Karen, the owner of Machine Quilting Services, started sewing at the age of 6. Mom taught her at the start. Then Karen joined a 4-H sewing club and got into making clothing. Then onto a home-ec class in junior high and more clothing items.

Eventually Karen made all her own clothing, including taylored suits for work. In the early '70's, she landed a job at the corporate headquarters for Jo-Ann Fabrics, near Cleveland, OH and made model garments for some of their stores.

In the mid 70's, she got into sailing and started making cushion covers, curtains, and some canvas items for her boat.

In the mid 80's, Karen and her husband moved aboard their sailboat and took a year long sailing cruise. Even though she always had her sewing machine along, very little clothing was made during that time. After a year of cruising along the East coast and in the Florida Keys, they resettled in Annapolis, MD. A few years later, they moved onto a larger boat, and then down to Florida.

Karen's quilt studio

After several years of living on a boat and back to landside living, Karen discovered quilting in 1998. All other sewing has been put aside, for quilting became her passion.

In late 2001, Karen and her husband got the itch to get back into boating. This time on a Hatteras 61' cockpit motoryacht. This two-year adventure took them around Florida, and up the East coast to the Great Lakes. There was enough room on this boat to have a small quilting room with a custom made table. The extra drawers and closet space were packed with fabric, of course.

After selling the motoryacht, Karen and her husband moved to Woodland Park, CO in 2004. Their house has a perfect lower level for Karen's quilt studio. Just after moving in, they purchased a Statler Stitcher on a Gammill Optimum with a 14' table.

The quilt studio (and whole house) is a non-smoking environment.

Only the first quilt Karen made was from a pattern -- the rest have been custom designed and created by Karen.

She is also creating her own quilting designs using the AutoSketch program which came with the Statler Stitcher.

Karen is a member of the Colorado Springs Quilt Guild, and a member of the Colorado Quilting Council. She also belongs to a Colorado Springs art quilt group, a local quilt ministry (charity organization), and is heading up a quilting group thru her church.

Thank you for visiting my website. Please feel free to e-mail me any questions you may have regarding my long-arm quilting business, machine quilting, or quilting in general.E-mail to Karen

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