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!

You've Got to Meet Mandy Leins!

Last Friday, after the craziness and fun of Thanksgiving with friends and family I gave a sneak peek at the Bulls-Eye Rose quilt. I also mention Mandy Leins. She was the longarm quilter who used her magic to stitch wonder into the quilt.

I met Mandy on-line when she contacted me about Fast-Piece Applique. She had tried it out and found that it worked well for her and she wanted to share about it on her own blog. Of course I said yes, and our friendship grew from there, and I now I am grateful to be able to share with you a bit of Mandy's own quilting adventure.

In her own words:

How did you find quilting?
I first started quilting while I was with my grandparents for a week, and there wasn't much else to do.  My grandmother had a '47 in-cabinet Singer that everyone in the family had made something on (work clothes, outdoor gear, etc.), and I wanted to be part of that legacy.  My grandfathers were the ones who loved quilts, though, and they're the ones who I think of most.
Where you always drawn to the quilting?
In the biz, so to speak, everyone always says you need to pick what you love and focus on it.  My problem is I love every bit of it, from writing patterns to quilting something, to piecing, to... well, actually, binding is my least favorite part.  I guess I don't like it all.  As for longarm quilting for others, I love finding out the right "thing” that works on a quilt, that enhances the hard work put in by its owner.
What is my favorite thing, has it changed and am I at a fork in the road?
My favorite thing about this quilting adventure right now is figuring out how to get myself out there.  I think I have a lot to say; I think my work is very good; I think I can help people achieve what they want.  I'm not quite sure how to get that out there, but that's exciting for me.  My other favorite thing is that I have met some of the greatest people in this field, and I have made some of the greatest friends.  It's really humbling and wonderful, and I would be incredibly destitute without all of you.

I don't know if it's a fork in the road, but now that the longarm business is really starting to take off, I find myself more drawn to handwork for myself.  I need a hobby now that my hobby is a business, you know? I never thought that would be the case! 

Below are a few examples of Mandy's quilting work for others:

this is a Bee quilt quilted for a friend

this is detail from a quilt is by Scott Hansen of Blue Nickel Studios

 this is one of Mandy's quilts and available soon as a pattern

this is a quilt by Jane Armstrong

this is the detail once again from the Bulls-Eye Rose quilt
and you can actually go to Mandy's site for an incredible
tutorial on the background design she created!

Isn't she amazing!

Intersections on our Treasure Maps

We all set out on our paths and are constantly presented with new trails that lead off in a multitude of directions. The choices we make and where we end up, our journeys to get here or there have always intrigued me.

The paths themselves if mapped out would probably appear like treasure maps in our heads with a giant X marking the spot of our next treasure.

My treasure map may not be the same as yours, but our pathways surely cross each other creating inspiring intersections. When I met and began working with the longarm quilters who stitched on the quilts in my latest book, I felt a fun and powerful connection at those intersections.

When I began to think about sharing them with you I tried to think of them as longarmers, but very quickly found that they are all so different from each other – different journeys and different stories.

On Wednesday I will begin to share with you their stories,
and of course a bit about how each of their lives have intersected
with my own…making it special!

These special longarmers include:

Angela Walters

Cory Allender

Lisa Sipes

Maddie Ketray

Mandy Leins

Vicki Tymczyszyn

I am looking forward to sharing a bit about each of these amazing women, their stories, and about the treasure-map pathways each finds themselves traveling today.

Where does the X
lie on your own treasure map today?