Kathy's Story

I love art, especially art using fabric and fibers.  My love of fibers and fabric came from my grandmother, Florence Hinkle, who taught me to sew and knit at an early age.  She was known as the Patchwork Lady in Casper, Wyoming where I grew up.  She created anything you could image in her own unique style of crazy quilting; quilt as you go by machine.  She sold potholders for a quarter, made full size bed throws, housecoats, aprons, dolls and even clothing.  She inspired me to try differenct art mediums and now I love photography, painting, needlework, and quilting.  I love to see what happens when you take a chance and put fabrics together just to see how they will turn out.  

My first real foray into taking chances was in 1993 when a Wall Street J ournal article got me thinking about greeting cards and I wondered about making my own.  I called my long time friend, Carol, who sewed a lot, and she sent me some fabric scraps.  Together with Carol's scraps, my embroidery thread stash and some greeting card stock, I made some cards.  Since then, I've created hundreds of greeting cards.  In 1998, I found the Carpenter's Square block in a book and thought that would make a great quilt for my son who loves carpentry.  That endeavor led to my quilt, Chocolate Zen.

Since taking my first traditional quilting class, I've designed most of my own quilts and use the training I received in corporate America as a projet manager, certified trainer, technical writer and training course developer to design and write quilt patterns and give quilt classes to help people develop their creativity and inspire them to create their own quilt designs.  I also provide pattern production services to help other quilters publish their patterns. 

In addition to quilting, I wrote and published the gold medal award winning book, If The Dragon Wins, Build Another Castle: The ABC's of Grief and also published the book, Chocolate Zen, by Marjorie Carroll which inspired the title of my Chocolate Zen quilt.  

I believe there's creativity in everyone; although maybe not a Monet, Picasso or Charlie Russell.  With a few tools and some simple rules and practice, everyone can become better at creating.  I love teaching and designing and hope you will invite me to your guild, shop or other venue so we can get creative together.