Angela Walters Interview

new this she's pumped that's what's going through her head right now one of the most talented quilters and presenters in our entire industry is sweating bullets as she sits she sits in the hot seat she has no idea the questions that are about to come upon her [Music] this is the angela walters angela welcome to the crazy show and you said that exactly how I told you to say it so I will give you a 20 to 20 bucks when we're done okay you said was 2500 what then 3000 I mean you didn't elaborate too much so well okay so I'm just gonna blush and sweat and all those silly things but Angela and I are I would consider you a good friend of mine I would say we are good friends I have her personal cell phone number in my personal cell phone you do we have hung out after classes we've been on the same circuit definitely but I have been also starstruck by Angela because my experience I am Anna bust you one more time I know you've heard this story I am standing at sister's outdoor quilt show I am videoing the handycam this beautiful like cream kind of colored background with this wild like glow be kind of or be circular shape it was a tulip pink quilt and I knew that name and as I'm videoing it I'm like oh and it's it's quilted by this Angela Watchers girl you know and I don't even know girl at that point I just I didn't even know who she was but then shortly after as I began traveling through quilt markets and recognizing this explosion of modern quilting with modern quilting I didn't recognize any designers right away but I recognized this machine quilting mastery that was going on and I kept seeing your name on all the quilts so may I offer you a fantastic compliment for being awesome thank you I appreciate that I'm working with Tula has was one of the things that really kind of catapulted and that when the modern movement started as well so I had been long arming for several years and I like to say I was the right place for the right time I was bilingual right I love traditional quotes but I also loved a modern aesthetic and I realized that there was a need for people that wanted to finish their projects themselves I mean there was that desire but maybe not like they didn't know what to do and so through that learning how to teach I just I found my passion is actually teaching other people to love machine quilting as much as I do so is an ultimate compliment that you would say that well in a great segue and no we didn't practice this at all but it was the teaching moment you shared with me that at sisters I don't know if you remember it was the end of a day Angela had been teaching long arming and sit-down a 18-inch machine quilting and she was breaking down a machine and I asked her I said oh do you need some help I think it was your first sister so I was trying to be polite and I wanted to get to know her and so I said would you like some help breaking down the machine and she says no I've been teaching all day and I just want to sit and quilt and I said ooh me too and she says we'll sit down so we started just stitching together and we started talking about some of the things and I can't remember if I told you what it was it intimidated me about quilting but then you immediately said all Rob Rob you're missing your what about the whole quilt you can't worry about the whole quilt you can only worry about what what's between your hands then you gave me the technique that's in your machine quilters workbook and which was know your motifs have a library of designs and motifs so that you can deploy them as you need throughout mark your quilt out so that you have interests that isn't within the blocks of the quilt usually am I getting any of this wrong yet oh she does know what she's talking about because it was all so freeing and so rewarding and I just I've used it over and over and so you you are always in that little angel of the thought of that it's great Rob keep it up close enough it's good enough finishes bare and perfect you know all those things and so do so many people because everywhere I go to teach people are repeating those mantras over and over again you are having a huge impact on this world of textiles well that's really sweet I don't I think you might be over selling me just a bit but I will say that when I started teaching I realized that people were really mean to themselves and they say oh I just I just thought I'm like you wouldn't let anybody talk to yourself that way why are you talking to yourself that way you need to like keep it in perspective it's a quilt you're doing great and it was funny because when I started teaching people would say this has been the best class and I'm like all I did was say that looks good like people say how do I make this better I'm like that's pretty darn good you're don't need to do anything different and so I feel like for some reason machine quilting is that thing where people are like I'm gonna beat myself up over it when it doesn't need to be that way well and you're a young lady a young mom what got you interested in quilting in general to begin with before you became angela walters the machine quilter yes the person that inspired me to be a machine quilter never machine quilted a day in his life so that's kind of ironic isn't it Anna his life that was an interesting twist on a quilting statement for sure for sure um I like to say that my husband's grandpa he's the one that taught me out of cold he's the original man so err but Jeremy's pops is your grandfather okay made quilts and so when I met Jeremy I got I like oh this is really cool I want to make a quilt for Jeremy or whatever and so grandpa showed me how to piece and he was a traditionalist in a piece of wool for sure Amish style all the way he said a mesh but I you know and so we hand quilted our first several quilts and I was not good at it I mean first of all I feel like I was bid big stitch hand quilting before it was a thing and I wasn't sure you started that trend - no no I didn't start it but I feel like um it was me just trying and it was bad so grandpa one day said you should buy a long arm and I was like oh that sounds great what is it you know and he's like I don't know what we saw one at a show one time and so he actually kind of twisted my husband's arm and made me buy it made him buy me this use long arm so here and I do a whole lecture on this but if you're gonna buy a long arm Rob you should probably try some out and have some idea of dealer support you should probably know how it works before you get it which is a good thing you're saying that because I have a long arm somewhere between the jukey dealership and my house and I will be needing to learn how to use it you want to come over and show me out gosh we'd have so much fun but anyway that's how I got in a machine quilting grandpa pretty much made it and made Jeremy buy me one and it comes to get set up and don't know how to work it but I've never been a perfectionist and that's the biggest difference between me and people in my classes that are like so hard on themselves I'm not a perfectionist but I'm a people pleaser a totally different neuroses you know it can be debilitating - but is that why you generally personally go out and set up those long arms in your customers homes absolutely because you know I wanted to be the dealer that I wish I'd had kind of yes yes yes thank you yeah it's you know you're not just you know getting a machine you're getting follow-up support and stuff and and you'll have so much fun with your long arm I mean you will love it and you'll have fun and it's fun when you have a group that you can share that love with right and you can go to your owners or other in like oh my gosh look what I did so I just I love every aspect not just long arming but sewing machine people that are like I don't like the machine cooled I'm like that's great I don't like to bind we would make a good jean here so yeah it just depends now in your brick-and-mortar you are a dealership for the long arms do you have standard sewing machines from handi quilter or something like that in there as well and fabrics what's what's in your building so it's so funny if we do have a shop in Liberty Missouri quilting is my therapy so what's kind of ironic is I just wanted to move out of my house that's it I've been working from home ten years I had employees coming to the house climbing over my laundry I'm like I'm just want to get out so this beautiful building was for sale by owner on a historic downtown square and I was like now I have to do a shop right because if I'm gonna have this retail space well crap and I'm like well if I have a shop I might as well sell long arms already travel for handy culture and teach and then am an ambassador for them so that's kind of how it all started out but our shop I mean it has fabrics and patterns and we do sell the machines and we do sell sewing machines handi quilter does have a line of sewing machines and that's been fun but it's been just as fun selling fabric and having classes and then because you know why not make things more interesting we bought an event space a couple blocks north of the shop so that's where my office is and that's where I have big events like next week we're doing a machine quilting clinic so long arm classes it's going to be a things you say clinic so is that where it's like a forum where people bring you problems that they're having or is it clinic meaning lots of days what is it clinic mean clinic I wanted something that sounded different than like Academy or classes this is a power tools like a clinic kind of yeah so basically I'll have long arms and sewing machines and I'll do five days of classes and lectures so it's kind of like a show except in my own home turf so that's kind of nice which means you can sleep in your own bed at night but it also means you'll get up extra early to go in and tidy it up just well then then I'm the one that's gonna be like you know normally when I go somewhere and teach you know you travel you're like oh oh you have a question about the facility yes I don't know I can't help you well now I'll you get all the questions but I have a great staff I mean great support so it's gonna be fine that's fantastic how many folks you have working for you at the shop I have six employees one of them and six employees plus another one that helps me through then so she doesn't work at the shop and is geremy involved I've seen it of a couple of the shows that's when I got to meet him is he involved the business he is yeah so he actually fun fact we used to own Subway restaurants right and so we sold those and now he I say I work for him he's like the numbers guy so he helps set up the long arms he helps keep the bills paid and all the taxes all the boring stuff so that's he's back there with that green visor a turkey sub in his hand and putting down the numbers in the data entry well we're out having the fun with the threads and needles for sure exciting ok gosh I'm still a little star-struck on all the different things now I know another fun story that I think would be incredible for you to tell because I love to hear it and I don't get the facts all the time right so I'm gonna put you on the spot you can say pass but you only get one pass and we still have the mystery box coming up so no no okay would you like to tell the story of how you and Tula met for the first time I've heard her version I want to see if these facts line up okay are you ready the tula peak angela walters partnership starts now okay so we were just talking to her over her booth and she's like comparing facts not comparing facts I didn't know you're gonna ask this question but talking about like you know she's like I don't maybe I don't remember it the same way I'm like who knows have I told her my youngest daughter just turned 10 I said that means we've been working together 10 years because I was pregnant with Haley when we started working it sounds like they have their facts pretty straight if I know where this is going okay so but how I hooked up with Tula is I quilted for her mom so her mom owned a shop and I quoted for her mom for several years and she called me and was like hey my daughter is moving to town would you like to quilt for her her knee should designer her names to the pink and I didn't know who that was either but you know it's like yeah that sounds fantastic and it's been amazing working with her because who else gives you something and says it's a spaceship and I'm like yeah so it needs jet boosters and and the little ladder for the aliens to collect they're humans back up to the and that was what I loved in that quilt I was describing that someone Angela's talking about right now well it wasn't a self-driving UFO they didn't have those yet I mean obviously I do now but so it needed an alien to drive it but the funniest story is I actually got hooked up with Kathy way before then when I was a vendor at a local show that I had done and so here's the thing you should know about me Rob I don't have to know what I'm getting into to do it so I'm like yeah I'll VIN sure I'm gonna sell myself diving board jump oh then check water yeah pretty much right so I go my first booth and and I'm like I have you've been to shows you know and I had a table a quilt and a stack of cards and meat and I was so excited I'm like I'm gonna sell myself and I'm like realizing this is not what this is about right like but I did get one call and it was from Kathy and so that's how I hooked up with Kathy and eventually hooked up at Ulla and one day we were like been a couple years ago we were in Houston in the hotel lounge drinking water right of course there's good water very good water and we were just reminiscing about how you know great things had been turning out and Kathy said this is the funniest part she said I just can't believe it all started with that one little ven during show and I'm like yeah so crazy and she goes I just remember think it was so neat how you had your long arm in the booth and I'm like no I'm like this lot is real good she's like yeah you did cuz I didn't know how you got it in there I said Kathy I didn't have a long room in my booth she goes I called the wrong person yes that is not exactly the startup I heard so let me offer you my version and then I might actually offer the final yeah there's two facts I think we might have not shared completely but maybe I've gotten it wrong it's a very long story what I thought it was is that Tula had created her first fabric line and she thought in order to have a product in a quilt booth it had to be quilted and only little old mean ladies were quilters so she I was told she went out to find the little old mean lady that was quilting and you were on a break from your booth and there was somebody watching your booth that was a mean little old lady or something like this and then they got the card so maybe this is how they got in the booth maybe this is where the wrong called the wrong person comes back to right and then so when you were about ten years ago on your way to not only pick up tools quilts you're on your way somewhere else if I remember correctly yeah I mean she was in labor very pregnant so it's like I gotta finish this quote before I was not in labor quilting but it was really close and I was like I can't get this quilt halfway done and then be in the hospital for three days the right tool is gonna lose her mind so that that is true and so I got Dave quilt pretty quickly after that wit and labor and I was like thank God it didn't happen when I was I would probably still be quilting if they can't what are you gonna do with half a quilt on the rack right you're like I can't really help you now so yeah that's that is true story so that's ten years ago yep and with an with Tula's wonderful way of telling stories the original introduction went something like this car comes 15 minutes earlier phone call my water just broke or I'm going into labor soon I need to come get your quilt I'm on my way to the hospital on the way kind of thing this is Angela on the phone Tula runs out with the quilt 15 minutes later this car pulls up with this young lady in the car to Lourdes who the hell are you and Angela says I'm angela walters Angela says who the hell are you to us as I'm Tula pink grabs the quilt drives away and they knew how much support they'd be able to offer each other because in that moment of Angela's excitement in her life she was still picking up quilt tops well I mean she knew my level of dedication was definitely there not quite exactly like that but a little bit I mean when when I hooked up with her her ID quilted for her mom and so I'm sure she assumed I was her mom's agent so she was like well you're young and I'm like well yeah but and so I mean that's been such a great friendship and a great working relationship I always tell her we're kind of like work wives like we can't separate because we do too much fun stuff together so well the end products are always incredible as well great stuff to work with and I think what's fun about her is for as much detail as she puts in everything she really trusts me with the quilting and she's always been like just do what you want and she'll give me a suggestions I mean she'll say this is I want this to squish down or I want that to come up I mean she she points me in a direction but she really just lets me go to town but she also gives me some pretty freaking fun stuff to work on like who else says I want creepy feathers well creepy feathers means and he's a spider web and the spiders gonna put her name in it right because that's what they do right so it's a great great collaborative environment now you have two different YouTube channels if I'm corrected more than you know okay so you're angela walters a youtube channel i actually watched a beautiful video where you kind of start to finish in different segments a really cool i think it was a tula it was at one or two lagoons and you talked a lot about how you approach the different blocks and how you're looking at the print work and the negative space and the positive space but you also have the midnight quilt show which is just if I may say my second favorite sewing and crafting show out there on YouTube right now I'll take seconds yeah I'll be stealing a lot of your ideas by the way I'm just gonna make up publicly no one right now it's called inspiration that's there for you I love your format and I think the way you offer your format gives both the inspiration you can binge-watch it or you can take it a piece at a time and of course your presentations are incredible but I really appreciate your format on the technical side too so don't think I won't be trying to duplicate some of that myself I think I think you should so here's the what's fun about the midnight quilt show when craftsy came to me they said we want to do this youtube series and I'm like ok what do you want it to be they're like so we collaborated and I and we're like what do you want so I'm on a conference call with like these 20-some year olds you know and I'm like there's just like there's nothing like that time of night when everybody goes to sleep and I have my wine and I just quilt and nobody's bothering me it's like so I'm rhapsodizing about this moment and I get done and the guys like is that a thing I'm like I think so I don't know if it's for everybody else but we went with that idea like and I knew like if this doesn't work it doesn't work cuz I can't do anything but be mean but this is me so it's a little different right I mean there's great tutorials out there and I felt like you know I want it to be edutainment yeah entertaining but a little bit I'm not trying to show you how to do the whole quilt I'm just hanging out and we're making a quilt we're having fun that's why I leave my mistakes in there that's why my wine is in there like that is totally me and I really think it's awesome that they trusted that idea cuz that was not super common and wow wow that has been the most well-received thing I've ever done I mean the feedback was instant and big and awesome so I'm so glad I got to do that yeah I watched it explode it was incredible I haven't checked recently I watched your most current project that came out cuz I really enjoyed it but I was I didn't want to look how many subscribers are you at now well no no I just hundred I just know when it started it was on craft C's main YouTube channel so it's only been on its own YouTube channel for about a year and a half oh and when that happens the numbers go back to zero again yes I've experienced that kind of myself recently the nice thing about zero is you can't go anywhere but up from there you know and I think if you are true to yourself which you are and you genuinely share that love you can't help but be successful I mean I I mentor a group of long arm quilters and I always say work hard be nice to everyone you will be successful there's no way not to be that way but I will tell I'll put you in a spot Rob oh yes a question I get asked sometimes oh you know Rob Appell like yeah I do is he really like that like what like you know your big personality your outgoing like absolutely all the time I do not know and I tell people I'm like if you really want an experience you have to go to bingo at sister's that's where that's right Tuesday being oh yeah that's where you have fun like you were working that crowd I was like oh maybe I'll bring my new microphone this year pretty good well thank you I appreciate that compliment it's kind of interesting because with the new format for myself I am doing all my own filming all my own editing mostly because I wanted to a lot me know when Michael Moore gave me the opportunity I said I'm gonna create the the show the brand that I want to live within I was gonna sorry to interrupt you but like you have to own it right and if that's the persona is not real you have to be that way every time so it better be real or you'll just be tired yeah and what people saw from me and man sewing was Rob Appell but Rob Appell trying to go too fast so this over-caffeinated dude that was missing his numbers and not teaching real good and always moving stuff all over the table was something that I look at the videos the old videos and say I think I can improve that and so by filming them my selves at a lot of teams that'll take me two full days to capture an entire project from design concept to the binding is finished but by being able to do it that way it's been really fun my energy levels a little bit lower throughout the video but I do think it makes me a little bit easier to tolerate in Blowing formats but but also I've had a lot of compliments on the new formatting and the better education and just the neat thing about this is I'm also now also doing live videos and these interview kinds of things so it's really cool owning the camera equipment and being able to play with it myself with a minute quilt show crafty produces that basically I that's not my channel I don't own or anything but I do host it and then I have my YouTube stuff and so I do challenges and weekly videos and stuff like that it's a totally different experience but when you are the creative control you can work at your pace and you can work when you want to work instead of you know flying to Denver which is where I go and being on for a week and having five long days of filming so it it's what it's in your space it's a different experience and I think I could see why that would be so beneficial for you you got some more time sure talk to folks I mean because I get what you just said to fly to Denver with uh you know for you it's five episode six episodes to film for the major project but I mean that's got to be 15 20 30 hours in front of camera of work or more plus the months of preparing so I actually just said what you were probably going to say but tell folks it may be you're thinking about starting up and something like that maybe what they should be in what yeah what do you got to do to train for something job like this well I will tell you the very first time I did a craft C class they came out to film in my studio and after the first day I realized holy crap I'm camera shy shocking right I put in person no problem I talked to anybody they turn that camera and I'm like so how did you get over it well I got done that night and I'm like they're gonna cancel this class they're gonna be like no way but here's when something's difficult you either lean in or you avoid it right and there's both of them are fine finding is difficult I have waited camera work was difficult but I leaned into it so I took every you are such a natural on account I would have never thought you would say your camera shot go back and watch the very first class it's awkward to my GP video we're going I yeah it wasn't natural but so I took every filming gay got I called Kansas City live in the morning is a local show can I do something on there they let me come out do tutorials I talked to myself in the mirror I I mean I really worked at it and so taught more classes and it was that that really got me the midnight quilt show that some people at blue print told me afterwards like we had a list of names that we were considering for this idea and you just kept coming up because you were so good and I think that's the thing to remember it's not a natural it's not natural to talk to the camera but when I'm doing the midnight quilt show and I'm tired and it's long day I look at the camera and I just sounds so cheesy but I picture it's that person at home that's drinking their wine quilting with me no it's not because it's like a 20-something year old behind the camera doing this he's probably got a whiskey yeah yeah he's like what you know but I think like that so if something isn't comfortable you have to practice I mean why would I think I could just get on there and do good right I had to good I took a couple classes myself IATA hope fortunately I had a friend her son was one of the lifeguards my son had trained underneath we were down at the beach she mentioned she'd seen my show she was on 21 Jump Street as a professional actress and she had started this consulting business and she came over for a couple of hours to my house she says where's your camera I gave her my camera she put it on a tripod and she says now let's talk and I kept trying to look around the camera to see Nicole and she said no you have to look through the camera to talk to us we need you right in here now there's a there's a monitor right on the other side I it's easier to watch the monitor than it is to watch the camera but the whole field changes when we look into the camera and that's what people want from us that closeness people want to know that they're drinking the same wine absolutely and I think you know like I said it's like that for everything and so if somebody says man I really I want to do this and you start asking questions I mean when I'm working with the crew blueprint crew I'm at I'm watching I'm asking I'm like where did you get those lights why do you have those lights set up that way and they know I mean I'm here to deal I want to they had me do a live presentation so I'm they showed me how to use a software to switch in between and I'm like I want to know all this because I'm gonna do it myself oh you use a switcher - I use oh yes okay oh I looked at that one a little bit but I didn't I changed everything for me really but I'm just saying like become a student and ask I mean people love sharing what they're passionate about you find somebody with the camera you're like oh tell me they'll tell you why they love it so I think I think this sounds so stupid but you can do anything you want you just have to you have to go after it you have to be tenacious then I'm gonna follow up with another sounding stupid thing which that wasn't stupid which you said at all but when I wanted to learn something I actually bounced to youtube I wanted to figure out what I needed to buy for my studio I started with the concept of I needed lighting I put in what I thought was good lighting I bought the camera so I could look at the rest of the room through the camera and all of that kind of stuff and so bouncing onto YouTube I happen to find something that was inspiring to me he looked more like me he talked like me but he was not only teaching how to light and film but special effects you know how to to mask yourself in how to you know little things so I'm now I really enjoying trying to add in special effects into my videos and I am so looking forward to the very first comment where one of you noticed the special effects I've put into the video so far so good nobody's caught my special effects well just don't turn your quilt into a dog some people don't like that oh no well I just recently walk in handing myself a spool of thread and nobody's commented on it I'm a little heartbroken you know sometimes you really get deep into thinking and we did this one episode where it's like I'm a magician I'm doing all these I thought it was funny all right you put the blocks and comes out and people were kind of mean about they were like that's not very funny although blah whatever so it's just kind of you know some people like it some people don't yeah well at least you're doing what you like and I think that's why it's being so positive I only read the YouTube comments after I've had a glass of wine oh there you go because then there's the critics mouth as well gosh we have a lot in common do you get stuck on that too a little bit although I yokatta as a challenge to come up with answers and replies that could be really nice or snarky depending on how you read it yeah so if somebody says I couldn't even make it to the end of the episode I say oh that's too bad because I had the best joke for the last you know so I'm getting much better you get really you get better at it quick I would like to be known for being a real smartass and replying to my comments I have yet to do it as well I think it'd be super fun oh no I reply I just haven't been a smartass I've been really really polite but what I will ask of all of you out there if you're gonna take the time to hit the thumbs down button let me know why I can't improve with only a thumbs down I just tell myself they meant to hit thumbs up and they just missed they missed it because you can't take that back either but I do love feedback when you'll offer the constructive criticism I had somebody say well Rob you're too long-winded this interviews gonna go on for 45 minutes most likely because I couldn't wait to sit down with you and talk and have you tell everybody about all that you do I you know I have a different viewpoint I don't want I don't I mmm I don't really want everybody's opinion does that sound bad I do I guess I mean it lets your comments on Angela's videos on my website and I'll let her know what you all think no I do want people's opinion if it's somebody that I really care about or if it's somebody that I mean yeah constructive criticism sure if it's gonna help me improve but I've already filmed eight episodes like I can't you can't fix it can't go back and change it you know and whatever I mean I like I don't mind the stuff like oh talking kind of fast sure but you know sometimes they're not they're not all bad I feel like my crowd on the onion on YouTube is pretty great compared to other YouTube channels yeah I don't get many negative feedback at all and most of the negative feedback is totally valid going too fast poor camera would have been wise if you plugged the microphone in before you started using it things like that say but when you're turning on the camera and the microphone and coming up with the content and trying to sound funny come on that's all I did wrong I'm okay with that yeah yeah I just did a full interview and the microphone was literally turned off I I have done that I've filmed tons of footage and I'm like and I can't use any of this now because my camera died my microphone battery died so yes we have so let's bounce out of the quilting world because you're more than just a quilter as well I'll give you a couple more how about family style questions we've talked about Jeremy you have is it two kids I have three children I have a six-year-old son a 14 year old daughter and a 10 year old daughter so the ten-year-old is the one I was pregnant with so I have two teenagers that you know they say they're gonna come back right right they come back right I don't know no it's a whole new phase of life and it's fun and different and I'm embracing it but we also have a lot of fun so we have goats and animals and land and right now those silly family we ran out of battery we came right back for another question and we probably better make it the mystery question at this point I appreciate all of you watching the whole interview Angela if you don't know the rules we have prepared a bunch of wonderful questions one of the red cards you're gonna pull it you're gonna read it and answer it please okay so I just kind of any one you want okay so it says the question is do you think that Rob is the funniest guy in the whole world who makes up this question that's not really the question the absolute most funny guy in the whole world the question is which animal would make the best type of president if the animal kingdom ever rises up and takes over I'm gonna say Nigerian Dwarf goats that's what I have but they're so cute and fun that nobody would want to attack the animal kingdom because they would want to be hanging out with them it'd be the Peter Pan era all over again I love it and I love you Angela thanks for being a friend and an amazing quilter and a colleague here in the textile industry awesome [Music]

Channel: Making It Fun with Rob Appell

Views: 48,469

Rating: 4.955688 out of 5

Keywords: Michael Miller Fabrics, Rob Appell, Angela Walters, Quilting is my thereopy, Midnight Quilt Show, Interview, Quilt Market, Making It Fun, Quilting, Quilt Market 2019

Id: JqaIKxbitgc

Length: 29min 38sec (1778 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 01 2019