Wednesday, July 6, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
‘Man-quilter’ back teaching at Quilter’s Affair
By Jodi Schneider mcNamee
Correspondent
Scott Hansen dubs himself
the “Mad Color Scientist,”
though he is hardly scientific
about the rules of design-
ing his bold color quilts.
He produces the unique
quilt designs in his stu-
dio, which he runs from his
home in Snohomish County,
Washington. Hansen has
been quilting for 25 years,
and made his very first quilt
at home from the skills he
learned in Home Economics
Class during junior high.
When Hansen was at
Washington State University
to become an architect, he
picked up cross-stitch, a form
of counted-thread embroi-
dery, as a hobby.
Hansen switched majors
and graduated with an
English degree and married
soon after. In 1989 he bought
his very first sewing machine
to piece together a Christmas
stocking he cross-stitched for
his wife, Linda.
Hansen then started
collecting a few vintage
Americana quilts.
“I liked them so much that
I figured I could sew my own
quilts,” Hansen said.
Hansen created a lap quilt
for his grandmother using
the traditional card trick quilt
pattern. Then started making
baby quilts for friends who
were expecting.
Although Hansen had
a teaching certificate, he
wound up in retail instead
of education. But his natural
instinct for design stuck.
“Since I never really fol-
lowed quilt patterns, I started
designing my own,” Hansen
said.
Mostly self-taught,
Hansen has found bliss in
designing quilts using bold
combinations of color in
each one. He revels in classic
designs with a modern twist.
“I like how color plays
off each other and how my
design comes together with
the color, fabric and pattern,”
he said. “I draw designs on
graph paper and make it
work.”
He also enjoys scrap quilt-
ing using loads of different
prints blended in with differ-
ent colors, vintage pieces and
recycled cotton clothing.
Hansen designed quilts for
Free Spirit Fabrics and had
attended various quilt mar-
kets. In 2012, he met Valerie
Wells at a quilt market.
“Valerie used to design
quilts for Free Spirit too,”
said Hansen. “We had a lot in
common regarding quilting
and became friends.”
Hanson asked Wells if
they needed any new teachers
for Quilters Affair, an educa-
tional workshop program that
happens every July during
the five days that precede the
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.
And in 2012 Wells asked
him to fill one of the teacher
spots at Quilter’s Affair.
“I was so happy that they
gave me a chance, and this
will be my fourth year teach-
ing,” Hansen said.
Hansen has designed and
created quilts for fabric man-
ufacturing companies, and
has many of his quilt designs
featured in leading quilt
magazines. He speaks and
teaches locally and region-
ally at various quilt guilds,
sharing his designs and color
philosophies.
Hansen’s quilting evolved
from traditional country
roots into more contem-
porary designs in what he
calls “Urban Folk – Modern
Designs.”
He served as community
editor at Generation Q maga-
zine from its inception in
2011 to 2015. Generation Q
is a quilting lifestyle maga-
zine that is full of content and
photo by Jodi schneider mcnamee
Scott hansen is teaching during Quilt Week.
modern projects.
“Right now I am doing
a yearlong project with the
magazine called Patchwork
Almanac, which is a series
of twelve unique blocks that
fit together into one overall
quilt or can be used alone,”
said Hansen.
Hansen will be teaching
five classes this year dur-
ing Quilter’s Affair. He will
be exhibiting three of his
quilts in the teacher’s tent
— “Christmas, 1964,” “Hugs
and Kisses # 9,” and “Garden
Gate.”
One all-time favorite,
“Christmas, 1964,” was
inspired during a search for
the perfect image to use as a
wallpaper on his cell phone a
few years ago.
“I searched for a mid-cen-
tury Christmas and Google
came up with some great
’50s and ’60s images. The
trees in Christmas, 1964 are
a conglomeration of the best
of those images,” he said.
“Sisters Outdoor Quilt
Show is the highlight of my
year, every year. I think of
the show as my very own
Christmas. It’s exciting to be
here,” said Hansen.