FunThreads Designs: Meet A Quilter episode #11 and a Give Away

It’s hard to believe we’re meeting quilter #11 already. Quilters are such fun people!!

This month let me introduce you to Linda Pearl. She’s a quilter, designer, and teacher.

Hi. I am Linda Pearl from New Hampshire, and I'm delighted to be featured in this edition of Carol's "Meet a Quilter" on her blog. I've met Carol because both she and I are Island Batik brand Ambassadors, and I had the opportunity to meet her last fall at Quilt Market. I'm a quilt pattern designer as well, and you can find my creative website for quilters over at www.onequiltingcircle.com

I don't have any other quilters in my immediate family, but I do have a distant cousin who quilts, and I've been told that my great grandmother Clementine made utilitarian quilts for her family. I can imagine that they were made of shirting scraps from the Hathaway Shirt factory that was located in their hometown in Maine. Most of us in the family think of Clementine for the fact that she was a mother to 21 children (insert your own version of 'yikes' here - most people do!), but knowing that she also quilted allows me to round out the picture a bit. I came to quilting from Clementine's daughter Evangeline (my Nana) who, although not a quilter herself - instilled in me a love of scrap quilts from left over sewing. If only they could see me - and my stash - now!

Like many of us of my generation, I came to sewing in Home Economics - my sons later called it something else (Family and Consumer Sciences) - and hated it. My memory from that time was making a blue calico mini skirt and fighting with the Singer machine the whole time. I began quilting much later in life, when my older son went into first grade. I've moved from a corner of the bedroom to the second room in my home over the years - my husband is fond of reminding me that I'm not going any bigger in our house.

I began working as a professional in this space by organizing a bus trip to the Red and White Quilt Exhibition in NYC for passengers. That show has become a source of inspiration for many quilts in recent years, including my own.

I designed Lake Shore Magic based on my experience in NY - it came about on a weekend guild retreat, and involved bringing every red and white scrap of fabric in my stash in a big bin and playing with it. Through a series of twists and turns, it became my first published pattern in Quilty magazine (the July/August 2013 isssue). I have always been a keen follower of Mary Fons, and I was very proud to have been picked up by her in that issue. I still remember screaming when I got the email.

I have loved batik fabrics for a very long time, and I tend to keep the batiks separate from my quilting cottons - it's just a quirk of mine. The stash started out in a bin, migrated to a bigger bin, then several bins - can you see where this is going? Batiks are wonderful to work with, and most of them play very nicely together - but there is no selvedge. That created a problem for me when Island Batik appointed me as a Brand Ambassador in 2014…I quickly determined that I needed to find a way to keep them separate (but accessible). There's a huge bin under my desk - the biggest that I can find - with the pre-Ambassador stash, and Island has a whole dresser. Yes, I am "My name is Linda and I'm a Batik-aholic".

My pattern catalog is not nearly as prolific as some of the other Ambassadors, and I am, frankly, in awe of their production capacity…it's very hard work to bring a pattern to the public! My patterns are available for sale now through my online store and local shops in New England - but I am working plans which will change that shortly.

So I'm working on 'upping my profile' a bit in 2016…I became a Pop Up Partner earlier this week, adapting my newest pattern to work with this very popular pattern now. To see more about that project, and to enter a giveaway opportunity to win a Pop Up and my pattern! - head on over to my blog post for this week and check it out for yourself. I'll keep the giveaway open through Valentine's Day just for you.

So what's coming up next for me - I'm playing with the pieces for the next blog hop for the Island batik Ambassadors - this one is themed "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". I can tell you that mine is a different mode of transportation. I can share that I am getting to play with the beautiful "Sweet Georgia Peach" line.