Mama kept me busy with bits of yarn and fabric scraps at a very early age.
I was fascinated with Gramma's Crazy Quilts and Mama's memories about each scrap of fabric. She made most of my clothes from a paper bag pattern that she altered as I grew. Mama encouraged me to create doll clothes from tiny scraps, and to playPlayPLAY, making things work in odd ways. As my Mama always says, "There's more than one way to skin a rat, let's make it work!"
I spent hours playing and experimenting with scraps, thread, and yarn;
moving up from scotch tape and staplers to a tiny red plastic toy sewing machine. If you could juggle the pieces and turn the crank, it would make a stitch! And then, of course, since my folks were beloved teachers, I would teach my friends and dollies all the things I'd puzzled out.
🌸Soon Gramma gave me a REAL sewing machine with boxes of accessories (even extra cogs for fancy stitches),
so by the age of ten, I was making my own clothes. Some would start with patterns, but most were sketched on brown paper bags, then re-designed into unique 'Paola-nated' clothes, and the scraps and oopsies turned into up-cycled quilts, of course! DaddyO taught me the magic of maintaining the mechanics of machines; that first old domestic sewing machine still runs nicely, thank you very much. As a teenager, I learned how to do Professional Alterations in my father's clothing store.
Then I pursued a degree in Dental Hygiene;
soon a husband and two adorable daughters later found me making baby quilts, tiny clothing, and helping others again. I loved finding understandable relatable ways to explain dental stuff to folks based on Their Perspectives and Their Passions.
Later, I owned a ladies dress shop for a few years;
my favorite things were teaching efficient wardrobes with fun accessories, unusual ways to tie scarves, and, of course, altering anything, even sweaters with a serger! Even today, most of my dresses and aprons are still designed and/or sewn by little ol' me, or at least tweeked a bit to fit a little better.
When we moved to the Brainerd Lakes Area in central Minnesota,
I organized multi-generational Quilt Fests at church; teaching kids to design small quilts with donated, hand-cut fabric blocks, and then have them watch as moms and grandmas would sew the blocks and columns together. After that, I encouraged dads to supervise putting the fabric puzzles back together, and showed the kids to take the quilt parts back to a stitching station yet again! We had stations for pressing seams, assembling layers, tying with yarn, and, of course, yummy snacks.
🌸My favorite part was teaching kids to sew simple blocks together themselves on the sewing machine,
to make their very own quilts! They would learn by making mission quilts, and Learn to Love Quilting by making quilts to keep or gift to their loved ones. I find so much JOY in sharing skills, and figuring in some forgiveness by finding creative ways to turn Oopsies into pretty little Options, then Blessing Others with our warm comfy gifts!
My friend, Darlene, (the Quilting Lady at Trinity and my go-to piecer) introduced me to Country Fabrics and Quilting and 'fancy quilts'. Who knew you could use real patterns and new fabric? She also introduced me to Cherrywood Hand-Dyed Cotton that looks like suede and sews like butter. And then Darlene mentioned LONGARM QUILTING!! WHAT? No more tying with yarn or hand stitching for years to never even finish a tiny UFO wall hanging anyway!?! I WAS HOOKED! I bought a used quilting machine with a 9 inch ThroatSpace and no bells or whistles on a 12 foot table and started longarm quilting everything in sight.
The rest is history.
In 2000, I started quilting part time as SederQuilts for church, Quilts of Valor, and a few clients, and I couldn't help myself from learning and teaching a few tricks to other quilters. An upgrade to the Handi Quilter 16" with a stitch regulator happened a few years after that; WOW what an improvement! To minimize the constant migraines and chronic pain from severe environmental sensitivities and allergic reactions, I decided to Quit my Day Job and work from the safety of my home.
With time on my hands and increased energy from not being sick all the time, 'Full-Time Free Motion Custom Quilter' became my title in 2013. I asked my best friend Lori to video my Piecing Method 'Clotheslining' for the "Cross of Many Squares Quilt", and she helped put SederQuilts out there on the internet. PaolaJo from SederQuilts was suddenly a findable and sharable 'rising quilt star' on YouTube and Facebook, as I once again, could share my JOY of teaching and creating with others! Our video tutorial "What to do with Batting Scraps? Make a Memory Shirt Pillow" was another hit on YouTube. Our "Cutting Fat Quarters Frugally and Efficiently ~ Saturday with SederQuilts" episode has recently passed 133 thousand views.
By May of 2015, I had upgraded again to the HQ Fusion 24" with their computerized ProStitcher system, then switched to Premium as soon as it was available. Oh my goodness, I love teaching others to use their computerized quilting systems! Folks often think it looks so easy, but get frustrated with the learning curve, once they get home.
The struggle is real, but once you find an understandable way to learn, you can playPlayPLAY your way through the basics!
