Dear fellow SotTTs,
I guess it is about time I introduce myself - I am Jackie Heupel and I live in Fredericksburg, TX, which is in south-central Texas commonly known as "the hill country," east of Austin and north of San Antonio. I have been a sometimes quilter since the early '80s when I started a quilt for my son (then 12 years old) using my old clothes and the book by Georgia Bonesteel on lap quilting. Most of those blocks are still unquilted since the batting seemed too thin so I doubled it!! Eric is now 43 with an 11 year old son of his own and I am sure that quilt will never again see the light of day. In about 2002 a friend of mine began a quilt group at the church. Its mission was to make quilts for every child at the time of their baptism. We now make baptism AND confirmation quilts, as well as quilts for the local hospital to use when an infant dies at birth (something for the parents to "take home") and quilts for "financially challenged" mothers to add to the layette items offered by the hospital itself. But my REAL passion is for art quilts for which I dye and stamp, print, paint, etc. the fabric.
When you asked us to ID a person who has been influential in our quilting I decided that it has to be Jane Dunnewald who taught me basically all I know about dying and all that other stuff I do to the fabric that goes into my art quilts. I took a 5 day workshop at her studio in San Antonio soon after my son introduced me to her work just as I was starting to quilt again. I have tried to spend summer mornings, before it gets too hot, dying fabric to use in all sorts of projects during the rest of the year.
As many others have said, I want to add my thanks to the ones who have made this exchange possible - and sooooo much fun. I am blessed to live close enough to be able to drive over to Katy for the sorting and will be able to give Debby and Clara my thanks in person AND get a sneak peek at all of those HSTs! Who could resist? Of course, DH has no idea why I am so determined to drive over 4 hours and book a hotel room just to fool around with some "little bits of cloth!" (Anyone who has a suggestion for explaining it to him please chime in here.)
Happy quilting to all and to all a good night!