Meet Anne Wiens

Shelby, Montana, USA

All photos courtesy of Anne Wiens except for Anne's picture which was provided by D&L Photography.

Click on quilt photos to enlarge.

Hi Anne.  When did you start quilting?

When I was 10 years old, my great-grandmother let me lay out some 9-patch blocks for a crib quilt for my baby sister.

I began quilting in earnest when I was a senior in high school.  That was 1974 and quilting was enjoying a revival in anticipation of the US Bicentennial.  My first quilt was a double bed size 9-patch made with ginghams and calico prints.  I used that quilt for 30 years!

Tell us more about why you started quilting and who taught you?

I was probably born to quilt.  My mother remembers playing under her grandma’s quilting frame in the 1930’s.  My Grandma Wiens was a wonderful quilter, specializing in whole cloth quilts.  She won many awards.

I more or less taught myself to quilt.  I bought a copy of Ruby McKim’s 101 Patchwork Patterns (goes to Amazon).   With advice from my Grandmother, I chose to start simply with a 9-patch.  This was before rotary cutters, of course, so every one of those 1755 (but whose counting?!) 2 ½” squares had to be traced around a cardboard template and cut out with scissors.  My mother and sisters couldn’t sit down to watch TV without me tossing a pile of scraps at them with orders to “mark and cut”! 

 
I made many mistakes that could have been avoided had I asked for help, but I think working things out on my own contributed to my talent as a designer.

 
After that first quilt, I began making random blocks from the McKim book and discovered that many blocks use the exact same shapes…it’s actually the placement of colors that changes one block into another—a designer was born!!

Where do you live?

Shelby, Montana…35 miles south of the Canadian border.  Shelby has a population of 2500, but we manage to support 2 quilt shops!!

What other hobbies do you have and how do they affect your quilting?

I enjoy photography, mostly landscapes.  The composition rules for photography also apply to pictorial quilts.  I also dabble in cross-stitch, sewing, knitting, and other crafts now and again, but my heart is in quilting.  And last, but not least, I read a lot—mostly mysteries and history.

Where in your home do you quilt?

One nice thing about living alone is that I can spread out…and I do!  I have a designated studio in my second bedroom, but it’s so full of fabric and quilts that my sewing machine is now in the living room!!



What were your favorite arts and crafts as a child?

Honestly, I was game for any art or craft for which I could earn a Girl Scout badge!! 

 


Do you work outside of the home?

Yes, I’m a radio announcer, journalist, and program director for KZIN-FM and KSEN-AM  radio.  I started working there in 1980.  (My “on-air” name is Anne James.)  I also have a small pattern design company called Sweetgrass Creative Designs.  My patterns are currently available through my classes, but I hope to begin publishing commercially soon.

Did you study art in college?  Do you ever wish that you would have?

I took art classes in high school, but none in college.  On occasion I’ve wished I had studied art at the collegiate level, but not very often.

 
In the 1980’s and 90’s, I belonged to a local branch of the Montana Institute of the Arts.  I was the only textile artist among a dozen or so painters.  Through programs and workshops with them, I learned a lot about design, color, value, and light. 

 
If I had taken formal classes, I’m afraid I would have become trapped in a web of rules.  Having had to work things out on my own, I’ve learned to be less concerned about what’s “right” and instead look for what “works”.

 


What is your favorite part of the quilting process?

Designing….definitely designing!  I used to go through reams of graph paper.  Now I use computer software, but I rarely use the software’s block library.  I prefer to work from scratch. 

 
I’m not fond of cutting pieces, but you have to do it to get to my next favorite step:  Piecing!

 


What inspires you creatively?

Literally anything can push my creative button, and once an idea takes hold I’m no good for anything else!  I just have to get away and work out the design.  If I don’t get it down on paper right then, the idea is as good as lost.

 
I am often inspired by a photograph, geometric pattern, or even another quilter’s work.  Especially with pieced quilts…I will break down the pattern and then begin altering or rearranging the elements. 

 
Perhaps the oddest inspiration was a box of colored plastic paper clips.  I dumped a few on my desk—intending only to clip two papers together.  The colors caught my eye.  I clipped them to a card and took them home.  It’s still tacked to my bulletin board…I just haven’t found the perfect pattern yet.

 


Do you have a favorite Bible verse?

“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”  Jeremiah 29: 11 (NASV)

An acquaintance once asked me to define my faith.  My reply was that faith is what allows me to believe that there is a reason things happen when I can’t figure out what the reason might be.

 


How many projects are you working on?

I’m actually “working” on 3 at the moment.



Do you have any UFO’s (unfinished objects)?

I’ve lost count.  My guild (the Triangle Squares Quilt Guild) is doing a “FIFI” (Find It Finish It) Challenge this year.  We had to list our UFO’s.  I listed 24 off the top of my head and I’m sure there are at least that many more!  I have, on occasion, put a UFO in our guild’s white elephant auction.  I’ve never seen one come back for Show and Tell!!

Any funny quilting stories?

Last fall I was teaching a class on my Montana Star wall hanging.  One of my students laid out his block with the star point sections backwards.  I started to correct him, but stopped short and said, “I think we may have a new block here!”  “Really?” he said.  “Does that mean you’re going to name it after me?!”  So of course I went home that night and made up the new block…I named it “Wrong Way, Joe”.

 


Whose quilts inspire you?

At this point in my career I think I’m more inspired by the techniques behind the quilt than by the quilt itself.  The quilt will stop me and make me ask “How did she/he do that?”  Once I have the answer I may make one quilt following the rules, but if I enjoy the technique I begin pushing the envelope to see where I can go with it.  Some of my favorite quilt artists are:  Mary Ellen Hopkins, Yvonne Porcella, Gwen Marston, Ricky Tims, Cindy Walter, Lerlene Neveril, and Colleen Wise.

 


Do you quilt by hand or machine?

I prefer to hand quilt, but my teaching schedule dictates that most projects be machine quilted for time’s sake.  I machine quilt the smaller projects myself, but the bed-size quilts are completed by Fay Tomayer and Don Weisgram.

I really enjoy the peace and solitude of hand quilting.  I also treasure the connection to my grandmothers…I am blessed to use the quilt frame that my Grandpa Wiens built for my Grandma and a silver thimble from my great-great grandmother.

Do you daydream about quilts?

Constantly!  I find some of my best ideas occur to me when I’m in the shower or up to my elbows in dishwater.  I have a theory about why this is.  It’s because I can’t stop and jot the idea down on paper.  As long as the ideas are kept to myself, my subconscious feels free to toss possibilities around.  Once the pen meets the paper, the idea is out in the open and subject to public opinion.

 


What has changed about your quilts through the years?

The biggest change has been the colors I use.  I started in 1974 with 3 colors in a quilt…a main print and two coordinates (usually solids).  My scrap quilts always had a white muslin background.  I’ve been through many color phases including Amish, primary, country, and whatever is new at the quilt shop that I work in!

Please tell us about your favorite quilt shop.

 Well, it’s probably no surprise that my favorite shop is the one I work for—the Creative Needle in Shelby, Montana!  But that being said, I’ve rarely visited a shop that I didn’t enjoy.

What is your favorite class to teach?  Where do you teach?

I teach classes at the Creative Needle in Shelby where I work part-time.  I also teach through adult education programs in several nearby towns. 

My favorite classes are those using my own patterns.  I like to see the results when students apply their color choices to my designs. 

Is there anything else that you would like to share about your quilting business?

I design quilt patterns and then teach from them.  Many of my patterns are designed specifically to teach students to use various tools such as flying geese and tri-recs rotary cutting templates.  I also custom design patterns and mystery quilt for retreats.

Do you have any advice for new quilters?

There are so many ways to accomplish any given task in quilt making—half square triangles, for example…there must be at least a dozen ways to do it.  Every teacher has her favorite method.  I advise my students to try every new technique they are introduced to and stick with the ones that work for them.




Thanks Anne, for sharing your story.  Anne is in the process of building a website so that her patterns will be available online.  The address will be www.sweetgrassdesigns.com.

In the meantime, Anne would be happy to send you a free copy of her “Simple Gifts” table runner pattern.  If you would like a copy, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Sweetgrass Creative Designs

215 6th Ave. South

Shelby, MT 59474

You can also reach Anne at sweetgrassdesigns@yahoo.com

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