I met Lori at Academy a couple of years ago. She is a kind and funny lady who happens to love animals and quilting. I’m so glad that I got to work with her last year and that I can count her among my friends.
Artist’s Statement
Curved Log Cabin Quilt: Fly Away with Me
I have always loved the look of curved piecing but NEVER loved the process of it. While looking for something unique to make for this challenge I was browsing you tube videos on the illusion of curves by way of the traditional straight cuts, when I happened upon the “curved log cabin” technique. By simply changing the strip size of the secondary log we create the illusion of curves. I have always loved black and white quilts and knew that this
technique would help me to achieve something creative and unique with these opposites. I used a black and white fat quarter bundle with silver metallics by Michael Miller (which had been in my stash for quite some time just waiting for the right project). Quilting techniques includes free motion and rulers. Stitch in the ditch and dense quilting in the black areas gave the feathers and curves in the white “bird” areas more loft, making them stand out even more. I used 2 layers of batting 80/20 on the bottom and quilters dream “puff” on top. Quilting top thread was Glide 40 with magna glide 60 weight bobbin on the bottom.
More About Lori
Lori started sewing in her early teens. Her parents both worked, so she was enrolled in summer school to stay busy—and to stay out of trouble. The classes offered as electives were sewing classes, and Lori discovered she had a natural gift for sewing. She sewed clothes for herself and later sewed for her children and then her grandchildren. When it wasn’t cool for her grandkids to wear clothing made by their grandmother anymore, Lori bought a book to teach herself to quilt.
At that time, in the early 2000s, HGTV was showing “Simply Quilts” with Alex Anderson, and Lori fell in love with all things quilting. Early in her quilting journey, Lori pieced and quilted on her domestic machine, mostly doing stitch-in-the-ditch and some decorative stitches to make things look a little more professional. She joined a local guild and learned how to drop her feed dogs and do free-motion quilting. In addition, she learned a lot about gravity and the struggles that come with the limited space on a domestic machine.
In 2004, Lori bought her first Handi Quilter longarm machine, an HQ Sixteen® (which she named Bertha). This early model was equipped with plug-in stitch regulation. Oh boy! Her grandmother and aunts were quilters and sent her boxes of unfinished quilt tops to practice on.
At a local quilt show, Lori found a book called “Quilting Makes the Quilt” and all she wanted to do was to learn to make beautiful quilts with her HQ Sixteen. Bertha and Lori made hundreds of quilts together for the next 15 years, all the while taking classes and learning new techniques.
In 2019, Lori bought her beautiful HQ Amara® with Pro-Stitcher® (which she named Betsy) and fell in love with quilting all over again. Of course, when you love something that much you just can’t help but want to share. She started teaching friends and started a group to make comfort quilts for people in need.
Over the 18-plus years of her journey, Lori has had the pleasure of teaching many. One of her first students was an 8-year-old grandson who wanted to make a quilt for his mother. Lori’s granddaughter also became interested in learning and made quilt gifts for her friends. Then she invited those friends to come and learn, and so on. The legacy continues!
What started as a hobby has become a lifestyle now, a lifestyle steeped in tradition and care. Taking her Lori’s greatest desire, honor, and—to Lori—her heartfelt responsibility.