After forty years of stitching memories into fabric, she still smiles at how a simple order from Montgomery Ward turned her into a quilting aficionado. A friend stitched the 6” squares together and shared her finished quilt and our featured quilter was hooked. She ordered her own, and made her first quilt. A simple tied quilt is a cherished memory of that friend and the beginning of her love of quilting.
Her favorite block is log cabin and she loves bargello quilts. Orange is a favorite color. Her stash is light on pink as she’s not fond of that color, but she would switch her fabric stash with Jill, Georgia or Lisa, while admitting her fabric stash is absolutely too large, but says there’s no cure for that.
Her guilty pleasure is See’s dark chocolate and says she has been known to talk to her sewing machine while sewing, but don’t we all?
Because of all the steps involved – cutting correctly, fusing, stitching that shows on the outside — make applique a bit intimidating, but with each project, she gains skill and confidence.
A quilting disaster was averted when she put a quilt on a frame and got to the end only to find there was not enough backing fabric. Hand stitching another strip of fabric to that on the frame solved the problem.
Something she says might surprise us is that she once dated a Hell’s Angel. He stood her up for the third date because he got shot. That was the end of that relationship!
Needlepoint and cross stitch were her previous loves.
She doesn’t have a favorite tool, but does have a favorite needle she uses for hand binding. She says she loves hand binding and she generously shares that skill in guild projects.
Community, friendship and compassion of the women in our guild create a safe, accepting place to land, she says.
Our Featured Member is Cathy Otten.