Meet Janine Holzman

Sitka, Alaska and Tucson, Arizona...USA

All photos courtesy of Janine Holzman.

Hi Janine.  Please tell me about your start into quilting.
I started quilting during Christmas vacation when I was in the 7th grade.  My mom had this odd rule that if you were sick and missed school, you could not go out of the house til the next time school started.  I timed it to miss school just as vacation was starting.  My mom stuck to her rule…so I had a couple weeks of being house bound.  I had been sewing on the sewing machine since I was 5 or 6 and I had sewed all my clothes for school that year.  With a box of scraps I decided to pass the time making a quilt.  I cut out lots (!!) of squares….and ended up having enough to make 3 tops!  My grandma was my mentor…she helped me plan and then tie a couple of the tops.  I am 57, so that means I’ve been quilting for 35 years!  Yikes!

I have loved sewing since I can remember….truly, I remember sewing a pot holder when I was 2 years old!  I was so crazy about my grandma….anything she did, I wanted to do.  After the squares quilts she went on to show me how to make traditional blocks.  My best friend and I would come home from high school and go to my bedroom and sew quilts!  We were either very nerdy…or way ahead of our time!!

Where do you live?

Alaska since 1974….Tucson in the winter since 1996.

Please tell me about your family.  What do they think of your quilting?

My husband is Bud.  He’s great about my quilting.  He likes what I do and tells people nice things about my quilts.

We have 2 kids, Sarah and Seth.  Sarah lives in Juneau, Alaska with her husband and 2 kids…Anna and Soren.  Sarah was never interested in sewing, but Anna is!  We made our first squares quilt last summer!!

Seth lives in Tucson with his wife Emma and their three children…Jordan, Maya, and Leah.  I gave Maya a sewing machine last year for Christmas.  She is interested in making cloths.  Leah likes crafts, so I am hopeful.

What other hobbies do you have besides quilting?

I have lots of hobbies and most all involve using my hands.  None have ever surpassed my passion for quilting.  I have a loom and make rag rugs.  I also have a house full of braided wool rugs that I made when my kids were babies and they thought I was sitting on the floor playing with them (but I was really rugging!).  I have also done some wool hooked rugs.  I like to recycle, which is where the wool came from and the supplies for most of my other projects. 

 
I have made quite a few things from broken dishes, flower pots, table tops, wood stove surrounds.  With broken costume jewelry, I make crosses.  I just finished caning some old chairs. 

 
I am also a pretty good finish carpenter…doing lots of the restoration work in our homes.  I guess I just like making things!

Are you retired?  If not, what kind of work do you do?

We fish commercially in Alaska.  We have a “ma and pa” boat.  It is small enough that the 2 of us can fish it ourselves, but often we have one of the kids or a nephew along.  The season is March through October with winters off.  How perfect for time to do all my projects!  We fish for herring in the spring, then halibut, black cod, and salmon the remainder of the year.

Tell me about your sewing space.

I have a fabulous sewing room in Alaska.  It is an addition on the back of our house that is 16 x 24’ with a 5 x 16’ fabric closet!  I have a couple of big design walls and two sewing machines…but I don’t get to use the room much.  I have a tiny little bedroom for my sewing room in Tucson, but that is where I have time to sew.

What kind of sewing machine do you use? 

I have a Bernina and a Juki.  They both have their strong points.

What inspires you creatively?

I think my quilts are based on traditional designs, but tweaked with my colors and fabric choices.  I am often inspired by events…like my cat dying, or 9/11 which lead to “4th of July Parade”, or a tea party where we dressed in old hats (leading to “Barrio Babes”).  I like to look at old quilts and get color ideas, especially from the turn of the century.

Whose quilts inspire you?

I love those Texas women…Karen Stone, Pam Studstill, and most of all Helen Giddens.

What is your favorite season?

Summer because I love being out in the boat.

What is your favorite part of the quilting process?

My favorite part is designing and then piecing.  I love my sewing machines and do everything I can with them.

How many quilt projects do you have in progress?

I think I have about 4 or 5 quilting projects going.

What about UFO’s (unfinished objects)?

I haven’t had that many UFO’s over the years.  The quilt tops that I think are a bit “iffy” I often use for backs.

Please share a funny story about your quilting.

Several years ago I did a rattlesnake quilt.  For some reason the tension got weird on a section of the back while I was quilting it.  It was just too intricate on the top to take out, so I decided to figure out a way to cover it.  My solution was to cover it with a reclining Eve…nude, eating an apple, with only a fig leaf.  The 4th grade class came to the quilt show that year and the teachers had never seen such interest by the boys….one of them had discovered the back and soon they were all clustered together “oohing” and “ahhing”!!

Do you make quilts to satisfy a creative need or are they always made for a specific purpose or person?

I rarely have a specific purpose for a quilt…I just feel possessed and I have to make the quilt!

Do you quilt your own projects?  By hand or machine?

Yes, I do my own quilting.  I machine quilt almost all my quilts.  About 20 years ago I met Joen Wolfrom and she was just the person I needed to tell me that machine quilting was ok!

So, do you enjoy machine quilting?

I like doing it, but I don’t LOVE doing it.  I find that machine quilting is the place that I have the most shortcomings.

Do you work in a series with your quilts?

Yes, I work in series.  The first 7th grade squares quilts were a series of 3!  I got into fan quilts and must have made a dozen right away…and then in the years since, I still will get a good fan quilt idea.  It seems like one sparks an idea that would be great done just a bit differently—so that leads to another—and another!  I also do names in series:  I have had so many with “Tide” names…High Tide, Low Tide, Red Tide, Slack Tide….

What is your favorite color? 

Red, no contest!  I have a hard time not using it some place in my quilts.

What kind of fabrics do you collect?

I collect light plaids and stripes….and bright, non-floral prints.  I am a recycler when it comes to fabric, too.  Thrift shops are my favorite fabric shops.  I find many interesting colors, prints, plaids, and stripes in clothing that still has a lot of life left.  This may have come about from living so many years on an island in southeast Alaska.  I always find my best fabric at the White Elephant thrift shop!  I rarely go to a real fabric shop. 

Do you daydream about quilts while you are doing other things?

Yes, I am a great daydreamer of quilts.  Some boring jobs on the boat are perfect for planning out a quilt.  I also daydream when I am doing something not all that pleasant…it really gets me past some dreary situations.

Do you ever enter your quilts in shows?

I enter quilt shows all the time.  I like the feedback that I get from the judging.

Have any of your quilts won awards or been published?

Yes, I have been published frequently in Quilters Newsletter Magazine, in fact I’ve had 4 covers.  I’ve also gotten some ribbons at Houston and Paducah.



Do you have any tips or advice for beginners?

My advice is to not be hard on yourself.  Enjoy the quilting process.  Don’t think that the first quilt has to be the masterpiece…no one learns to cook, or knit, or whatever perfectly the first time.



Do you have any suggestions for quilters who are trying to fit more quilting time into their day?

Having a sewing area that can be left in place is the biggest help for me in getting lots done.  That way I can quilt at those odd moments.

 


Thanks Janine!  You have a fascinating life!  Thanks so much for sharing with us about your quilting.

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