As most people know, I LOVE to quilt and sew. When I was a new bride living in North Olmsted, Ohio, in 1987, I found a local family-owned quilt shop less than a mile away. I had wanted to learn how to quilt since I was 14 years old. The timing was prime 11 years later for me to take my first beginner class at a shop called “Hoops & Hollars.” Years later, when I cleaned out my mom’s house, I found a quilt book and some fabric in the basement that my mom must have purchased when I was first interested—the bicentennial year of 1976! And then it hit me; my mom was afraid of math and fractions that were in the book. So, instead, she taught me how to crochet. I still have my crocheted Betsy Ross 13 Colony Flag I created in the 8th grade. 

 

Fast forward to 1996 when my family picked up our Ohio stakes and settled in Crofton, Maryland. My husband’s job in the sports and entertainment industry led him to his job in Washington, DC. I quilted and sewed as much as time allowed while working and raising a family. When my son got sick (leukemia) in the fall of 1996, creating and sewing kept me balanced. I brought hand-work to the hospital, and even brought my featherweight and an iron to work on several projects. 

 

After about a year or so living in Maryland, I met a military family with three boys (one the same age as my son) and became fast friends with the mom. She was a quilter and invited me to a quilt guild meeting in the next town over (Bowie, MD). Since I was available during one of the meeting times, I tagged along. It was the best decision of my life! I met a whole slew of kindred spirits who loved quilting and sewing as much as I did! 

 

I had just met my tribe. I reached out and attended meetings when I could and became friends with many women from all walks of life—our common denominator—the creative art of quilting. 

 

The guild, and eventually  the bees I joined, gave me confidence in my skills and more. Plus, I was learning everything I could from the others through guild-offered classes and retreats. Not long after our arrival in Maryland, a very close friend of ours was having a milestone birthday. I wanted to do something special for him, a quilt, and emptied our drawers of many special track meet T-shirts to make my first T-shirt quilt (the guy I made it for was the connector to meeting my husband at the track meet—as timer officials,not participants). The T-shirt quilt was so well received I did a couple of more for friends and family, and then it grew over the next 15 years.

 

Since the longest part of a project was the quilting (I used to hand-quilt for years), I broke down and bought a used long-arm (primitive setup) to help with all the quilting of T-shirt quilts and traditional quilts too. 

Today, I’m on my third pre-owned long-arm (Handi Quilter Aventé) with a thriving T-shirt quilt business. I am truly grateful for each day. My clients find me mostly by word of mouth and the internet, and to date I’ve created hundreds of quilts for people in over 10 states.