Anna Maria Parry grew up in a creative home. She now designs textiles that inspire embroidery or needlepoint designs, in colorful large patterns.
How did you find yourself on an artist’s path? Always there? Lightbulb moment? Dragged kicking and screaming? Evolving?
I was always inclined towards drawing and making, from as early as I can remember. This was reinforced as both of my parents were creative in different ways. We lived among their handwork, whether it was paintings or handmade clothing.
You design textiles, sewing patterns, draw, quilt, embroider, needlepoint and more. How do you decide which type of project to work on?
For the most part each of my creative endeavours is on a pretty strict schedule since I work with manufacturers that have a regular production plan each year. Whenever I can add to the mix with a new project, it happens with a natural sort of inspiration. For instance if I have just made a fabric design of a large flower, it might inspire the idea to also make an embroidery or needlepoint design using the same flower. So in that sense, that process is one where staying active artistically inspires more art.
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Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?
These days a lot of what I draw inspiration from is nature. I am also a huge lover of fine art, fashion, home and interiors design. I kind of see it all as the same thing.
A palette from a line of dresses might make me want to paint a room a certain color. And the linework on a butterfly might make me want to create an abstract fabric print with similar lines.
If it makes my heart race and makes me want to pick up a pencil to draw the idea, or make a note to revisit the inspiration, then I am at a good place.
What is the most important takeaway you want readers to gain from your new book, Anna Maria’s Blueprint Quilting?
I want quilters to feel confident in following what they love, even if it does not fit in any sort of “style” of quilt making or following the conventional method of a pattern or designing a quilt.
I also want them to combine prints or colors together that feed their soul and not someone else’s idea (even mine!) of what is beautiful. In short, I was able to learn about color and composition in the most traditional way in art school. However, I have been manipulating those constructs to make what is beautiful to me ever since.
It’s not breaking rules that I encourage, as much as developing your own set of rules with confidence.
When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?
Both! I tend to improvise if I am drawing or painting. With quilts I tend to plan the quilt space (the blocks and scales) on paper first, and then improvise in selecting colors after the details are decided.
Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have?
Oh gosh, I haven’t counted lately, but I probably have at least 6 or 7 personal quilts that II started that rise to the surface on the to do list every now and then. And I could probably say the same about embroidery, needlepoint, crochet, and knitting (ha!). However I am not bothered by this in the least.
I am definitely a finisher when it comes to the projects I do for my job, so I feel it all balances out.
Describe your creative space.
I was lucky enough to be able to build a detached studio in the backyard of our house almost two years ago.
The downstairs was primarily designed to ship our custom kits and house a studio office where my oldest daughter Juliana manages shipping and content creation for Anna Maria Textiles, my fabric brand.
I work upstairs in a loft style space that has lots of light and big windows so I can watch the trees and the birds while I work. I have large work counter where I cut and machine sew all my projects at the center of the room. All of the space under the eaves of the roof are filled with custom built-in shelves to house my fabrics, threads, yarns and other supplies. Between the center counter and a large set of windows is my long computer table and printer. The set up allows me to face the big windows, and have plenty of space to lay out fabric samples as I am corresponding with fabric mills to organize corrections and other plans.
I feel that you use every amount of space you have when you are an artist who stores all sorts of materials. Custom designing a space to work specifically for your process is a huge treat. That said, I still don’t have LOADS of space, so I have to plan well and be concise with how I store things to make it all function well.
What is your typical day like?
My husband makes the coffee and I I get the two youngest (11 and 15) to their nearby schools. Then we take about another 30 mins to have breakfast and catch up on news. We will often head to the gym where I swim laps. I’m generally in place at my desk by 9 and I usually start the day with email.
If I’m lucky I have wrapped up all my correspondence by lunchtime and then I can get started on projects that I have in progress. That could be anything from designing a fabric collection to working out the yardage requirements for the next round of quilt designs. We try to wrap up around 5 o’clock and if I’m not starting dinner right away, I might tinker in the garden or do a few housekeeping tasks or catch up with the kids on their day.
I tend to take handwork in the house with me when there is a lap size project in progress to work on slowly. My husband will often stay in the studio later if he has a late call with his staff in Sydney, where his business is based. Keeping business fires burning in two hemispheres is an adventure!
How do you stay organized when working with multiple design ideas and processes?
I really need a deadline to help me manage my time. I will make notes on my digital calendar as well as a legal pad at my desk.
Juliana and I sort of map out our week with the main goals on Monday. But like everyone, we veer off course both intentionally when something needs prioritizing, and also unintentionally when we travel or attend shows.
Fortunately our development cycles are pretty regular, so a lot of scheduling is sort of decided for us.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
I love the quiet creative time developing new work, and I love the opportunity to share it with others.
We get to share new fabric collections with shop owners at trade shows, and of course with everyone through social media. I love that dialogue and inspiring people to be creative.
I would say the biggest challenge is the amount of time doing email and the clerical parts of my work. Just running the business and correspondence takes up more than half of my time. I’d rather be up on my feet doing something creative.
How has your creativity evolved over the years? What triggered the evolution to new media/kinds of work/ways of working?
When I started designing fabrics in 2005, I was spending a lot of my time drawing the designs out by hand with pencil and paper, and then redrawing everything in the computer using a computer mouse.
As well as that worked for my results, it did not work well for the health of my right hand. I had tried a few different tablet type tools that translated the work onto the desktop screen, but I never felt happy with the results or my comfort levels drawing.
Finally around 2017, I started drawing with an iPencil on a iPad, and for the most part now I only draw the art once and it is digital from the start. I use an inexpensive program called Procreate to do the bulk of the drawing and then I use an Open Source Program called Gimp on my desktop to perfect the repeats for fabric.
The upside is I can get to finished design work quicker and more comfortably. The downside is that I have fewer graphite drawings serving as a record of my art than I used to, and I miss that. Keeping that sort of art happening just requires more intention from me.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
Honestly I allow myself to take breaks for days.
It is so easy to work all the time when you work from home and for yourself. But that tends to cause burnout, even for someone as motivated as I am. I prefer the feeling of missing my projects and excitement for getting back to them at the beginning of the week. That only can happen by taking a true break on the weekend.
Where can people see your work?
My fabrics and patterns are sold worldwide and distributed by Northcott Fabrics.
I am on instagram at @annamariahorner and @annamariatextiles. My websites are annamariaparry.com and annamariatextiles.com
Interview posted December 2024
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