0

fShare

Tweet

Meet TQS Member Lorna Westfall (Lorna1021)
currently living in Schertz, TX, USA.

A video of Lorna’s quilts is available here:
daily-blog/106-website-features/13992-member-spotlight-lorna-westfall

When did you start quilting?

I grew up in Lakeside, California, which is just east of San Diego.  Mom taught me to sew, embroider, knit, crochet, etc, but I don’t remember any quilting.  It wasn’t until 1974, a couple years after high school, as I was getting ready to go into the Army that I picked up quilting.   I had to wait a couple months before starting in the Army so I took some adult education classes—fiber arts, quilting and guitar.  I didn’t get to finish the classes before leaving, but I was hooked on quilting.   For one of my first projects I started making a Rolling Stones quilt.  I couldn’t do any of this while I was in basic training but later when I started my advanced training in San Antonio, Texas, I brought my fabric with me and kept sewing away on growing quilt top.  Most of the fabrics I was using were chicken feed sacks from my great grandmothers, but I also used scraps from clothes and muslin.   I used cardboard templates and pieced and quilted it by hand.  The problem was I didn’t finish the class so was blissfully ignorant on what I was doing.  I had a blast making it.  I must have done okay because the quilt has been well used over the years and has held up amazingly well.  I have a picture of laying the blocks out on the floor of the open bay barracks I stayed in for those 4 months of school.  Then later the quilt is on the quilt rack taking up most of my dorm room.

Who were your biggest influences when you started?  Have you any new influences?

My only influence early on was from the few classes I took and what I could read.  My first book was Better Homes and Gardens Patchwork & Quilting.  I also started getting Quilter’s Newsletter and any other quilt magazines or books I could find.  While I was stationed in San Antonio in the mid 70’s, I saw an ad in a Quilter’s Newsletter magazine from someone wanting to start a quilting bee.  I responded to that and met several delightful ladies who took me under their wings and taught me much more about quilting. 

My grandmother quilted and encouraged me along the way.  She gave me a Rolling Stars top that she hand pieced so I hand quilted that.   My grandmother has also given me a pin wheel top that was hand pieced by her mother—I have the fabric for the backing and the binding but that remains one of my UFOs. 

In 2000 I moved to Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida.  That is when I joined my first quilt guild—Silver Threads in Fort Walton Beach.  I met some wonderful ladies and learned so much from them at the meetings and at Saturday classes.  It was an awesome experience.  I even spent a weekend at a quilt expo in Panama City and took a class with Janet Jones Worley (another UFO) and learned to machine quilt with Jan Wildman. 

While I was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central coast of California, I belonged to the All-American City Quilt Guild in Santa Maria.  Again, great people and I learned so much from everyone.  This was my first introduction to small group bees.  We had a wonderful group of ladies that met, initially once a month and then later weekly.  We each worked on our own UFOs but I still learned so much from all of them.  

In the last couple years I have discovered quilting web sites and The Quilt Show.    I have learned so much from the shows, classroom work and from all the other members.

Did you move a lot because of the Air Force?  Is there a favorite place that you’ve lived?

I actually moved a fair bit even before joining the Air Force.  I lived in Texas and Wisconsin before settling in North Carolina for 12 years.  That is where I finally finished my undergraduate degree and went to medical school.  I joined the Air Force after I finished my Family Medicine residency in 1992 and have moved every 2-5 years since then.  I was at Edwards Air Force Base, California for 5 years then had the pleasure of living in northern Italy at Aviano AB for the next three years.  It was an hour north of Venice and amazing.   I loved getting to know the people and traveling to see so many things in Italy and beyond.  Next was Eglin AFB from 2000 - 2003 in the panhandle of Florida and then I was lucky enough to go back overseas to Lajes Air Base in the Azores.  This is a group of islands in the Atlantic about 700 miles off the coast of Portugal.  I was very excited to spend the 13 months there because that is where my father’s family is from.  I lived on Terceira, but spent several weekends on the island of Faial with cousins and a great aunt.  One thing that was memorable was that during festivals in the towns they created designs in the streets with flower petals and hung bright colorful quilts or blankets from the upstairs windows.  Since then I lived on the central coast of California for a couple years and now here in San Antonio, Texas.

I have been lucky and have had wonderful opportunities to experience so many areas of not only our own country but Europe as well.  I had a wonderful time in both Italy and the Azores.  I love to travel and explore new areas and would be delighted to have another chance to go back overseas.

How do you manage to quilt and sew when you are moving around?

Sometimes it wasn’t so much the moving as it was my school and work schedule.  During my Family Medicine residency my schedule was very hectic with crazy hours so instead of trying to make quilts, my daughters and I started making seasonal placemats with the goal of different ones for each month.  We really only finished about 4 sets.

The Air Force moves all of my household goods from place to place so dragging my sewing machine (I owned an Elna Super for 35 years!) and fabric stash around was really not a problem.  The biggest challenge came when I moved to Lajes on the island of Terceira.  It was a short tour (15 months) and I was limited to 1600 pounds of household goods.  Fortunately I didn’t need to bring furniture as they took care of that.  So my weight went to my sewing and quilting supplies, clothes and a few basic kitchen supplies and linens.  Here is a picture of my sewing machine, fabric stash and quilting supplies.  This was a big percentage of my total weight!  I packed in plastic bins to help organize my supplies and because I heard the humidity was so bad and mildew was a big problem.  I planned ahead for the projects I wanted to work on and brought everything with me.  I had started working on Roseville, a needle turn appliqué block of the month by Maggie Walker with the Silver Threads guild.  Though I finished several blocks and only have the center block to finish, that is another of my UFOs.  I also brought lots of red and green and white fabrics.  I wanted to make a Christmas log cabin for each of my 5 grandchildren.  I did finish all the tops and had 2 quilted by the time I left in 2004.  I now have two more grandchildren who I need to make a Christmas Log Cabin quilts for.

What are you working on now?

I have several projects going now.  I am trying to finish last year’s TQS BOM.  I have to do November’s flying geese border next. So I am making progress.  I am staying current with the two TQS BOMs this year.  I just finished quilting and binding a Hip to Be Square full size quilt.  I have made seasonal wall hangings for all but spring and I have the center blue bonnet appliquéd on and need to create borders get it to the right size.  Listening to Alex I got interested in neutrals.  I bought her book on the subject and made the pinwheels and stars from that, but enlarged it to sofa size.  That needs to be layered and quilted next.  There are several other UFOs or future projects that I have the fabric and pattern for, but not the time.

Are you in a guild now?  Which one?

I currently belong to the Alamo Heritage Quilt Guild here in San Antonio.  We are planning a quilt show for October 2010 so everyone needs to try to come and visit.

Do your daughters/grandkids quilt?  Did you teach them?

I was in medical school from 1985 to 1989.  During fall break in 1985, I worked with two of my daughters on quilts for them.  They helped pick out the fabrics, I sewed the tops together by machine and then during Christmas vacation we tied the quilts. Also one summer when my stepdaughter came to visit we started a quilt together.  I later finished that quilt for her first baby.  She has gone on to make quilts for the rest of her kids.  A few years ago, I was with one of my daughters and we were picking out fabrics for a quilt for her.  Her, then 5 year-old, son was also going through the store and picking out bolts of fabric.  “I like these, Grandma!”  He was so cute!  Finally we picked out a baseball print as the focus fabric and I let him pick out 20 fat quarters to go with it.  That weekend we made him a Turning Twenty quilt.  This last summer at 9 ½ years old, he came to visit me for week.  This time I let him pick out fabrics from my stash.  I cut with the rotary cutter, but I had him sew the blocks together in a nine patch and then I had him machine quilt it.  We just did this large zigzag/lightning bolt type, free motion pattern.  He did awesome and he was so proud of his small quilt!

 
Lorna’s Timeline:
1972 graduated high school (El Capitan High School, Lakeside, CA).  Went to a semester of college, took a year off to travel and then did another semester of college.
 
1974 joined the Army in order to get the GI Bill to pay for college. Trained as a dental lab tech (made dentures and crowns and bridges) and was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX
 
1977 got out of the Army.  Got married, started having kids.  Already had a year of college completed and used GI Bill to finish undergraduate school and pay for first year of med school. 
 
1983 Took 11 1/2 years to finally graduate from college (UNC-Greensboro, NC)
 
1985 - 1989 medical school -- UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill NC
 
1989 - 1992 residency in Family Medicine -- Moses Cone Family Medicine Residency Program, Greensboro, NC
 
1992 joined the Air Force because I wanted to travel.
 
20 1/2 years total service time includes Army time.
 
Currently in the Air Force, I am Director of Medical Services for the Air Force Medical Operations Agency.  We assist and advise the 75 Air Force clinics, hospitals and medical centers in execution of health care policy, providing day-to-day guidance and standardizing policy to decrease variance and improve the quality of care. I oversee business and clinical analysis, mental health, provision of medical care, quality, and case and disease management.
 
It has been a very windy path.  Oh and just got remarried May 2009!