Artist Spotlight and Giveaway: Victoria Findlay Wolfe

I’d like to introduce you to a new friend and fellow artist that I think you will love: Victoria Findlay Wolfe was my fellow guest artist when I filmed for The Quilt Show down in Charleston, SC. I posted a whole series of articles here about the city and the experience. We had a fabulous and exhausting few days while we were there together.

Victoria has a background in the fine arts and is currently working with textiles, churning out quilts like a madwoman. She has more energy and is more productive than most people I know. You can see lots of her quilts here. She makes mostly bed quilts in a very fresh and contemporary style. What follows are Victoria’s own words about her journey.

“Life hands us funny things sometimes. Often times, it’s things we would have never thought we’d have to deal with. Be kind. Be grateful. Find the JOY in each day.

I set out for NY in 1994 to be an artist. I came to NYC with a suitcase, two boxes of paintings, and $200 in my pocket. (I do not recommend that to anyone) the $200 was gone in two days in NYC.

I set about following my dream, being the creative person I am. And, although I’ve done that, my direction has certainly changed. The important part has been being open to following the creative path that presented itself to me. Had I not found BLOGS, and beautiful quilts, I may not have found the deep appreciation for where I’ve come from. Quilting, was always something we did, because, that’s what we do in our family as MAKERS; We grow our food, we can our food, we make our quilts and clothes… it never dawned on me, that this would become my passion.

Now, I have a deep respect for where I’ve come from, and from where quilters have come from. Always look back, and forward for that matter, with respect!”

Do you love her work as much as I do? There is a freedom and playfulness that speaks to me, combined with just enough order to keep things from getting out of hand. Love it. We exchanged and autographed our books as I dropped her off at the airport, eager to share each other’s work with our own readers.

 15 Minutes of Play

is a book I really enjoyed reading through. In fact, it inspired the first bed quilt I’ve made in years! (I’ll show it to you eventually… it’s still waiting for me to quilt it.) In it she advocates setting aside 15 minutes at the beginning of your creative time to simply play and sew random scraps together. Does this creative warm-up time sound familiar to you? Victoria shows you techniques for using this “made fabric” in your quilts and gives some solid design advice.

I have a signed copy of her book ready to send to one of you.
Tell me what your favorite creative warm-up is.
In three days I’ll pick the winner.

If you just can’t wait and want to buy a signed copy of 15 Minutes to Play you can do that here. (US entries only on this one please. It kills me but they’ve raised shipping charges quite dramatically on this end. I hope to have at least one or two original postcards to give away to my lovely international readers. And – please be patient with shipping. I’ve had surgery and am still not quite back on my feet – I should be able to get out to the post office within two weeks. Cheers and best wishes!)