Throwback Thursday: The Dollmaker Wannabee Me and Meeting Amy Butler

It seems that ever since Sandra of mmm! Quilts resurrected Throwback Thursday where we can share tales of yesteryear's quilts and creations, the months go by really fast now.  Fortunately, this also gives me a month to think about what my next post is going to be about and decided this one  will be about a memory.  One of the big differences about making a quilt years ago is that I, like other quilters, did not have a camera phone nor a social media connection to record yesterday's doings which is something I wish I had then for the time I'm writing about now.

I had mentioned in the past if I couldn't make quilts, I would make dolls and saying this in the presence of my fellow quilters, their comments were not very encouraging.  I could still hear Lynn, the owner of the quilt shop I used to work at, saying: "I don't think so."  I've only made two handmade dolls during my twenty years of quilting:  one was a Jan Patek pattern and the other one was an Amy Butler pattern which is what my post is all about.

Back around May, 2002, almost sixteen years ago, I attended the Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City with Lynn, the quilt shop owner and two of my co-workers, one being Carol, whom I've written about in several of my posts and in this post you will see why she is so valuable to me as a quilt peep.  One of the highlights attending this Quilt Market, besides being my first one and the excitement of seeing all of the designers and the fabrics, was meeting Amy Butler, before she became THE Amy Butler.  Carol knew all about her through Country Living Magazine and she even made one of her bag patterns.  I, on the other hand, didn't know a thing about her, just that as soon as I met her, I was so impressed with her happy and sunny personality, her talent and her booth was just wonderful.  Amy was at Quilt Market to promote her own pattern company, Art of the Midwest and had a line of doll patterns called Americana Angels. We visited her booth several times to purchase her patterns for the store and just to say hi to her.  And on the occasions we saw her outside her booth and on the escalator, we gave her the royal wave while chanting "Amy" in which she returned the same wave right back to us.  The sad thing about this encounter is that it is only captured in my memory and I don't have any photos with Amy...nada.

During our first visit to Amy's booth and when we were leaving, she said to me, and only me in the presence of my group, "Here, I want you to have this pattern--it was the Little Miss Liberty Angel doll pattern."  I was flabbergasted and managed to thank her and being someone stunned, I did not ask her to sign it.  I can't say for certain how my co-workers felt about this but there was a certain question lingering in the air as why I was chosen to receive this pattern.  Maybe Amy saw in me the doll maker I wanted to be.

Soon after Quilt Market, I made the Little Miss Liberty Angel Doll, the driving force being that I had to make it because the pattern was a gift and it was also during the time when patriotic quilts were popular due to 9/11 and beautiful fabrics were available in red, white and blue colorways.  I made my doll using Jan Patek's Attic Treasures by Moda and it spent some time hanging in the shop, and after that, has hung in my upstairs hallway wall for almost fifteen years now above a wall quilt I designed and made using the same line of fabrics.

This doll measures 15" high with a 13" wingspan.  It was fun to mix up the fabric prints for all of the parts, tiny and small, which needed to be made and sewn together.  The pattern was not difficult at all and easy to follow, but truth be told, I could probably make a quilt in the time I spent making my Little Miss Liberty Angel.  Probably this is the reason why I don't make many bags or purses or anything else besides a quilt.  Still, it was worth making my Little Miss Liberty Angel Doll and I consider it a remembrance of meeting Amy Butler and am reminded of it every time I walk by the doll/quilt.

If I ever find the time, I would like to make another one of her dolls, they're just that clever and cute.  The two patterns I purchased afterwards, the Sailor's Siren Mermaid Angel and Great Plains Cowboy Angel have been waiting for me to make for at least fifteen years.  I think the Cowboy doll would look great in feedsack fabrics.

Soon after meeting Amy Butler, her popularity exploded with fabric lines, publications and her own line of patterns and it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.  Every now and then after meeting her, Carol and I would still wonder about why she gave me the pattern.  This usually happened when we were around Amy Butler fabrics. Around four years later, I found my answer with Mark Lipinski's magazine "Quilters Home", August 2006 and the quilt celebrity he did a Q&A interview with was THE Amy Butler.  One of the questions he asked her was what her color was the most like her personality and she replied "Lime Green"-- Oh Yeah!--the color of the dress I was wearing when I first met Amy was Lime Green.  No one else in the group was wearing this color so this must be the reason why Amy singled me out, right?  I might add I was also wearing matching lime green anklet socks that had crocheted lace around the cuffs with my Mary Jane shoes so I must had also looked a little quirky too. I immediately called Carol to tell her that the mystery was finally solved and  to inform her I needed her to stay my friend for all times because I needed her to vouch for me that Amy Butler gave me a pattern.  Maybe I should tape a copy of this post to the pattern to make sure I never forget how this pattern was acquired.  As mentioned earlier in this post, no photos, just memories and Carol as my witness.  And yes, I like to give Carol yearly reminders about this important memory and hope that she and I never forget the time we met Amy Butler before she became THE Amy Butler.

I enjoyed sharing this memory and adding it to my quiltlore.  BTW, I hope you check out the other quilters' stories, especially Sandra's, mmm! Quilts because she gave me an idea what my post for next month will be.  I have a month to think about it in my head.

Linking up with MMM! Quilts' Throwback Thursday