About Me

I have been sewing and piecing quilts for over 25 years and a few years ago discovered the joys of longarm quilting.  After being laid off from my job in December 2008, I knew it was time to explore other options.  Quilting and gardening have long been my hobbies, and when the chance arose to work with  Sheila Sinclair Snyder, a longarm quilter of amazing patience, grace, skill and knowledge, I took it. After working with Sheila for about ten months, it was time to get a machine and strike out on my own. I bought my new Gammill in October 2009 and have been quilting ever since!

In January 2015 I returned to full-time work at my local County as a property tax appraiser. Then in November of 2018 I was promoted to a Supervisor in the Waste Management Division (County policy dictates that I add to this social media platform: “While I work for Lane County, the views and opinions expressed here are not the opinion or position of Lane County government.”). All of this is my way of saying my full-time job has reduced the number of quilts I am able to longarm. However, I still fit in a few here and there when I have the time and energy. I love doing it, but my “mojo” isn’t always working full tilt these days.

At some point I hope to start teaching in my home studio. I have plans for private and semi-private lessons so I can help to spread longarm knowledge, as Sheila did for me. And while I haven’t gotten around to it yet, if you are interested, please feel free to contact me and we’ll get the ball rolling!

My new job allows me to once again hike regularly with my girlfriends and I still get out with my husband on Sundays if the weather cooperates. My husband and I are also doing as much hiking together as time allows. A few years ago we did the Milford Track in New Zealand and the the Rogue River in Oregon.  Then we did the High Sierra Camps in Yosemite…..which was amazing! Hopefully there are more long treks in our future with our extended group of hiking buddies.

When my husband and I moved to Lowell in 2003, it seemed like we needed a quilt show, so in 2005 the first annual Blackberry Jam Festival Quilt Show began. And of course every quilt show needs a group of people to organize it, so shortly thereafter the Pine Needlers quilt group was created. We grew from four members to our current size of eighteen members in about five years. And in 2018 we expanded our quilt show in size and complexity and are now offering up a bigger and better show.

In 2020 during the pandemic, I was motivated to continue the quilt show even though Lowell had to cancel the Blackberry Jam Festival of which we are a part. It was my husband had the brilliant idea of having a drive-thru quilt show! He was kidding…I was not! So yes we did it, and it was an amazing success! We raised a lot of money for the community, and everyone who came was thrilled to be out and about to see such a beautiful display of color and artistry.

I must say, it’s a wonderful life!