I am delighted that you found our web site and are taking the time to get to know us a little better. Hopefully, at some point in the very near future you will be visiting our wonderful shop. Laura and I wish you a very pleasant and inspiring shopping experience. We both have dreamed about making a shop like this a reality for a very long time. We sincerely hope you enjoy our efforts.
My grandmother Cora (yes that is who I am named after) instilled the love of quilting in me at a very young age. She was always needling on something. My grandfather was glad it wasn’t him. Granny, as everyone called her, was very particular about her work and about using up every scrap of cloth and every inch of thread. She was so particular that I rarely got to work on her pieces, but I threaded lots of needles for her. She would have me thread a whole package of needles on a spool of thread and knot it off. Then she would be ready to stitch for all of the hours I was in school. I still use that trick today when I hand quilt. I will be sharing some of her patterns with you. Speaking of hand quilting, my favorite thing to do is handwork. It is very calming to me. However, in the interest of getting all of the ideas I have translated into fabric, I do use a machine as well as hand quilt.
I love fabric! I used to call myself a fabriholic but didn’t particularly like the way that sounded, so I now call myself a textile collector. That way I have permission to continue to add to my collection (my stash) without ever having to feel pressure to make something out of it. I also LOVE my Bernina. Laura is busy teaching me all of the other wonderful things all the newer models do. My mother, Opal, also inspired me to sew and make clothing. Many times I would wake up in the morning and she would have completed a beautiful new outfit during my sleep, just like the elves and the shoemaker’s story. During high school I worked at a large fabric store called Fabric Fair and constructed almost all of my clothing.
My love of all things fabric and my knowledge of color and construction helped me earn a degree in Fine Arts. After college and a couple of baby boys, I helped a friend of mine open the first quilting shop in Lexington called the Quilting Bee in Dudley Square. The owner, Edie Pigg, and I felt a great need to revive quilting. Together we created a pattern book, Kentucky Pride Quilts. Edie and I, along with others, helped create the Quilters Guild of the Bluegrass and the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society. I still feel strongly about preserving our quilting past and insuring its future by introducing new craftsmen and artists to the craft.
I live in an old farm house that the city grew up around. It is filled with quilts of course, along with other loves of mine: my husband, David without him Q would not be a reality; Auriel, my 15 year old daughter and Sandman our dog and 2 cats, Izzie Lizzie and Pussy Kat and lots of Longaberger baskets.
Be sure to come visit our shop when you are in Lexington. We will make you kindly welcome!
