We recently had some super fabulous quilters come in to help us prepare for Quilt Market and one of those gals was the lovely Carol Whaley. I found Carol from one of our local quilting guilds, Quilter’s Anonymous in Lynwood, WA.

I was amazed by Carol’s ability to go home each night (after working with our fabric all day) and come back the next day with a brand new sewing creation. She was inspired by all of the fun fabrics she got to work with during the day and I guess that just fueled her through the evenings to be able to create these fabulous creations!

Here is a really REALLY cool bag she made using our new Floral Folio fabric by Cary Phillips. Check out those cool handles!
This is a fabulous placemat using our Holiday Celebrations fabric from Laurel Burch. What a great way to liven up your holiday table with a little more non-traditional looking Christmas fabric!
I love how creative this one is…this is the block print from the Flying Colors II collection from Laurel Burch. Carol simply took the blocks, chopped them up and made them into cute little coasters!
Everyone in the office was amazed that Carol was so able to just come up with her own patterns so I asked her about her “quilting story” to see how she became such an awesome quilter! Carol told me she began quilting in the 80’s and was lucky that she lived in a small town right across the street from a quilt shop. She began learning to quilt and draft her own patterns at that shop and was able to learn early on from several really great teachers. Quilting got put on hold while she raised her children, but later on when she eventually retired, Carol’s interest in quilting really began to flourish. Today, Carol is an active member in her quilting guild, Quilter’s Anonymous, and continues to learn and be inspired by the wonderful quilters around her. Carol also told me she is working on putting together her very own Etsy shop to sell her creations as well as do custom sewing–very exciting!

Many thanks to Carol for sharing and inspiring us all at Clothworks!

PS–Do you have a quilting story to share? Do you have Clothworks creations you have made or are working on? Get in touch with me–I’d love to hear from you at brandi@clothworks.com. Happy Sewing!