I inherited my love of fabrics and textiles from my Mom. Many years ago, at the age of eight, she taught me how to sew; starting my journey with fabric, through learning how to construct garments for 4-H. I started with constructing a Trick Skirt to tailoring a wool coat through that nine year experience. In my early 20's I began my journey with quilting, by taking classes, and I was hooked with m
y first project, a Nine Patch Snowball block quilt. Since then it has been an extraordinary journey taking many classes piecing quilts and learning many different techniques. A little over ten years ago I took a class from Judy Niemeyer at Material Girl Fabrics in Grand Island. I had tried some paper piecing prior to this class, but thought it would be fun to learn Judy's techniques. With Judy's wonderful organization of cutting and the use of paper templates to cut the fabric for the paper foundations, it made Paper Piecing a difficult looking quilt pattern so much easier. Judy's "Raindrops" quilt was my first quilt, and that was just the beginning; my second was the "Prairie Star". With the beautiful patterns that Judy has to offer and the variety of different quilts, it makes it a little hard to make just one pattern. My love of fabric has continued as well, and I take great joy in selecting wonderful colors for Judy's patterns, making it a very unique experience from beginning to end. With the extraordinary fabrics that we have to choose from today, combined with Judy Niemeyer's Paper Piecing patterns, the possibilities are unlimited. For me it is an exhilarating experience to be able to pick a pattern that looks very difficult; and by using Judy Niemeyer's techniques for paper piecing it allows us to make the quilt with ease. I really enjoy sharing Judy's techniques with other quilters. Many are beginners and have never paper pieced before; and others, are experienced piecers that have used other paper piecing techniques. I have found through the years, that I can always learn something new; and so I have chosen to share my quilting experience. One of the great things about teaching this technique is that I learn from the quilters that I teach as much as I hope they will learn from me. Quilting is a wonderful experience of making friends and fellowship, and so my journey continues.