American Primer by Minick & Simpson

Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick return with their latest Americana collection for Moda, American Primer. The shades are familiar but with a brighter punch, and the overall effect is pretty majestic! Check out our American Primer kits too, American Beauty and McGuffey!

Thank you Kim, for asking us to write about American Primer. The genesis of it came about at Quilt Market. Don’t ask me which one. They all kind of run together. (I mean that in a good way. My memories of Market are comparable to a kid going to Disneyland. That, and all the laughing. We laugh a lot.) After a long, but enjoyable day at Market, Polly and I were back at the hotel. We were making comments about the day and all the wonderful things we saw when Polly said “What are we going to come up with next?”

If I remember correctly, it was a statement both enthusiastic and anxiety ridden. We didn’t have an idea yet. Yikes! Americana, of course, but with a twist. One comment led to another and by the end of the evening we knew we wanted the color palette of red, blue, and cheddar. I became excited about using these PRIMARY colors, and that is when we got the name “American Primer.”

Polly liked the duality of the name suggesting old school books – Primers. So the theme came together. We loved the look of old calicoes and pictured them in a one room schoolhouse and all that it suggested; slate boards, ink wells, hair ribbons, etc… We hope you like American Primer, and we can’t wait to see what you make with it!

Laurie Simpson

American Primer… well you know anything with American in the name or that is Americana – has us all over it and is pretty easy for us to work with. I have collected Americana antiques for longer than I care to tell you, but it is in my blood and something I love and something that actually helps me be creative.

All of our collections get off to a start, but not always with the same inspiration. It can be a found object, old fabrics that we have saved for years or just a thought that pops into one of our heads and we take off from that. And again, do we start with color, idea or just what – well, it is always different and never a strict rule. Thankfully both of us collect and have lots of stash – so that is a big help.

As Laurie stated, this was something that had us thinking of just how we could tweak our beloved red, white, and blue – you know we love those colors. For some reason we both thought of some of the old cheddar fabrics we have or have had – and that was it for us. Laurie thought in the vein of primary colors and I thought of “primer” as in early school related items – and together we had our thoughts and were on our way.

It is so much fun and so rewarding to scheme ideas and colors and get busy with our ideas and thoughts – and then to see it and hold it in your hands – it is fabulous. We try to tell everyone it is our job – but I think you all know, it is really just our love – hope you enjoy!

Polly Minick