My quilting passion started in 1998 in the Pacific Northwest, the HOT-BED of the quilt world. I was a member of the Busy Bee Quilt Guilt, Snohomish, WA and a member of Quilters Anonymous (QA), Edmonds, WA. Both guilds were dedicated to promoting and educating about the art of quilting and craft of quilting. The quilters had a CONTAGIOUS PASSION to pass on everything they knew about quilting to others. QA teamed up mentors with other quilters, to expand their quilting skills. The quilters showed encouragement with a YES-YOU-CAN attitude. They were wonderful people to work with and everybody helped everybody.

Both guilds put on a quilt show each year. This meant that your quilt was competing with the big name designers. It made one check to see if the seams are aligned properly? Are the points pointed? Do I need to miter the borders? Does the pattern look better if it is floated? Do I need to change the pattern to make it a better quilt? Should I use a striped fabric for a bias binding to show off the quilt? Should I add a sashing? Is a flange necessary or useful for contrast? You wanted your quilt to be the best it could be for the show.

Because there are a lot of cloudy days in Washington, one will see a lot of bright colors and florals., which I love. One will see Fairy Frost fabric which has a glimmer to it, or a purple and orange blossoms from London, England, or florals with a black background, and a big selection of the 1930's fabrics. Since moving to MN I have come to enjoy and appreciate the warm tones. I love the flannel WOOLIES by Maywood.

I had access to many quilt stores which also gave lessons, so I took a lot of lessons. Roxanne Carter, a designer from Mulkiltio, WA gave quilt lessons at all of the local quilt shops. With each lesson the class would get a free quilt pattern. I especially love her traditional quilt patterns such as: Shadow Mountain, 9 Patch Baskets, Bear Paw Applique, Double Wedding Ring, Single Irish Chain, and Scrap Quilts patterns.

I like the traditional patterns like the Single Irish Chain, Log Cabin, and Scrap Quilts. I like Modern Quilt Patterns too. I look at patterns from the perspective of how much space there is for the quilter to show off her custom quilting. I like my space and don't feel the need to color to the very edge. Simple is Best in my book. I hope you enjoy looking at my quilts and hope you have learned something along the way.