Meet Swan

At Cotton Cuts, we are excited to put our spotlight on our Featured Designer Swan Sheridan of Swan Amity Studios for the month of December. In addition to being such a talented quilter and pattern designer, Swan also teaches classes, both in person and online. You can learn even more about her on her social media platforms.

Swan Sheridan lives in Tucson, Arizona with her superhero husband and teenage daughter. She has a passion for all things textile and has dabbled in everything from spinning wool to dying fiber. In 2001, Swan made her first quilt in preparation for the birth of her first nephew. In the interests of covering a mistake in that first project, she used a little applique at the center of the project and perhaps it was that combination of piecing and applique that acted as a catalyst. Quilting has been the preferred obsession, ever after.

Swan began designing her own quilts from the beginning, making patterns on freezer paper and working to figure out her pieces from scratch. In 2009, with her daughter in preschool, Swan began to refine her applique skills and set out to push her skills to the limit, but always with unique designs. Soon after she took a job with Bella Quiltworks in Tucson, offering her the opportunity to be immersed in the quilting world in a whole new way.

Swan began producing patterns for sale in early 2013 and regularly exhibits her work in local and national shows. She teaches in Tucson and around the country, offering classes in appliqué, color, machine quilting, painting, and decorative stitches.

On any given day, you can find this quilt artist half buried in fabric, brandishing her needle and thread, and otherwise surrounded by implements of creativity.

We had the opportunity to ask Swan a few additional questions about her busy quilting life. Here are a few of her answers and insights.

I recently had a chance to view your work at Quilt Market in Houston back in October. What was your favorite part of Quilt Market this year?

Quilt Market is always a great opportunity to exchange ideas with other designers, fabric companies, and product businesses. My favorite part of the event this year was seeing how many companies and designers are truly embracing handwork, small projects, and organics, all of which I think are going to be instrumental in the future of quilting.

Do you have a favorite quilt pattern or quilt that you have created?

It's so hard to choose my favorites. Almost all my quilts are my favorite when I am creating them, but I have to admit that Chemical Attractions is still my favorite quilt. Everytime I look back at it, my heart is full and it makes me inspired to consider my next endeavor.

If you weren’t designing quilts for a living, what do you think you might otherwise be doing?

Whether it's quilting or a range of oher topics, one of my greatest passions is teaching and the research involved in being a good educator. If I wasn't designing quilts, I would probably be a teacher of literature or history. My graduate degree is in 19th Century British Literature and I still love every moment of immersion in the works of Dickens, Elliot, and their contemporaries. I

What is the best part of your quilting world?

I have a strong love for hand applique and free motion quilting. Being able to design projects that allow me to stitch a beautiful quilt top and then create partnering designs to enhance the project with quilting is an overwhelming pleasure. A day spent creating on the machine and then stitching by hand in the evening, warmly ensconced on the couch is the best day.

What is the best thing you’ve been able to do, or best place you’ve traveled to as a quilter?

What I love most about my work is when I spark the fire in others. I adore it when I say the right thing to make a student see their way to success, or when someone laughs at the images in one of my quilts and feels inspired. I can think of no greater joy in life than making other people happy around me.

Is there anything you do not yet know how to do that you would like to learn?

Oh my! There are always more things to learn. I would like to expand my fabric painting abilities and learn to do more with hand embroidery. Every time I think about "what next" I think about skills that I can use while I travel or when I don't have access to one of my beloved machines. I love the idea of being able to work on embroidery on the plane or while I'm gone to a show. When my hands are busy, I feel engaged and productive, which always makes me feel good about myself and what I'm doing with my life. I tell my students to "stitch happy" every time I teach and for me happiness is absolutely in every stitch.

So make sure to check out Swan's social media on Facebook, Instagram and her website. You can also purchase her patterns through out website. 

And, you will want to sign up for her Mystery Class. Details below.