quilt -A Faraway Land To Dream On.

It was published in The McCall’s Book of Quilts. Both these were machine appliquéd and tied. McCall’s asked if they could machine quilt my cousin’s for publication. This was my introduction to machine quilting. I had no idea what I was doing when I started quilting. No one else in my family quilted—my mother started 20 years later. My inspiration came from a friend, Nancy Erickson, who made stuffed fabric forms for her MFA sculpture class. I also had an art instructor, Dana Boussard, who worked with fabric.
The Rainbow Quilt from 1975 was published in Better Homes and Gardens Applique.

It was my first larger piece and a “quilt as you go” experiment as I didn’t how to quilt something large. Plates and bowls were used to draw the curves on the fabric. There were no rotary cutters or acrylic rulers. An LP record jacket was my square.

To help pay for architecture school I sold children’s quilts at craft fairs in the 1970’s. I escaped that venue by finding a real job on graduation, but I never stopped quilting. I am way behind on the “quilting” part but feel an obligation to finish them myself. During the pandemic piecing is my go-to for reducing anxiety. Recently I produced 57 rectangles of varying potholder sizes. Some would call this mania. I have a stockpile of 20 similar potholders waiting for binding, the thing I dislike even more than quilting.

Several workshops over the years have inspired me. Nancy Crow was a primary influence as was a Maiwa workshop by three Gee’s Bend quilters. African American quilting is amazing. I have used some of their ideas such as, if something isn’t working, “cut it down the middle and send it to the other side.” Other workshops were led by Valeria Goodman, Jean Wells, Pamela Allen, and Krista Hennebury from Vancouver.

In looking forward I have various “collections” that beg piecing; linens, denims, three large containers of wool, vintage fabrics, neckties, fabric from my childhood clothes made by aunts and my grandmother, and so on. Plus, all those tops to be quilted. I need to live a very long time. And I am NOT buying fabric anymore.

Enjoy the gallery of quilts below. Many of them are still works in progress.