Quilting Is My Therapy

September 19, 2016
Walters is a professional quilter, and her name often appears in a nine-point cutline following “quilted by” in books authored by designers. Here, the print is bold, and the quilt designs are hers as well as others’. Her story is delightful. She describes how she went from a quilt ignoramus to an expert at long-arm machine quilting. She begins with her husband’s grandfather, Grandpa Ford, a quilter who helped her make her first quilt and praised her every effort along the way. She relates her mistakes and the fruits they bore. Her theme: “Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes.” She annotates sample quilts, describing the stitches—wishbone, matchstick, ribbon candy—that she applies as fillers and how she fills negative space by playing off the quilt design itself. Her bricks shore up Tula Pink’s “Gothic Arches.” She admits that some of her best work springs from Pink’s piecing, but her own quilts, such as “Cream Wholecloth” and the painted “Legacy,” inspire too. Her attitude mimics Grandpa Ford’s encouragement: “I am not sharing my story to tell you how great I am; I am trying to show you how great you can be.” Gorgeous full-page photos show off the texture and stitch of this intricate craft. Color photos.