I love the story about how your mother-in-law basically forced you into quilting!  What made you finally decided to just give in?

Ahhh…you haven’t met my mother-in-law! She is very persistent…more like overly persistent. Sometimes, it is easier to just give in. Her heart is always in it, so it does make it easier. And boy am I sure glad I caved. I could not imagine my life without quilting.

 

How does your drawing and painting inspire or affect your quilting or design process?

It helps to see there is more than just the quilt top. Adding decorative elements/details (quilting) is just like drawing something or adding depth with paint—you can add depth with quilting as well.

I also think it’s like a flow. I am an endless doodler. I always hear [from students] “I cannot draw.” You don’t need to! You just need to put pencil to paper and find your flow–the smoothness from point A to point B–it goes hand in hand with continuous free-motion quilting. It is like when we learned cursive handwriting–when we started it was awful. With daily practice, it improved.

 

Any difference in approaching in making a personal quilt vs. a client quilt?

I think I am more cautious on a client quilt. Like I have an immense responsibility while it’s in my care. On my own stuff, I take more design risks though. I try different things–sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

 

If you could have one quilting “super power,” what would it be?

Ahhh…this is hands down the easiest question! I would love to be able to rip stitches as easy as using an eraser on paper!

 

How did you come up with the topics for your Quilt Festival classes, and what is new or different for the show?

A lot of times when I am creating new classes I base the content off something I’m continually working on. Like my new Brilliant Borders (Not Your Average Edge) class. I’ve been working on a lot of custom borders as of late, so I figured why not turn this into a class.

Similarly, my Fill Crazy class–I have a monthly series on my Patreon on fills and figured let’s take this to the next step and create an in-person class. My new Surface Strategies class is all about quilting texture and how/where to add it to create visual interest and depth. My other new class is Skinny Spaces and covers how to handle sashings—those tiny little strips of fabric that sometimes get overlooked because you don’t know what to do with them. My last class is not new, but it is one of my favorites–Build-A-Stitch® which is a great class for beginners or someone wanting to move confidently from pantos to free-motion.

What is the funniest or most amusing anecdote that involves your quilting (as either an artist or teacher)?

One of the funniest was a student that was in every one of my classes came in one morning and stated “You changed your pants.” Well yeah, it’s a new day. It is called learning overload and happens a lot when you take every one of a teacher’s classes at an event. The days blend with all that new stuff being stored to memory! It was funny and something that has stayed with my memories.

 

What are you looking forward to most about returning to shows and teaching in person…and what have you changed any thoughts about since the pandemic?

I am so much looking forward to the energy between teacher and student. You just cannot get that during an online event. That moment when a student “gets it” and their lightbulb goes off–that is an awesome moment for a teacher, especially in person. That kind of energy just doesn’t translate across computer monitors. The pandemic has taught me to slow down and to look at things from different perspectives. Our teaching style had to adapt to continue during the stay-at-home quarantine. I am delighted that we can be back to in person and continue online for the people that need it. So, I guess, it has made us all better teachers.

 

Finally, what is the most important piece of advice or guidance that the Karen of 2021 would tell the Karen of 2003 making her first quilt top (about anything involving quilting)?

Learn early that you can say NO…if you don’t feel comfortable doing something don’t do it. There is no need to stress and fret about anything. Learn as much as you can about as much as you can and then confidently say yes. Not every quilt is for every quilter.

 

For more on Karen and her work, visit CreativeLongarmQuilting.com

 

​KAREN’S CLASSES AT QUILT FESTIVAL HOUSTON 2021327 Class—Brilliant Borders—Not Your Average Edge—Longarm Hands-On367 Class—Fill Crazy—Longarm Hands-On583 Class—Skinny Spaces—Longarm Hands-On626 Class—Surface Strategies—Longarm Hands-On655 Class—Build-A-Stitch—Longarm Hands-On