I began quilting in 1977 after hanging out in a quilt shop so much they gave me a job - it was instant addiction! Three of us were soon sewing together making mini quilts and selling them at craft fairs. After 3 years, one of our partners left to have time to quilt for herself; the other two of us continued with our new pattern company, Kansas Troubles Quilters. Armed with 18 patterns and a fearless attitude, we went to our first Quilt Market in 1996. By 2000, my other partner left KTQ to "have a life" and I forged on alone, designing my first fabric line for Moda. With fabric, books and patterns taking over our home, my husband, Robert, and I decided to move our business into a separate building. We landed in my hometown of Bennington, Kansas, in an 85-year-old 2-story building that was home to the town's pool hall for most of it's life. Besides providing ample space for a design studio, publishing and storage, and living quarters for us, KTQ's new home also had space upstairs available for weekend quilting retreats. For seven years, we hosted over 100 retreats with more than 800 quilters from all over the U.S. We retired from the retreat business at the end of this year to concentrate on our wholesale business and teaching opportunites.
As KTQ, I design 3 lines of fabric for Moda each year, publish over a dozen patterns, create unique designs and write a newsletter monthly for our new KT Stash Society program which is distributed thru quilt shops, and teach at quilt guilds and shops around the midwest and beyond. If I'm not quilting, I'm antique shopping or creating unique home decor accessories from old junk. Robert and I try to spend as much time with our grandkids as we can - 6 kids and 8 grandkids from 10 months to 10 years old between us. We've just completed a small cabin by a pond a few miles from our KTQ building to get away from work and unwind. It's been so much fun - and a challenge - to find the perfect cupboard, bench or quilt to decorate our compact space.
This year, we're looking forward to Spring Market in Pittsburgh, a quilting cruise to the Bahamas and several quilt shop weekends of workshops and a trunk show. Watch for my next fabric collections - Wildflower Serenade II coming out next month, Kansas Winter in May and Vine Creek next fall. Check our website @ ktquilts.com for all the latest patterns available at your local shop.
-Lynne Hagmeier
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