Sofia Pulver: An Extemporaneous Quilter

by Linda Hungerford

“It takes 63 neckties to make the Dresden plate quilt,” says Sofia Pulver of Berthoud, CO. At the request of a customer who wanted her “preacher ties” collection made into a quilt, Sofia approached the project with her typical, extemporaneous creativity. Her process of making quilts is different when compared to traditionally-fashioned quilts that follow a prescribed pattern.

According to Sofia, she can make a quilt “by ‘eyeing it.’ I see something and then instead of taking time to calculate units or figure what I’m going to do, I start sewing.”

Because of her approach, she does not make patterns (except for the necktie quilt).

She explains, “My mind is too incessant about what I’m trying to create, so sitting down to start sewing the quilt works best.”

That’s how she approaches the atypical quilts she’s made. For example, there’s the customer who saved 52 Crown Royal Whiskey bags that Sofia took apart and sewed into a quilt for the customer’s husband.

At the request of a customer who had collected Sturgis Motorcycle Rally bandanas, she arranged 12 bandanas in chronological order, and sewed them together with sashing to make a Harley-Davidson quilt.

On another occasion, a customer asked for a Catholic wallhanging.

“I went to the Vatican Web page,” says Sofia. “I found several Marys -- the Madonna, Our Lady of Guadeloupe, and Lady of Lourdes. I enlarged one design, and printed it on paper-backed fabrics for the quilt center. Then, using a blanket stitch, I hand-appliquéd a cross, and nickel-sized fabric circles to form rosary beads.”

Sofia began learning about quiltmaking by watching her mother, and taking only one quiltmaking class to learn how to make a Log Cabin quilt. Then, she says, “I read a lot of books, and learned by trial and error.” When in 1996 she began to longarm quilt, she found that longarm quilting books by Linda S. Taylor were particularly helpful. Sofia describes Linda as “my mentor” though Sofia has never met her. After reading Linda’s book, The Ultimate Guide to Longarm Machine Quilting, Sofia also figured out how to repair her Nolting longarm quilting machine.

She says, “It takes time, patience, and knowledge to understand how things really work.”

Now, after 30 years experience, Sofia is adept at making quilts and at longarm quilting.

Though Sofia makes traditional quilts, she’s gaining a reputation for unplanned designs that result in creative, attractive quilts everyone enjoys. There’s no telling what she’ll do on the next quilt a customer requests. No doubt, Sofia will simply extemporize.

Quilt magazine writer and author Linda Hungerford lives in West Des Moines, IA. She’s an avid quiltmaker and teaches free beginner quiltmaking lessons through a ministry called Stitchin’ Mission™. Contact Linda through www.HopeQuilters.com.

Photos are courtesy of the Laura Shotwell Fig Leaf in Fort Collins, CO.

Reprinted from SQE Professional, March 2007