Who Is Ami Simms And What Is Mallery Press? My name is Ami Simms (Ami rhymes with salami, but I'll answer to any lunch meat!) I am the author of eight books on quilting including my newest, Picture Play Quilts. My other books are How To Improve Your Quilting Stitch, Invisible Applique, Every Trick In The Book, Classic Quilts: Patchwork Designs From Ancient Rome, How NOT To Make A Prize-Winning Quilt, Creating Scrapbook Quilts, and Fun Photo-Quilts & Crafts. I am also the creator of the WORST Quilt in the World Contest®. I've been leading workshops and giving lectures on quilting throughout the United States since 1982. Prior to that time, and until 1983, I taught public school (second graders, then senior citizens). I've also taught quilting in Australia, Canada, England, Italy, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and I've led Quilting Tours to Italy, The Netherlands, and Hong Kong. I was named 2005 Teacher of the Year by Professional Quilter Magazine. Recently, I've done a little television. I was a featured guest four times on the Home & Family Show (now defunct—I swear it wasn't my fault!) presenting segments on photo-transfer quilts, string piecing, the WORST Quilt In The World Contest® and Photo Quilt Blocks. I also appeared on "Simply Quilts" (show #215, #262, and #743) with Alex Anderson on HGTV and was a featured guest on Kaye Wood’s PBS show “Kaye’s Quilting Friends” with a segments on Twisted Sisters. I was most recently a guest on "Quilter's Toolbox" with my Rag Fur Jacket pattern. This segment and an episode I taped for "Friends in the Bee" with Jodie Davis is currently featured on QNN.  I was first introduced to quiltmaking in 1975, while conducting research among the Old Order Amish of northern Indiana for my undergraduate thesis in anthropology. (That’s me in the picture—back in the days when they only had black and white film.) I made my first quilting stitches under the guidance of the Amish woman with whom I stayed.Since that time I've made over 200 quilts, of varying sizes, in both traditional and contemporary designs, both hand and machine quilted. My quilts have been featured in several national magazines, a hand full of books, and have been exhibited in juried competitions in California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin. I live in Flint, Michigan with my husband, Steve, and our daughter, Jennie. You can write to me at this address: Ami Simms Mallery Press,Inc. 4206 Sheraton Drive Flint, MI 48532-3557 amisimms@aol.com MALLERY PRESS is the name that will pop up on your credit card statement when you order something from www.AmiSimms.com, so it’s a good thing to remember. (The detail line will say “Quilting Books.”) Mallery Press, Inc. is my publishing company. It handles the business end of things. It publishes, distributes, and sells my books, my line of transfer paper (Photos-To-Fabric®) and all the other fun stuff you can buy at this site. It’s where I go when I go “to work.” Mallery Press is located on a little side street in Flint, Michigan. We're kind of hard to find, and we like it that way. We’re strictly e-commerce and mailorder. We don’t accept any walk–in traffic. (Our doorbell doesn’t even work!) We are, however, very easy to talk to. Just call 1-800-278-4824. (That’s toll-free in Canada too, by the way.) The best time to reach a human is between the hours of 9 and 3 Eastern Standard Time— Monday through Friday. You can leave a message on our answering machine or on voicemail at any time, 24 hours a day, when we can't take your call personally. We'll call you back as soon as we hear your message, usually the next business day. When you call, there's a good chance that Debbie will pick up the phone.
Judy also works for Mallery Press, not only does she package up the order here in the office, she works out of her home and around her busy schedule, too.
During the summers, after school, and on weekends, my daughter Jennie also puts in hours at Mallery Press. She’s not the first one to jump for the phone, but she processes and fills orders, hauls around cartons of books, and is the designated “gofer.”
Pam helps out during Christmas vacations and over the summer when she's not studying biology at Alma College. She processes orders, answers the phone, and luckily is always here for the dreaded inventory. Jim is our computer guru. When he can’t diagnose and cure our PCs over the phone he makes “house calls.” Last time my computer crashed I hit the RESET button a little too hard. Here’s Jim fishing it out of the hard drive. Ooops! Jim is also very witty.
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