"Night Fire"
We’d love for you to get to know Peggy Martin, author of Paper Piece the Quick-Strip Way. Peggy’s strip paper-piecing technique turns out gorgeous stars, circles, and borders. Click here to watch a video clip of her demonstration in one of our spring 2011 webcasts.
What inspired you to start a career as a quilter?
I have a true obsession with quilting, and I greatly enjoy teaching other people and making that connection with students. It’s wonderful to be able to travel to quilt shows and guilds to share my techniques and patterns with other quilters.
How has your design style changed over the years?
I began making quilts for my home, mainly in blues and burgundies. Now I enjoy exploring as many different color combinations as possible and playing with the interaction of colors in different ways in my newer quilts.
What do you like the most about your own design style?
I love trying out new paper-pieced designs and experimenting with new color combinations. I also enjoy using some unusual fabrics in my quilts—busy or “funky” fabrics, symmetrical fabrics, and ethnic fabrics are some of my favorites to add a special something to my quilts—and I particularly love using bright, clear colors.
"Snow Flurries"
Do you have a favorite design?
It’s hard to list a favorite, but one of the quilts I most enjoyed was my Night Fire quilt (shown above). I played around with using the block units in different ways, as settings and borders, and just stumbled upon the perfect symmetrical fabric for the borders late one night. It was one of those quilts that really spoke to me while I was working on it—when things weren’t meshing well, I just kept playing, and then suddenly it all fell into place.
What do you like the most about the quilting community?
It is absolutely wonderful to be able to network and interact with other quilters, quilt artists, and teachers. We learn a lot about the “business” end of quilting, as well as sharing new quilting techniques with each other. The almost instant camaraderie that exists between quilters is truly phenomenal. Sharing our love of fabric and design is very rewarding!
Any memorable moments to share about your travels and teaching?
My favorite part is the wonderful people that I meet everywhere. We all share that common bond—the love of quilting—and I have met some of the friendliest, warmest, most giving people I could have ever imagined. I love getting to know someone and hearing their personal story. Many have had quite tragic events in their lives, but quilting and the fellowship of other quilters has helped pull them through. Being able to express ourselves through the art of quilting is truly a very enriching and healing process!
What other interests or hobbies do you have?
I have a music degree, and when I need a little break from quilting, I often play my piano, folk harp, or guitar . I also love folk music and attend concerts and folk song circles when I can.
What new projects are on the horizon for you?
I want to do more block designs that allow for many different possible variations in settings, and also explore different color interactions that produce special effects. I will be teaching at Quilting in the Desert in January, and I have appearances scheduled at quilt guilds and shops all around the country for 2012. I also teach a paper piecing class online at Craftsy.com.
Thanks Peggy! To see a few more project quilts from her book, visit our Flickr gallery.
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3 Comments
I had to opportunity to take a class with Peggy last March when she was guest at our guild. The class was great and I learned so much. Peggy is a down-to-Earth teacher! I would take classes from her again in a heartbeat. if you have the chance, take advantage of the opportunity.
The Night Fire quilt is totally AWESOME!!!!
Love the Night Fire quilt. Thanks for sharing this great interview. Have a super day!