When my daughter was two years old, I took a series of heirloom sewing classes to learn to create perfect traditional little girl dress. The first one I put on my almost three-year-old fashionista daughter, she immediately began reworking the sleeves. Her three-year-old portrait contains that very dress in a sleeveless configuration. One of the original sleeves is mounted like a hunting trophy in my sewing studio.  My neighbor took all of this in and said, “if you can make that you can make a quilt”. I looked at her like she was highly overestimating my abilities. Quilts were something my beautiful, wildly talented grandmothers created. I took a little convincing that it was worth a try. I remember the first lesson, cutting with a rotary cutter. Oh my. I quickly made quilts for all my children and then started with nieces and nephews.

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In the beginning they were simple creations. Later, I would often pick a block and sew a couple of versions before mass production could occur. I liked to figure out the best way to piece a block so that I had no surprises when in the production phase. Then right before the COVID pandemic hit, I discovered Michelle Hiatt. She introduced me to Studio 180 tools and as part of her Stitchin’ Sisters Series, she met with the class via Zoom each month to teach us how to use the tools to create fabulous blocks which in turn became fabulously complex quilts. With that education, I went from looking at complex quilt patterns and jumping in to dissecting them in my head to the individual units and which tool it would take to make it. I began teaching on demand lessons to my friends and random acquaintances (aka strangers) in quilt stores and in booths at quilt shows.  Thanks to Studio 180 tools, I am a fairly accomplished piecer.

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My teaching experience as a Division Manager for a major department store taught me the fundamentals of teaching adults. I was literally trained to be a trainer. My teaching experience as a mother of three children consisted of voluntarily teaching origami to 7th graders, assisting with school plays, teaching sewing to Boy and Girl Scouts as well as every craft ever conceived as doable by a VBS committee. My teaching experience as an official NC educator, had me teaching students and adults in project-based learning as well as the art of teaching and learning. I became the person in charge of the school play and every aspect of its successful production. As a school librarian, my students and their teachers learned how to turn their research into videos/projects with technology via step-by-step instruction on whatever our goal. My teachers would come to me with the vision, and I would figure out the process and lead them through it. I became the guide on the side shepherding them to positive results. As a minister’s wife, my teaching experience consisted of Bible studies and once again VBS crafts.

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In 2015, my husband and I retired. We moved to where I wanted to live for the first time in 35 years. So now we have a home in Belmont, NC and in North Florida.

A few years ago, I was asked to work at a local quilt shop. I enjoyed it. At the quilt shop, I did all the usual tasks but also taught classes on longarm and serger. As well as continuing my on-demand/instant tutorials on Studio 180 tools.

Last year, my husband said to me as we were leaving the AQS show in Pennsylvania, you should become a quilt teacher. Then while visiting my local quilt store, the owner told my friend and I that we could teach any class we wanted to teach. So off to lunch we went to consider this proposal.  A few days later, the head of class scheduling came over to tune up my long arm and asked what I wanted to teach. I told her, Studio 180 tools. She became very excited, and she told me of the great demand for this class. Previously, the store had someone that taught the Tucker University Curriculum, but that person moved away and everyone else was scared to take it on. I told her if I was going to do it, I wanted to take the Certified Instructor Training. She was even more thrilled. She asked if I was serious, and I went over to my desk and pulled out my Studio 180 folder and pulled out several years of applications I had printed. I handed her a reference form and now I am writing this essay.  I have been giving this a lot of thought for several years. I come from a long line of teachers. The one thing my family believes in is getting the best training you can before you step into the classroom. That is why I am applying to be a certified instructor. I want to be the most knowledgeable resource for my students. I want to be a valuable resource to them, not only on the fundamentals but also on how to achieve their quilting dreams.

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Studio 180 tools have changed the way I piece a quilt and my satisfaction with the process. I want to share the joy and certainty that I get using Studio 180 tools with everyone else. Back in the day we had a saying in the training world, “Enthusiasm is the most important quality in a teacher, because the last four letters stand for “I am sold myself!”. 

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