Tucked in/Awaiting Santa - Meet Vicki Tymczyszyn

I am really excited to share this final quilter with you, for she is a special friend. We met over quilts and chocolate, because of our mutual friend, Jake Finch. She is amazing -- an architect and mother, she is one that knows the value of family, friends and being organized.

I was a little surprised by her comments about the longarm quilting. (not the practicing part, but the dread part--below). Vicki was a prime member of the Generation Q Magazine team as they started, and still had time to be part of multiple book projects and was my savior stunt quilter on my last book, Design, Create, Quilt. Her list of accomplishments and abilities would not fit here so I'm not going to even try --- but, I do know that her love of teaching beginning quilters takes president over everything. Those quilters lucky enough to have Vicki teach them the basics shall not lack skills.

The project she quilted for Fast-Piece Applique is call Fields of Posies. The perfect get tucked in and await Santa quilt.

For this quilt I asked her to echo quilt around the flowers and create the background. Then when it was returned to me I couched around each of the flowers. It was a great team effort.

Below are Vicki's answers to the interview questions:

How did you find quilting? Or, did it find you?

I love the stitching part of quilting, not actually the quilting part. Hence, I am trying desperately to improve my quilting skills, my thinking being, if I am a better quilter, maybe I won't dread that part so much. (After all, I have worked hard on my stitching skills and now I am an accurate and fast stitcher-but that came with making literally hundreds of quilts.

Where you always drawn to quilting stitch? Or, was there another part of the process that pulled you in?

I have been a crafter and sewist most of my life and have tried crochet, knitting, needlepoint, embroidery and cross stitch. I had always wanted to learn to quilt, and since I knew how to sew, I was drafted to make memory 'quilts', really comforters, for many friends. I finally stumbled upon 2 quilting shows on T.V., Eleanor Burns and Georgia Bonesteel. I was hooked and enthralled! I wanted to make everything in sight!

What is your favorite thing about where you are today on your quilting adventure?

I love the excitement of picking out fabrics and colors for a new project and figuring out the perfect pattern for them, or vice-versa, sometimes the pattern pops into my head and then I go on the hunt for the perfect fabrics, but this is far and away my very favorite part!

Has this changed from when you first set off? 

Things really took off in my quilting when I discovered quilting guilds, I just happened to be in a fabric store when a woman dropped off a flyer for a new quilting guild. I was 8 months pregnant with my son when I attended that first meeting and joined that night! The organizers were hoping for 10-15 people, they got over 50, and the Santa Clarita Quilt Guild was in born. This opened up my world to all of the fabulous quilting stores, teachers, shows and speakers! I took as many classes as I could with my crazy schedule raising toddlers and having a husband that was gone half of the time.

Do you see yourself at a fork in the road? If you do, can you share about what direction you may be thinking about going?

Today, I teach, mostly beginning quilting, and I hope that I am encouraging and influencing many more to the joys of quilting. I thoroughly enjoy my students and learn so much from all of them. (Sometimes it's patience, but that's okay.) I am at a crossroads. I am constantly asked by my students, “what do I make next?” It would fun to develop a lecture on this topic and take my 'show' on the road. This is where my spare brain cells go these days.

If you are one of the lucky ones that live close enough to Cotton & Chocolate in Thousand Oaks, CA be sure to click over and check out Vicki's class schedule!