Hodgepodge Handiwork
Hodgepodge Handiwork is the brainchild of Anne Warman and Kim Dixon who met through a parent’s group in Lexington, KY. They soon discovered their mutual love for quilting and everything that was “crafty”! After spending many afternoons together, sewing and critiquing each other’s projects, they realized the help and encouragement that they gave each other might be of use to other people. They hope to build a forum/community of “like-minded” people who share their passions for fabric and paper crafts.
Although Anne and Kim share many similarities in their backgrounds and artistic pursuits, they realize aesthetically their use of color, material, and even composition could be vastly different. Not even their hobbies are necessarily the same. Kim tends to remain within the fiber arts, while Anne includes the paper arts, as well as, the fiber arts in her repertoire. At first it was difficult for either of them to see how their personal styles and interests could mesh into one statement, but then they realized the abject beauty of variety. For, while they see the world in different ways this seems to work best for them by fueling and pushing their creativity further than it had ever been prior to their meeting. They even began exploring ways in which the two art forms intersect. By experimenting with colors, patterns, and textures they began to build a world all their own. Hodgepodge is a gateway to their uniquely singular discovery that, “variety is the spice of life.”
Kim Dixon
Kim was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. The only child of two educators she learned to sew at an early age. Taught basic hand sewing techniques by her beloved aunt, Kim expounded upon her humble foundations by taking a home economic course in high school. The class exposed her to the world of sewing machines and she put together her first fashion pattern as a class project. Years passed though before she took up sewing in earnest.
It wasn’t until her senior year in college that sewing became her primary pastime. As a way to relieve stress, Kim took up quilting. She pieced her first quilt by-hand from the remnants of cloth given to her by the aunt who taught her to sew, in commemoration to her memory after she passed. Kim’s mother was so inspired by her work she encourage Kim to take a quilting class with her. Kim learned the fundamental basics of quilting which gave her the tools to produce a proper quilt; however, once she understood the rules she also knew they were made to be broken! With the addition of an old Singer sewing machine as one of her possessions, she revisited her early interests working with fashion patterns and began piecing her quilts by machine rather than by hand. In so doing she experimented with different types of fabric and explored new techniques. Often her projects did not turn out the way she had hoped but that did not stop her from trying! She also developed an obsession with embroidery, learning different stitches and designing her own patterns.
When Kim was not working with or buying fabric she pursued her career as an archivist and eventually worked for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. She later took a position with the Anacostia Community Museum, which was also part of the Smithsonian family. She married and moved to Lexington, Kentucky with her family, which is where she met and became friends with Anne Warman. Throughout her many years working with fabric Kim has continued to build upon her skills and now includes wool appliqué and working with vintage fashion patterns under her belt.
Anne Warman
Anne was taught to sew and work on various crafts at an early age by her beloved aunt, whom she stayed with during the summers. Her aunt would have a different project for them to do each day, there-by teaching Anne a new skill while keeping her occupied during the long summer days.
Raised by parents whose careers were in the arts (one a photographer and the other a writer), Anne discovered her own artistic ability through her love of fabric. She inherited her first sewing machine from the sewing machine repair shop her grandfather owned in Aurora, IL in the 1950s to 70s. It was an old 1960s Pfaff and with it Anne began to work on and improve her skills as a seamstress. While her sister slept in the bed next to her own, Anne would creep out of bed and work on her machine in the middle of night to make clothes for her dolls. Nervous about making noise, she painstakingly used the hand wheel instead of the foot petal, lest her parents discovered her nightly ventures. It was from these intrepid beginnings that Anne developed her skills and style.
While Anne attended college she attempted her first quilt project. It would take her 2.5 years to complete; however, the experience was invaluable because she gained the “dos and don’ts” of quilting first hand. Later she took a quilting course with her husband’s grandmother which reinforced what she had taught herself and gave her a basic foundation in the world of quilt making.
After graduating from college with a degree in accounting Anne’s first job was working as a bookkeeper for A Touch of Amish, a quilt shop in Barrington, IL. There she gained a tremendous amount of experience and realized how valuable her math skills were to the art of quilting. She began drafting her own quilt patterns using Moda fabrics and promoting them in the shop.
However, quilting was not Anne’s only love. She also discovered a pension for the “paper arts” taking the form of scrapbooking and card making. Through a happy circumstance a friend invited Anne to a Stampin' Up workshop at her home and that opened up a whole new world of crafting possibilities. These days, Anne continues to quilt, scrapbook and dabble in other types of crafts.
