Featured Female Maker - Ponderosa Creative
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Featured Female Maker - Ponderosa Creative




Hello, and welcome back for our February Female Maker of the Month! This month we are featuring Paige Anderson of Ponderosa Creative
Keep reading to learn more about Paige and her journey to becoming a small business owner.

How did you get into your craft or hobby? 
Growing up it was a required skill. Then it became an outlet from school. I'm very type A so I needed to do something productive yet relaxing. once I finished grad school I decided to pivot careers and now I'm doing it full time. 





Who has been your biggest mentor or role model?
My grandma taught me everything. A lot of it is self taught though. I do have a few online friends in the quilting world that I owe a bit of my success too. They have been really helpful.

What has been the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome?
Learning how to run a business. I didn't go to business school. I did environmental studies so basically the most anti business degree you can get. I'm definitely still learning as I go.

What has been your biggest achievement so far?
Having my wanderer quilt on the cover of issue 31 of Make Modern Magazine, then I was the featured maker in the next issue and that has felt really great.

Tell us something on your bucket list.
I would like to design my own fabric line, with lots of my favorite color. Non business related I would love to live in the southwest for a bit. I want to see some snowy cacti and see all the parks. It's all I think about and it's kind of a problem haha. Every time it rains (all the time) I want to just take off and drive to the desert with my sewing machine.

What advice do you have for other female makers?
Look for inspiration outside of the industry that you want to grow in. Put on blinders and mindfully do what makes you happy instead of worrying about what you should be making. that will only be temporary and weird and people will get pissed off when you copy their work.

 What is the most frustrating thing about being a   small business owner?
 That, taxes, learning what the heck taxes are and how to do all   the businessy stuff. It's been really hard to learn all of that from   scratch. It's been hard having ideas ripped off, it really hurts.   When someone just completely goes out of what they're doing to copy something it really pisses me off. I see it happen to a lot   of other makers too and it just makes me mad. Don't do that!


How do you "treat yo self?'
I don't. However I do like to cook. It sounds super traditional but I like to make sure we have a hot meal for our family every day. I work from home so it works great as an end of the work day for me.  I put down my work and start making dinner. I get to turn my work brain off and get to eat something really good. I go back to work after but it feels really good to take a break. I also try to be kind to myself through out the day, let myself binge what I want. Disney plus has been a real treat.
Your go to song or band to get you pumped up
always Angel Olson, Chasity Belt - we're going to see them on Tuesday!

Where do you draw inspiration from?
Architecture, especially craftsman bungalows, mid century modern, and even Miami mid century modern. I'm always looking at those and southwest type houses. A lot of my collections are based off of houses I see on Zillow. I really love the homesteading movement of the 70's and color pallets from Scandinavian hertiage. I also love 2000's alien movies with the shiny over the top style. I try to make to make all of that come together in my work.

If you could have any super power what would it be?
I'd like to teleport. I hate driving, it stresses me out and it would save me so much time. I'd also be able to see so many places.

If you could give your past self any advice, what would it be?
I saw a quilt that said "Be who your younger self needed." I think of teenage me that was fucking up and would just say "stay away from boys and focus on school, but not too much. Don't go to college, and just do what you actually want to do. Don't waste the money on the college." I was a first generation college student so I felt like that was what I had to to do, but turns out no ones cares.
You're on deserted island, you get three items, what are they?
my husband, my daughter, and a book of seeds.

Any last words to share with us?
I'm really happy to be in the store and I am really happy to have this job and to be a stay at home mom. I ran so hard from it but turns out I love it and I feel so fortunate to share my work and to teach. it's been well received and I am really grateful.

We hope you enjoyed learning more about Paige. Swing by the store this month to see Paige's work in person, or sign up for her class. She'll be teaching her Columbia Quilt Pattern here on the 16th!