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Introducing: Cheryl Laine

Cheryl is one of Handi Quilter’s new National Educators. I have not had the chance to meet Cheryl yet. . . I can’t wait!

Artist’s Statement

Follow your Creative Compass!
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Cheryl Laine
When given the Black and White quilt challenge I thought Black and white and a hint of colour was a nice option, but black isn’t a colour I use very often. So, to make the fabric choice easy I decided to work with Northcott solids, which are available at my local Quilt Shop. I chose yellow, to add a splash of sunshine to the rainy-day pallet! In EQ8 I came up with a design, using compass blocks for parts of the design. I’ve had the Skinny Robin Ruler by Robin Ruth Designs for quite a while, and this was an opportunity to have fun. It was quilted on my Handi Quilter Amara with Pro-Stitcher designs, rulers, and a bit of free motion. It has two layers of batting, wool over Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 and is stitched with So Fine 410 and 451 by Superior Threads.

The Whole Story

I could have named the quilt, “My many firsts” but I followed by creativity process to get the compasses done, hence “Follow your Creative Compass.” When given the challenge I thought Black and white was simple, looking back as I made each design choose, I also made the quilt more challenging. It’s hard to hide any errors in solids when quilting. But it turned out great, so it was definitely worth pushing my creativity which is why I named it Follow your Creative Compass!!
Using black and white seemed simple but black isn’t a colour I use much, so I thought solids would be an option. Which also added to the “How do I quilt it” dilemma… it sat on the design wall for probably 3 weeks as I over analyzed and tried to find the “perfect” design. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I knew I wanted to work with Compass blocks, using the Skinny Robin ruler by Robin ruth designs,
because why not use a ruler that has been sitting in my stash for 5 years, still in the package. So, I
sketched a couple of ideas and then using EQ8 I played with different blocks and colour placement until I had a design that looked great. When using a new ruler, it’s always good to make a few test blocks. Using the Skinny Robin ruler to strip piece the pie segments, trimming them and assembling to create the compass circles was fun. I will be doing other projects. They can be appliqued, or reverse appliqued on the background block. So, I chose reverse applique, because it gave a nice clean circle edge…another new technique to add a challenge for me and it turned out great with the help of lots of pins. Once the piecing was done than it sat on the design wall as I looked and tried to envision a secondary patten in the quilting, but it didn’t happen. I got out the preview paper and tried some options and still couldn’t decide. Finally, I just loaded the quilt, on my Amara and using two layers of batting (because why not), basted the layers of the whole quilt and did some stitch in the ditch. After scrolling through Pro-stitcher block designs several times, I found a few that had a similar feel and finally started stitching. Wow, the two layers of batting made it look fabulous!! To echo the compass block, I used “mark” because why not try something new to me. Some of them turned out better than others, but I learned a lot, but it still looks great. Finally, I got to the border, this is usually where I would normally free motion. But another first was using a Pro-stitcher design and then turning the quilt…note to self, make sure the backing edges are straight before reattaching the quilt otherwise the quilt would sit square.


So here is the list of Firsts.

  1. First project using Skinny Robin ruler.
  2. First reverse applique quilt
  3. First time using double batting. Won’t be the last!
  4. First quilt I’ve designed and finished using EQ8
  5. First time using the mark feature from Pro-Stitcher 6. Pro-Stitcher borders and turned quilt.
  6. First HQ Educator challenge

I think this created a Challenging Quilt, I learned so many things and I’m proud to say it’s done and
labeled!

Cheryl Laine Follow Your Creative Compass!

Learn More About Cheryl!

Inspired by the creative women in her family, Cheryl learned to cross-stich, sew and crochet in her teens. Her husband is very supportive of her creativity and bought her first sewing machine. Making curtains and home décor were just a small part of her sewing journey. As her sewing skills improved, Cheryl started her first quilt in 1998, and in true quilters fashion, it finally became a finished quilt this year. But that’s another story!

In 2014 Cheryl started working at a sewing machine dealer and quilt shop in Burlington ON. A dream job what quilter wouldn’t want, to play with fabrics and be creative all day?! She purchased a previously loved longarm machine on a frame, and as her free motion skills improved, she did some quilting for family and a few friends. Cheryl enjoys sharing her love of quilting and has taught many quilt classes, bag projects and curved piecing quilts with Sew Kind of Wonderful patterns. She is also certified Sew Kind of Wonderful educator. When the store closed a few years ago, she pursued teaching online quilt classes and loves the flexibility that it offers.

In the summer of 2020, she upgraded to an Amara® with Pro-stitcher® and within a few months, Cheryl started her longarm quilting business, Compass Quilt Company. Now the quilting possibilities are endless; to use free motion, ruler quilting, Pro-stitcher or a combination of these techniques. Sharing these ideas and inspiration with others is another wonderful adventure.

CLICK HERE to see more of the Black and White Quilt Challenge.

Introducing: Kim Sandberg

Kim is one of those people who can spot potential in others- and I am glad she felt like I had something to offer Handi Quilter! Kim and I share lots of touchpoints. . . teaching junior high, Williston, North Dakota, and quilting! She loves to make curvy and intricate quilts. . . and she does them amazingly well!

Artist’s Statement

Kinetic Motion

This improv quilt was pieced during a long weekend in June 2022 with a friend in Park City, UT. I started with a couple of previously pieced New York beauty blocks from the book New York Beauties and Flying Geese by Carl Hentsch. Next, I pulled black and white scraps from my scrap bag and just made the pieces fit, cutting and filling the space. I really enjoy working in the improvisational style – just seeing what happens with the fabric I’m using. Once the top was pieced, the quilt top sat for almost 8 months, basted and ready to be quilted. I finally found the creativity – and time – to tackle the quilting towards the end of January 2023. The quilting is a mix of basic Pro-Stitcher designs, rulers and micro-quilting. The quilting designs combine to create movement throughout the quilt, complimenting the motion in the wheels of black and white. My daughter Mya named the quilt, inspired by classes in physical science on the laws of motion.

Kim Sandberg Kinetic Motion

Learn More about Kim!

Kim learned how to sew at an early age, making her own clothes way before #memade was popular. During her senior year of high school, she found a picture of a log cabin quilt, got out some graph paper, and drafted her first quilt. It took her 5 years to finish that quilt, but a curiosity of the craft blossomed into a passion.

In 2003, Kim started quilting on her home machine. From there, she graduated to quilting on a longarm in 2007. She became a professional longarm quilter in 2016, using her HQ Forte® with Pro-Stitcher® for everything from simple edge to edge designs to custom quilts. 

Kim helped on the development team for PS Designer and PS Catalog, and enjoys designing, editing and teaching all about this great software for quilters. Kim loves the process of choosing or creating designs to complement and highlight her piecing. 

Over the years, Kim evolved from a very traditional quilter to a more modern quilter. She began teaching classes in 2007, and loves passing on her passion and knowledge about all aspects of quilting to her students. Kim is the mother of two teenagers and lives in Utah, where she loves to hike with her dog in the beautiful mountains in the summer, and stay inside and quilt the rest of the year.

CLICK HERE to see more quilts from the Black and White Challenge!

Introducing: Cynthia Gill

I met Cynthia in 2021 at HQ Academy when she was a student in my class- but she already knew everything we were teaching! She is a fun-loving, outgoing person and just the kind of person you like to have around. And. . . she is a wonderful quilter!

Artist’s Statement

The Handi Quilter National Educator challenge this year was to make a black and white quilt with less than 25% of color. I selected the pattern Echo Star from Diamond Star Quilts by Barbara Cline. I quilted it on my Handi Quilter Forte using a sampling of ProStitcher quilting designs. 

Fabrics: Hoffman’s Sparkle and Fade and Benartex’s Amanda Murphy’s Cotton Shot Pearl Boysenberry PieThread: Superior Thread’s Majestic Batting: Two layers of Quilters Dream, wool and 80/20 blend

Get to Know Cynthia

Raised in Tennessee, Cynthia Gill filled the walls of her childhood home with cross stitched projects. She learned to sew watching her grandmothers make clothes for her and her sisters. As a newlywed in Kansas, she made her first quilt without a pattern over 30 years ago. It was a jar
quilt featuring bugs and it was quilted in the ditch on her home machine. It is still a family favorite. She started quilting again in Nebraska. As a Nebraska Extension Educator, she taught beginning sewing and quilting to 4-H’ers. Along with her daughters, she pieced several quilt tops. When she and her husband, James, moved to Maryland in 2018, she took her first long arm class. She was immediately hooked!

A proud owner of a HQ Forte® with Pro-Stitcher®, Cynthia began teaching longarm and Pro-Stitcher classes at her local shop. She enjoys one-on-one instruction with new machine owners. She loves sharing her enthusiasm for completing projects on a longarm with others and looks for new projects to complete on her longarm.

She enjoys traveling to quilt shops and getting to know new friends and sharing her love for quilts and her techniques for free motion, ruler work, and Pro-Stitcher. Cynthia lives in Maryland with her incredibly supportive husband. They enjoy traveling in their Piper Cherokee 6. She has two daughters and one son-in-law.

CLICK HERE to see more B/W Challenge Quilts!

Introducing: Patty Sliney

I have know Patty for a couple of years. She was a student at HQ Academy in 2021 and after a couple of hours i cozied up next to her and said, “Why are you here? You could be teaching this class?” She laughed and said that she liked being together with other quilters. We are so lucky that she has retired and is now working with us to help teach beginning quilters.

Patty also spurred me into making one of the quilts on my bucket list last year. Little did we know that when we invited others to join us we would have over 500 people making the Flowering Snowball quilt with us!

Artist’s Statement

“San Diego Beauty”

When we were presented with this quilt challenge, I knew immediately what type of quilt I wanted to make for the challenge.  I’ve always had a New York Beauty quilt on my quilt bucket list, so I was excited to check it off the bucket list!  I looked at lots of New York Beauty quit patterns, and finally settled on pattern by Kelly Biscopink and Andrea Johnson.  The quilt pattern is, “Midtown Girl” and it is included in their book entitled “Modern Designs for Classic Quilts”.  I love their version of this New York Beauty-style quilt, as it truly is a modern twist on a very classic quilt design.  Since I live in the greater San Diego, California area, I’ve named my version of the quilt, “San Diego Beauty”.   In keeping with the black and white color palette requirement for this challenge, I selected a fabric collection from Connecting Threads called, “Nuances de Noir”, which also is designed with a modern twist on a very classic, reproduction design theme.  I opted for just a tiny pop of red, to add a touch of interest, so I used so Liberty of London Tana Lawn fabric I had in my stash.  I used a piped binding technique to carry through he tiny red accent.  I used ruler work and computerized quilting.  I opted to double batt my quilt, using Quilter’s Dream 80/20 with a layer of Quilters Dream Wool on top for more definition and texture.  All the threads used were from Superior Threads, I used Superior So Fine 50 wt on top and Superior Bottomline in the bobbin.  And, my quilt was quilted on my trusty Handi Quilter Fusion with Pro-Stitcher Premium.

Get to Know Patty!

Patty has had a long-time love affair with sewing and quilting. She was introduced to sewing at a very young age, on the laps of both her mother and grandmother, who were both accomplished seamstresses, starting on her grandmother’s treadle machine. She was quickly hooked on sewing, and went on to sew much of her wardrobe during middle school and high school, including prom dresses! Patty caught the quilting bug in college, and fell hard when she saw a beautiful antique Double Wedding Ring quilt displayed at a museum. She loved combining sewing with art in the form of quiltmaking. In the past, Patty has enjoyed teaching sewing, quilting and machine embroidery classes as a part-time side gig, while working full time as a registered nurse. She loved to help her students and their creative niche, and expand their skill sets and talents, especially with quilting. After many years of arduously quilting her quilts with her domestic sewing machine, or sending out her larger quilts to be quilted by a longarm quilter, Patty though, “I bet I could learn how to do longarm quilting”, so, in 2017, after a year of researching longarm machines, Patty purchased her HQ Fusion®, and shortly after, added Pro-Stitcher Premium™, which has become Patty’s quilting love – computerized quilting. She loves to help new Pro-Stitcher® users master computerized quilting, and help build new users’ confidence and skills with Pro-Stitcher. Patty is a self-professed “computer geek”, and really loves using Pro-Stitcher Designer™ to digitize her own longarm quilting designs.

Patty has retired from the healthcare industry to devote her time and attention to her first passion: quilting. She loves teaching longarm classes, especially computerized quilting. Patty currently resides in sunny Southern California, in the North San Diego county area, not to far from the ocean. She is married to a very supportive & patient husband, they have three adult daughters and some pretty cute granddaughters, along with her beloved Australian Shepherds, Rudy and Bindi. She also enjoys long walks on the beach, hiking, gardening (she’s a Master Gardener), and living the quilting life!

CLICK HERE to see more Black and White Challenge Quilts!