Have you ever noticed how many quilt designers got their start in an entirely different profession?

Wendy Mathson owned a printing and graphic design business, then became a freelance editor and illustrator before starting to design quilts. She also founded Prayers and Squares, an international prayer quilt ministry that now has 800 chapters around the world. Her new book, A New Light on Storm at Sea Quilts, and its coordinating trimming templates, fast2cut® Quilter’s TRIMplates, are out this month.

We asked her to tell us a little more about herself and how she works.

What and when was your first experience as an artist?
When I was about seven, I saw a design in a magazine and realized that I did not need to follow their pattern. I could create my own design in colors that I wanted to work with. I think of this as the difference between making crafts and creating art.

How has your artistry changed over the years?
I’ve gone through major shifts in working with color and fabrics. I went through a “dark” period and right now am more attracted to bright, clear colors. I’m interested in exploring new or different color schemes that are more unexpected or that challenge me.

What is your favorite completed project?

Cover quilt from Wendy's book, A New Light on Storm at Sea Quilts

I designed a Storm at Sea variation and pieced it in “safe colors”: blue & yellows. Then I pulled fabrics to make the same design in a more daring color scheme of magenta, orange, blue-violet & gold. When my daughter, Chellee, came for a visit I taught her my TRIMplate piecing method and she made the wallhanging in one day. We took it to show my friend Faith, who does all my long-arm quilting, and she quilted it the next day. C&T chose that quilt, “Red Sky at Morning,” for the cover of my book. It’s special to me because all three of us had a hand in creating it together.

Do you have a ritual for starting new projects?
Clean up the mess from the last project, take three deep breaths, then dive in. (It doesn’t take long to create a new mess with the new project.)

Do you celebrate when you finish a project?
Finish? Finish? Are you kidding? No, even I will eventually finish a project, then I email a photo to my best friend, who usually asks me what took me so long.

What new projects are on the horizon for you?
I have ideas for more TRIMplates to simplify cutting & piecing of challenging traditional patterns.

What would you like to create that you haven’t tried yet?
A hand-appliquéd quilt of my own design. Then maybe, just maybe, someday, a real bed quilt for my own bed. My husband keeps asking, but… would you believe we’ve never had a quilt on our own bed?

Do you have any memorable moments to share from your teaching experience?
I was to teach a guild workshop in a church meeting room, which also housed a large freezer used to store turkeys for a food distribution. The freezer had apparently become unplugged earlier in the week, and the smell was, shall we say, not exactly pleasant. With open windows and some borrowed fans, things were improving when a church handyman arrived to “help”, and he OPENED the freezer door. Class was a bit delayed after that.

Visit Wendy at her website, www.quiltsbywendy.com.