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Cindy Walter's Workroom
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CINDY WALTER'S LIFE STORY
Meet Cindy Walter, author of Snippet Sensations and More Snippet Sensations and co-author of Fine Hand Quilting and Attic Windows!
Born into a family of quilters in Iowa, Cindy Walter was introduced to sewing and quilting at a very young age. She learned to make quilts from her aunt and grandmother, then entered the professional quilt world in the late 1980s by teaching traditional quilting techniques at shops near her home in Washington State.
In 1994, Cindy felt a desire to "paint" on her quilts. After some experimentation, she developed the now-popular Snippets technique. A "snippet" is a small piece of fusible-backed fabric that Cindy treats like a dab of paint. By putting many of these pieces together, Cindy found she was able to create stunning pictures. Although she did spend 40 hours on one piece, "Monet's Water Lilies," the average project takes her about a day.
Snippet Sensations was published in 1996 and won the Primedia Award of Excellence for the best sewing/craft/quilting publication in the US in 1998. Five projects from this book—"Flower Bouquet," "Christmas Wreath," "Wild Dolphins," "Italian City," and "Soaring Eagle"—were converted into step-by-step booklets in 1998 and became popular for classes and kits. More Snippet Sensations, published by Krause in October, 2000, contains more than 20 step-by-step projects and explains how to turn a Snippets project into a quilt, with a section on free-motion machine quilting. Cindy has also produced a video entitled Snippet Creations (1999).
Cindy has written two books with Diana Leone. Fine Hand Quilting (Krause Publications, 2000) is an update of Diana's earlier book of the same title. The new version contains full-color photos that make it easy to see the techniques, a new section on deciding how to quilt a particular quilt, information about new tools and contemporary techniques, and a 16-page pattern section. Attic Windows: Quilts with a View (Krause Publications, 2000) is also an update of an earlier Diana Leone book. It contains sections on selecting fabrics, composing the windows, and finishing the quilts.
When asked by Woman's Day magazine in 1999 what motivates her, Cindy replied, "I'm so inspired by the enthusiasm I get from my students, by their successes, by their final products. It's wonderful to have created an artistic method that nearly anyone can master. Snippets are being used in therapy centers in hospitals, in elementary schools, in alternative high schools. That's motivation enough, don't you think?"
Cindy teaches and lectures around the world and has appeared on the America Sews, Kaye's Quilting Friends, Sew Perfect, Simply Quilts and Home Matters television shows. When she's at home she makes quilts on a ping-pong table, with piles of fabric all around her. She confesses, "I've even taken over both my eating area and formal dining room with sewing supplies!"
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