On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about quilting with my guest Victoria Findlay Wolfe.
Victoria’s work balances between art quilting, traditional & modern quilting styles, and reflects her passion for exploring the fine art of quilting in the modern age. A farm girl raised in Minnesota, her influences are heavily based on her grandmother’s scrappy colorful double knit polyester quilts. Victoria considers her process as an artist/storyteller by incorporating memories of life, travels and nature to all that she does.
Victoria is an international award-winning artist and quilter. She teaches and lectures on Creativity and Process, is a fabric designer, author, and an online shop owner where she sells her own products. Her quilts have been exhibited all over the globe, including Japan, Australia, and London. And she loves her family even more than quilts!
This episode is sponsored by Craftsy.
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Double-Edged Love, 2012, made by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, quilted by Lisa Sipes
We begin this interview with Victoria talking about on a farm in Minnesota, with a mother was a seamstress and father had an upholstery business. Her grandmother, whom they would visit in the summer, was a quilter. Victoria started sewing at age four and finished her first quilt at age 13. She discusses being discouraged from pursuing quilting and textile work in college, and then returning to it as an artform later on.
We also discuss designing fabric, traveling to teach, and how she pivoted and changed her business during the pandemic. Victoria talks about the experience of winning Best in Show at the very first QuiiltCon and being part of the PBS series, Crafts in America. We also talk about her signature short haircut and growing it out during Covid.
In this conversation, we refer to:
- Jay McCarroll fabric
- the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts
- Woodland Ridge Retreat
- Victoria’s Bumblebeans blog
- Tanya Ricucci’s blog
- Victoria’s quilt, “The Space Between Heartbeats”
And, of course, I ask Victoria to recommend great stuff she’s enjoying right now. Victoria recommends:
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
- fabric by e bond
- walking outside as a way to stimulate new ideas
Keep up with Victoria on Instagram and on her website.