LIVERMORE — Sometimes when your head tells you to play it safe, the only way to move forward is to take a leap of faith. Or several. Just ask Alex Anderson.
Nearly four decades ago, Anderson was a C-minus student at Livermore High School, struggling with undiagnosed learning problems and convinced her options were limited.
Today, at 57, she is among the most recognized quilters on the planet; a successful artist and businesswoman who juggles the demands of family along with books, an Internet quilting show, teaching, product endorsements and personal appearances. How she got here is a story as inspiring as her beautiful quilts.
“People let their fears be their governor,” said Anderson, seated in her huge, sunny studio next to a large worktable. “I’m not a particularly sharp person, but who cares? That’s (the attitude) that makes an entrepreneur … what counts is doing what you love.”
Born in Albuquerque, N.M. Anderson’s family moved to Livermore before she was a year old when her engineer father took a job with the newly established Sandia California/National Laboratories. School was not easy for her.
“Come to find out now I’m definitely dyslexic and perhaps could beg a little ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder),” she said. “I always thought I was stupid.
“At East Avenue (Middle School) I couldn’t pass the Constitution test in eighth grade history. But in the seventh and eighth grades, I took home ec and I learned to sew. For my eighth grade graduation, I got a sewing machine.”
After graduating from Livermore High, Anderson attended Chico State University initially, then San Francisco State. A month before graduation, the young textile artist — who planned on becoming a weaver — realized she was a credit short for her degree. She talked an adviser into letting her make a quilt to supplement a paper she’d written on the subject. She had never quilted before.
“I had picked the paper’s topic randomly,” she recalled with a smile. “But my mother told me that my grandmother had started a quilt in the 1930s, and said she thought she’d be willing to send me those pieces. I knew how to sew; I could get the pieces together. So I went to a quilt show and had someone show me how to do the quilting. I couldn’t do it. But then I went home and just did it, because I had to do it.”
After graduation, Anderson began quilting for relaxation, but an inexplicable urge to teach quilting — with almost no experience — began her true immersion into the art. Her designs began appearing in a few books, and she eventually worked up the nerve to ask for payment.
She then steered herself to ask for something else — to write her own book. That challenge was eclipsed by the next — an offer from HGTV to host “Simply Quilts,” which ran for 10 years and required her to learn to work in front of a camera.
After that show ended, she partnered with fellow quilter Ricky Tims to create both The Quilt Show.com, which now reaches viewers in more than 100 countries, and The Quilt Life Magazine. She is a spokeswoman for Swiss-made Bernina sewing machines, has designed fabrics, and is the author of 30 books. Married to husband John and the mother of two grown children, she is in demand as a speaker and guest teacher around the world.
“She doesn’t hold herself back,” said fellow quilter and longtime friend Wendy Grande. “She really makes the effort to learn all these skills, and to communicate them to others in ways they can understand.
“She’s the first person who made me think about how an artist changes and grows through their medium,” Grande added. “She continues to explore the art of quilting, and that to me is really exciting.”
Today, the former C- student with low self-esteem has been replaced by a woman with a vibrant damn-the-torpedoes attitude.
“My philosophy is that when you look at a challenge, there are people who have done this before who are less talented, and if they can do it, you can do it,” Anderson said matter-of-factly. “What’s important is being in the right place at the right time and having the courage to put your foot through the door.”
QUILTING COURSE
Quilter Alex Anderson will host a three-day quilting course Feb. 21-23 at Alden Lane Nursery, 981 Alden Lane, Livermore. Participants will make a sampler based around 12-inch sawtooth stars, incorporating various piecing techniques. Cost is $300, including lunch daily. For details, call 925-447-0280 or log on to Aldenlane.com.