Nancy Goodman was born in New England, moved to Colorado as a teenager and then California for college. When she graduated from college with a major in English, she asked for a sewing machine for her graduation gift. She made her first quilt for her first born 44 years ago. A few years later she moved to New Mexico and finally to Alabama.  

 

Along the way she spent a year in Gabon, Africa, which was a pivotal experience in her quilting life. Stunned and thrilled by the Africans’ use of color, she turned toward using bright, saturated colors in her quilts. Upon returning to the U.S. she discovered that she couldn’t buy the kinds of colors she wanted, so she took up dyeing and for many years all the fabrics in her quilts were hand dyed.

 

Today she still works exclusively with solid fabrics, although she can buy bright colors now. She started out making traditional quilts, but turned toward original designs and art quilting early on.  

 

Nancy now lives in Mobile, Alabama with her husband. She maintains a studio in the unused education wing of an inner city church and is active in her local Guild.