NQA Member Spotlight

After working as a seamstress for a number of years, I started quilting in 1981. I purchased a beginner book and made my first Sampler Quilt. I really got hooked on quilting and gave up sewing clothing. I learned to hand appliqué and hand quilt - most of my first quilts were hand quilted - but I did most of the piecing by machine. About nine years ago I started doing heirloom machine quilting on my domestic machine. I have always wanted to try all different kinds of techniques and I designed all of my award-winning quilts myself. I tend to use traditional blocks but I also like to use copyright free designs for some of my quilts.

I started entering my quilts in the Illinois State Fair and Rockome Gardens Quilt show and was very lucky to place. The comments that I received were very helpful in improving my quilt making. In the 80's, I went to my first NQA show in Decatur, IL and took a couple of classes. Then, in 1991 I went the show in Lincoln, Nebraska and entered a wall-hanging and a large pieced quilt. The wall-hanging won third and the large quilt won honorable mention. In 2004, at the NQA show in Peoria, IL, my quilt "Golden Glow" won the Best Hand Quilting Mary Krickbaum Award. "Vintage Treasures", my first heirloom machine quilted and machine pieced quilt, won first place in its category. My quilts have been in many NQA shows and won many ribbons, but these awards are some of the highlights.

Through the years I have entered quilts in many other quilt shows as well. At the 2010 AQS show in Paducah, KY my quilt "Charisma" won the Bernina Machine Quilting Award and is now in the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. My quilt "Cathedral Ceiling" won the machine quilting award at the AQS show in Knoxville, Tennessee. My quilts have been published in articles in Machine Quilted Unlimited, American Quilters Society magazine, in four different calendars, and in a variety of other books and magazines.

I am currently a member of two quilt guilds, Prairie Quilters, our local guild, and Land of Lincoln Quilt Association, which is composed of any quilter from Illinois. I have enjoyed serving as president of both of these guilds. I began teaching quilting in my home and then started teaching in quilt shops. Now, I just teach workshops and do lectures and trunk shows for guilds.

I have enjoyed being a member of NQA for many years, as well as attending and entering my quilts in their shows.

Contact email: sorrells@macomb.com