For those of you who are not aware of it, I am not a morning person, not at all! However, there was a time when I could be pursuaded to jump out of bed before 7:00 a.m., grab a cup of coffee, and be emersed in quilting. It was HGTV’s, Simply Quilts hosted by Alex Anderson that motivated me in the mornings. So imagine my excitement to be able to meet her in Houston, at the International Quilt Festival!
If you are too young to remember, Simply Quilts, perhaps you will recognize her from one of her many books that she has written. There are 30 of them, selling near 1 million copies world wide. She is a national spokesperson for Bernina of America, a promotional partner with AccuQuilt’s GO!, a fabric designer with P&B Textiles, and threads with Superior Threads. She is a founding partner of The QuiltShow.com, and is a co-host of “The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims”.
This lady knows quilting. So I asked what her advice would be to someone new to quilting.
You can find out more about Alex on her website, www.alexandersonquilts.com or check out TheQuiltShow.com.
Incidentally, Alex was the person that got my friend, Sheri, interested in quilting. Thank you! Now I have someone to share this passion with.
Perhaps I should have asked how do I get into the business of interviewing wonderful quilters full-time, Linda B.
Linda, thank you for the video…great job! Yes, Simply Quilts was a wonderful TV show…Alex taught me so much and inspired me to want to quilt. I was so sad when the show went off the air, but was delighted when Alex and Ricky developed The Quilt Show (online). BTW, I ran into Alex quite by accident about 5 years ago. I had no idea that she was going to be at the quilt show in Chicago…was strolling along kind of mindlessly checking out each booth of quilting paraphernalia. As I approached her booth, I heard someone say, “Hi, how are you?!” I looked around for the person who was greeting me — it was Alex! “Holymoly”, I said to her, “you’re the person on “Simply Quilts”! She then handed me a brochure for The Quilt Show and gave me a quick explanation of her new online quilt show. She was so approachable, so kind, so pretty, so conversant and was just like we see her on her shows. Afterwards I thought of questions I wanted to ask her about quilting…I was too caught up in the moment to think sanely! What a treat it was to meet her!
I love it when people are authentic! Alex was just that. In the few minutes we were able to speak, I felt as if we had known each other a long time. Perhaps it is a gift to make people feel comfortable around them.
I am also like you–afterwards I realized that there was probably a lot more that I should have asked her! Thanks for sharing your experience!