Try to keep up with Valerie Prideaux! When she was introduced to quilting, it was love at first sight! Inspired to show quilts and gather quilters, Valerie initiated and managed Quilts at the Creek for eight years. When that ended with COVID, she started doing Zoom interviews with makers. With time on her hands, she began exploring variations of a single basic shape like tumbling blocks, culminating in writing a book.
Why quilting? How does that medium best express what you want to communicate through your art?
I have always done something creative on the side. My day job was in a science/research lab, where you are always tweaking protocols and exploring new techniques.
When Kaffe Fassett’s first knitting book came out, I was so inspired. I started a part-time knitting business, selling sweater kits for babies and children with bright, bold colours. This was pre-internet, colour photocopies, and digital cameras. Selling at craft shows was how I met my customers. It was very time consuming!
In the early days of the internet, I saw how creative web design could be and jumped right in, and still juggle several sites to this day.
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When my sister started quilting and took me into a quilt shop, it was love at first sight. I don’t have great fine motor control, and worried that might be a problem, but I stopped worrying about that long ago.
Quilting for me is all about colour. Just opening a box from my stash and seeing all those luscious colours gets my creative juices going. My happy place is in my sewing area cutting blocks and playing on my design wall.
How has your creativity evolved over the years? What triggered the evolution to new media/kinds of work/ways of working?
I guess I have always had a creative streak. Most of my creative endeavours are projects that I have done solo. They gave and continue to give me great pleasure. My happiest times are when I am at my design wall, moving blocks around, trying new combinations. I have a large collection of blocks that I have cut and not used, as an idea takes hold and moves me in a certain direction.
When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?
I do not start with a plan, I start with fabric.
Maybe a fabric with an interesting set of colours inspires me, or two fabrics that land side by side. There is some planning as the work evolves, maybe a decision to transition to another colour, add a sprinkle of darker blocks, or a shot of something completely different. I am an improviser rather than a planner.
Which part of the quilt design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
My favourite part of making a quilt is the design process. There can be some real down times, when things aren’t quite right. When I figure it out, get it right, I almost burst with pleasure.
The rest of the process has its pleasures; when I see the final piece take shape I am one proud mama. I only quilt my smaller pieces myself. I have a great relationship with the person who quilts the larger ones. We are good friends, sharing ideas and encouraging each other’s creativity. Those quilting friendships are really special.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I always loved my day job, but always had a lot of other things on the go. When I thought of retiring, I kept asking myself what would I do?
My sister lived at the time in Calgary Alberta, and we visited the Festival of Quilts (https://www.calgaryfoq.com/). I was blown away with the setting, and the quilts. On the flight home, I was thinking how Toronto is a big city, with lots of quilters and a heritage park within city limits. One phone call, one visit, and I had booked one weekend in July. Thus began Quilts at the Creek.
This was a show open to all quilters and quilt guilds. It was a huge success, with hundreds of quilts over one weekend every summer, blowing in the breeze. Of course I couldn’t have done it without tremendous help from a small group of committed volunteers. The show ran for eight wonderful years and ended in 2019.
Why did I end it? I was ready to move on to other ventures in the world of quilting. During COVID lockdown, I was hungry to see quilts, and hear quilt talks.
Thus for one year my friend Sandy and I created and ran QuiltTalk, an online ZOOM series with outstanding quilters. As more and more places started offering similar talks, we ended QuiltTalk.
This led to my series of tumbler block quilts which then led to my book Tumbler Quilts: Just one Shape, Endless Possibilities. So much for being bored post-retirement!
My book came about as a result of COVID lockdown. I have always liked to keep things simple. I had made a few tumbler quilts before, and I thought that shape had a lot of possibilities. The quilts in my book were such a joy to make, as they all were based on the tumbler block. I made one tumbler quilt, then another, and that led to other fabric choices and layout possibilities. When they evolved into impressionist art quilts, I knew I had to share this idea with the world. Luckily my publisher agreed!
What is the most important takeaway you want readers to gain from your new book, Tumbler Quilts: Just One Shape, Endless Possibilities, Play with Color & Deisgn?
Clear out the noise! Instagram, Pinterest etc are wonderful places to check out what other people are doing, and to inspire. By now you have absorbed those influences, and learned what makes your heart sing. It is time to clear out the noise. You have everything you need to make a piece that you love. So hide away – just you, your fabric and a design wall. Sound daunting? I just need to open a box of fabrics, sorted by colour, and cut a few blocks to get started, this might work for you too!
Do you have a dedicated space for creating? If so, what does it look like?
I have a dedicated space in the basement, with bookshelves, a design wall, and my fabric. I especially love working there in the summer, when it is too hot to be outside, and the basement is cool and inviting.
I confess to having a large fabric stash. I mostly buy fat quarters or even charm square packs so I can have as much variety as possible.
There are an embarrassingly large number of UFOs there too. I might have started a project to see where it would go, and didn’t know how to continue it. An idea may yet come to me. Another category of UFOs comes from deciding to make someone else’s pattern, or participate in a challenge. I get bored making these, unless I can find a way to make it my own.
I do my computer work in the dining room, and I use the living room for photoshoots, there is great light there. Nowhere in the house is safe!
What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours?
My quilts are always all about colour. Using subtle or bold contrast and shifting values are principal features of my quilts.
Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?
Although I work improvisationally, I do keep a journal of sorts, with ideas for other projects.
I would love to make a series of Alice in Wonderland quilts. I made a test piece years ago, and loved the whole process of playing with images and colours. These ideas are playing somewhere in the back of my mind.
I am drawn to the amazing diversity of seed pods, and attracted to the idea of seed banks, places where people are dedicated to preserving the biodiversity of plants. I am waiting for these ideas to crystallize too!
A few years ago I made a series of small pieces based on photos of train crashes. I abstracted the images, reducing them to their basic shapes, which removed the horror of the events, and found them visually stunning. This series came together so quickly, showing the power of inspiration.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
I saw a quilt with a block that appealed to me, made by Leah Day. To me the block looked like an improv tumbler shape. I was obsessed! I searched around to see if anyone else had something similar. I want to take the untravelled road!
I found a pattern called Arne, by Rossie Hutchinson that used that shape, and I loved it! What could I do with it? I took a charm square pack and made the black-grey-beige-cream piece as a sample.
I really loved how the diagonal lines gave movement to the piece, the contrast between the blocks, and the way diagonal columns appeared when similar colours were placed near each other row on row. I had a template made so that the angle was the same on all my blocks, jumped into a pile of charm packs from RubyStar, sorted out the analogous colours of red-orange-yellow, and started cutting.
Arranging on the design wall came next, then sewing the rows together.
I quilted it with random diagonal lines that mimicked the angle of the blocks. Done! Does this idea have legs? Will I make it again, changing things up? We’ll see. It is an idea working its magic in the back of my brain.
Tell us about your blog and/or website. What do you hope people will gain by visiting?
I have had a blog relating to my quilting life since 2010. (www.cozyfunkycool.com). I may not post there regularly, but I do use it to talk about quilting projects. Putting things down on “paper” helps me organize my thoughts and a reminder of where I have been, and where I am going. I really enjoy reading other people’s blogs if they include discussions of their work, what worked and didn’t work, what they would do differently, anything about the process of making a quilt fascinates me. I have started an Instagram page (@cozyfunkycool) to post photos of things I am drawn to, as well as some of my work, but my heart is really in my blog.
Interview posted July 2023.
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