Hi, everyone! My name is Linda Winters and I’m living in Texas again after being away for twenty years. I grew up in the colorful city of San Antonio, where Fiesta parades and colorful celebrations made an indelible impact on my tastes. To this day, I have a very difficult time working with soft, muted colors although I often admire them in the work of others.
I have been interested in quilts and quilting since I was a very small girl. My grandmother made a Little Dutch girl quilt that I found fascinating. Every little Dutch girl had a different print dress and her little socks were tinted (probably with crayons) to match! I thought that was just the most wonderful thing! Quilting, though, was on the decline during those years so I didn’t learn to quilt until I was grown. I did learn to sew, though, and as a teenager and young adult I made my own clothes.
I taught elementary school for 20 years, but I come from a family of artists and that was always an important part of my life. My love for children and children's books has also influenced my quilting. Many of my designs tend to be very reminiscent of children's book illustrations and the themes are often from fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
I live with my wonderful husband (an environmental chemist) only thirty minutes from the Alamo and the San Antonio Riverwalk. We are in a small farm and ranch community where the main “industry” is oil, cotton, peanuts, and cattle. I can hear coyotes howl at night and I can see Longhorns and other cattle grazing in nearby fields. It’s not unusual to see people riding horses along the side of the road. It can be one hundred degrees in the summer, but Fall, Winter, and Spring make up for it by giving us glorious, sunny days with cool (not cold) temperatures. I spend my days designing quilts, turning them into patterns, delivering them to several area quilt shops, writing my blog, and sometimes teaching classes. (I fill in any idle time baking or gardening!)
Thank you for reading my blog! I try to keep it as visual as possible for those of us who learn best from pictures. After all, I had a second grader once tell me, “Actions speak louder than verbs!” I agree!
