About Charlotte Warr Andersen
I am a lifetime native of Salt Lake City, Utah where I live with my husband and 1 of my 4 children and 2 dogs. With a background of sewing and crafts, I made my first quilt, a Log Cabin in the barn-raising pattern, in 1974 and then made several more traditional quilts. Since 1983, my specialty has been one-of-a-kind, original pictorial quilts made with either, or both, appliqué and piecing techniques. My pictorial appliqué technique is a unique one featuring forms that are independently layered and created. These created forms are then attached to the background. The pictorial piecing technique makes use of set-in corners, which eliminates many unnecessary seams and makes for a smoother and more flexible piecing process. I enjoy creating realistic and representational images from the unlikely medium of fabric.
My quilts have won many prestigious awards; among them second place in the first Great American Quilt Contest in honor of the Statue of Liberty Centennial, several first places at the American Quilter's Society Show, and two Best of Shows at the Houston International Quilt Festival and Best of Show at the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Quilt show. Wearable Art is another of my pursuits with my garments being a part of the Fairfield Fashion Shows in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1998, the Bernina Fashion Show for 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. My garment was the Crème de la Crème winner for the 2003 Bernina Fashion Show. Two of my garments have also won awards at the AQS Style Show.
I teach and lecture locally, nationally and internationally, having taught in Australia, Taiwan, New Zealand and Canada. I hold memberships in the American Quilter's Society, the International Quilt Association.
I have authored four books. The first two explain* my pictorial appliqué technique. Faces & Places - Images in Appliqué explains my unique techniques for layering to obtain a shaded and dimensional look. My second book, Focus on Features - Life-like Portrayals in Appliqué, is also about the layering process but delves more deeply into drawing a pattern, color choices, and features an alternative machine method. These two books are available by Print-on-Demand from C&T Publishing. My third and fourth books are called One Line at a Time and One Line at a Time Encore. Both these books are about a no-marking machine quilting technique that features geometric patterns.
As to my teaching, I encourage students to sift through my techniques, using them to draw out their own visions and creativity. I hope to help them express their own personal concepts and to realize that quiltmaking is a viable art form.
