Name: Wanda Ann Dotson
Member of CVAMQG since: 2015
How long have you been quilting? Twenty-nine years
What is your favorite quilting tool? ? I love hand quilting, and I couldn’t quilt without my metal thimble.
What are your favorite fabric lines and substrates? Do you prefer prints or solids? I love solids, and I have recently fell in love with PURE Solids by Art Gallery Fabrics. For applique, I like Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture.
What is your favorite color combination? ? I recently used Play Crafts’ Palette Tools, designed by Ann Sullivan (Tools – Play Crafts (play-crafts.com) to discover colors in a design I’m thinking about making. I designed it in Procreate. I used six of the colors from the Modern Quilt Guild’s February Color Palette. It represents colors from the Best in Show quilts over the last nine years of QuiltCon.
Favorite and least favorite parts of the quilting process: I love the design process and the process of making. I get anxious to finish a quilt and sometimes the tediousness of a design will frustrate me. I take lots of breaks so that I don’t give up.
Why do you quilt? Through the years, I’ve used quilting to express myself and work through problems. I enjoy how designing and quilting convey how I am feeling. It’s a creative outlet. I also quilt to share with others, and it gives me a community of people to interact with and love.
Where do you find inspiration? I pay attention to what I’m doing at any one moment. I have a folder called Design a Day on Procreate. Currently I’m using the game Wordle as a prompt for a design each day. Today the Wordle word was Moose. Because Moose are basically neutral, I tinkered with the idea of a really bright-colored moose.
Quilters who inspire you: . I was star struck when I met Chawne Kimber at A Gathering of Stitches “quilt camp” in Maine. She was a generous teacher, and after spending an extensive time with her, I now call her a friend. My first love was Gwen Marston and her Liberated Quiltmaking book. I found her through a quilting group called Liberated Quilters which used to meet at Blue Crab Quilt Co. At the same time, I also fell for Carolyn Friedlander. Her approach to designing and making inspires me. I have used her book, Savor Each Stitch, to make a series of quilts. I look forward to her weekly newsletters. I have said that when I grow up I want to be Carson Converse. I love her commitment to minimalist quilts, and the texture in her work is phenomenal. In that same vein, Heather Jones’s work probably aligns more with my own voice. The last few years, I’ve gotten to know Irene Roderick through her Dancing with the Wall and Finding Your Voice workshops. Her artistic viewpoint informs how I look at my work. Shelia Frampton Cooper’s work inspires me to use color and improv in new ways. I’m addicted to Instagram and I let all those images from amazing quilters influence me—perhaps a little too much!
What is your favorite guilty pleasure while quilting? When I hand quilt, I “watch” television. It’s background noise mostly, and unfortunately, I can’t read the subtitles of my favorite Scandinavian murder mysteries.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us: This is a hard one for me. For my family, it would be no surprise to learn that I can’t make biscuits and gravy. It’s a talent I don’t have. I’m really good at making pumpkin muffins using a box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake. Also, it would be no surprise to my husband that I can’t read a map and have no sense of direction. It would be no surprise to my brother that I can’t sing a lullaby. It would be no surprise to my sister that I can’t organize a family vacation. It would be no surprise to my daughter that I’m annoyingly loud at public events. I embarrass her sometimes.
On the design wall: I’m working on the Pantone Color of the Year, Viva Magenta, Quilt Challenge, hosted by Elizabeth Ray and Sarah Ruiz. I’m using all scraps.
Light Coming Home quilt
Light Coming Home quilt detail
Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild 