Meet Ami Simms

Flint, Michigan

All photos courtesy of Ami Simms.

It is with pure pleasure that I introduce you to my friend Ami Simms (“Ami” rhymes with “salami”). I read Ami’s book How Not to Make a Prize-Winning Quilt some years ago and laughed until I cried! That book can still throw me into fits of laughter even though I know much of it by heart. I feel blessed to know Ami and count her among my friends. Please join me as I interview Ami about her life and her quilting.


Ami, tell me about your start into quilting.

“I took my first stitches in a quilt during the summer between my junior and senior year of college. I guess that was 1975. I bellied up to the frame because I wanted my new Amish friends to like me. If that had said, "Would you like to take off all your clothes and run naked in the woods?" I probably would have said, ‘Sure! Sounds good to me!’

“I was just beginning my undergraduate thesis in Anthropology and found my way to a barn raising. That led me to a quilting bee later in the afternoon, and they asked if I wanted to try. I didn't wear a thimble so not only did I bleed from my underneath finger, but the one on top was pretty soggy too. Eventually, an Amish friend named Ida Stutzman taught me to quilt.”


Tell me about your family. What do they think about your quilting?

“I think they put up with it. More than that, they actually suffer through it. I'm very needy. I NEED fabric all the time. I NEED to spend hour after hour doing something related to quilting. My finished quilts and UFOs have taken over the whole house. I gave up cooking and cleaning, and my poor long-suffering husband has to ask permission to hang anything on the walls, or to open the drapes to let in any light. Usually I have to tell him NO on both accounts.”


What other hobbies do you have besides quilting?

“I've tried everything from crocheting and knitting to blacksmithing and broommaking. I picked up knitting needles this past winter and spent a fortune on yarn. I've pretty much lost interest, I guess, since I've been "working" on the same scarf since April. (It's now September.) I'm a one-hobby gal: quilting. It's also my vocation.”


What inspires you creatively? (Art? Nature? Old quilts? Quilt books? Fabric…)

“The voices. If I could only turn off the voices. My mind is always going. I can't do anything or go anywhere without finding a quilting connection, and that includes the hardware store. I can't even take a shower and turn it off. In fact, I get some of my best ideas in the shower. And while driving.”


How many quilt projects do you have in progress right now?

“Too many to count!”


Have you ever abandoned a UFO (unfinished object)? What did you do with it?

“Yes, I do abandon UFO’s, but not without a fight. First I store them in boxes in the basement…for decades.”


Has quilting ever helped you through a time of struggle or heartache?

“Absolutely. Handwork especially. I find it very focusing and calming. The first time I remember realizing that I found quilting therapeutic is when we had put a bid on the house in which we're now living. Very stressful. Sitting at the quilting frame was the only thing that could get my mind off it.”


Do you plan out your whole quilt before you begin or do you start with an idea and let it develop on its own?

“Depends on the quilt. I've done it both ways. I tend to be pretty anal, so I guess I'm a planner.”


Do you quilt your own projects? By hand or machine? If not, who quilts them for you?

“I mostly quilt my own things. Early on by hand and now by machine almost exclusively. I have had others quilt for me, but find it far less satisfying.”


Do you collect certain types of fabrics, quilting tools, gadgets, or supplies?

“Pah-LEEZE! Who doesn't? I'll buy any gadget that's not nailed down.”


Do you work in a series with your quilts?

“I barely have time enough for ONE quilt, let alone a series. Somebody once told me that a true artist’s work is all identifiable and similar and of a certain style. I think that's crappola. I'm an artist and not all of my work looks the same. To entertain myself I've done all sorts of different types of quilts. So there!”


Have you ever entered a quilt show? How was that experience?

“I used to enter when I first started quilting. I don't have the time and tend to prefer to carry my quilts around to workshops and lectures where I get to hear people say nice things. It's a little easier than entering and standing behind the quilt so nobody notices you, so you can hear the comments.”


Do you have any tips or advice for beginners? What do you wish you would have known when you started quilting?

“Be gentle with yourself. Enjoy the process, or you're wasting a lot of your time. You gotta have fun, or what's the point? There is no such thing as the Quilt Police. Never make a quilt for a judge—make it to please yourself. Never make anyone else a quilt in colors you hate. Make sure the cat is no place in sight when you spray baste your quilt!”


Do you have any suggestions for quilters who are trying to fit more quilting time into their day? Are there activities that you skip so that you can quilt more?

“Eat out and carry in. Make your family do everything you don't want to do. A clean house will be dirty a week after your dead. It's not worth it.”


Currently, Ami works inside her home running a publishing and quilting mail-order business while taking care of her mother who has Alzheimer’s disease. Ami has quilting engagements booked for the next 3 years. If Ami is scheduled to speak or teach near you…DON’T MISS IT!!!!…In fact, take all your friends and have a party!!


Be sure to check out Ami’s website: www.AmiSimms.com and sign up for her newsletter—You’ll love it!!


Click here to learn more about creating scrapbook quilts like "Beebe's Birthday" and "Oh, My Papa".


Here's a link to see the rest of Ami's Fantabulous Books!!!