Category: My Staff

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Staff Profile- Barbara

Barb profile pic croppedEvery now and then I like to do a profile of one of the members of my amazing staff.  These are the ladies who keep the shop running on a daily basis and who supply an endless source of inspiration.  This time let me introduce you to Barbara Hollinger.

Barb’s mom taught her to sew as a child.  Her first quilt experience was as a young single woman when a friend suggested they give quilting a try.  While she loved the precision of the piecing, she hated the actual quilting part.  That changed later on as she developed a love of hand quilting and also discovered the joys of free-motion machine quilting.  Now an accomplished machine quilter, Barb was a regular contributor to the magazine Machine Quilting Unlimited and teaches our machine quilting classes at the Studio.

Thistle
Thistle

Barb joined my staff over a decade ago. Her first career was as an engineer and you can see in her work the influence of her technical background.

Painted Prayers - made for the 2008 Jinny Beyer Hilton Head Seminar on Kaleidoscopes
Painted Prayers – made for the 2008 Jinny Beyer Hilton Head Seminar on Kaleidoscopes

Having done just about everything at the Studio, Barb recently left her job as Studio manager and currently serves as our “Quilt Project Engineer” proving to be of great help in my design work.

Seymoure full view
Seymour – made for the 2005 Jinny Beyer Hilton Head Seminar on Radiant Stars

Having joined a group of contemporary quilters, Barb became involved in the project, “Healing Quilts in Medicine” which brings beauty and education to hospitals through quilts.

P & P copy
Pick your Poison II & Pacific Yew – Both quilts are based on animals and plants which are used to create modern medicines.

postcard-4inx6in-h-front

 

Barb is currently devoting much of her time as curator for the upcoming Sacred Threads exhibit.  Held every two years, this exhibition is a forum for quilters who see their work as a source of healing and inspiration to others.

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Staff Profile- Linda

lindas photo updatedWhile the Studio bears my name, it is pretty obvious that it takes a number of people to keep it running. I am blessed with a wonderful staff that carries on the day to day operations. They allow me to focus on designing and teaching, yet I seem to get a lot of the credit for what happens behind the scenes. I want to take the opportunity to focus on my amazing staff by occasionally doing profiles to give them the recognition they so deserve.  For the first profile, I couldn’t think of anyone better to start with than Linda Marcinowski.

Linda has been on staff at the Studio longer than anyone else, having started in the summer of 2002. Many of you have been greeted by her friendly smile and welcome along with her remarkable memory for customers’ names and their stories. While Linda learned to sew clothing from her grandmother when she was only seven years old, it wasn’t until years later, in 1998, that she took up quilting. As an Army wife, she was invited to a welcome coffee and joined a quilt group headed by the general’s wife. Linda taught herself to quilt to keep up with the others in the group. Jinny’s techniques were her favorites and she had learned much from Jinny’s books. Once her children were grown, Linda needed something to do, and started working at the Studio.

Linda with Sunset Walk and Four Seasons
Linda with Sunset Walk and Four Seasons, both Studio designs

Linda, having started when the brick and mortar shop was fairly new and the business was smaller, has done just about everything. She worked on the newsletter, made shop samples, set up booths for quilt shows, been a member of the seminar staff, and even became certified in thimble fitter in 2005.

Wonderful One Fabric Quilt and Coventry, both Jinny Beyer Designs
Linda with her Wonderful One Fabric Quilt and Coventry in both colorways!

What she enjoys most, though, is meeting the customers, seeing what they are working on, and helping them with their projects. She says, “It makes my day. I love the amazing, different people I meet and the stories they tell.” One of her favorite things to do is play with Jinny’s border prints, figuring out more and more things to create with them.

Linda at cutting tableHaving been a military wife for many years and the travel it entails and now with her two daughters married, you may think that Linda and her husband lead a quiet life. Two years ago, her adorable little grandson, Andy, came into their lives and now there is a granddaughter due within the next couple of weeks. “Oma” Linda doesn’t have the quilting time she once did.

Linda & Andy
Linda & Andy

Stop by to meet Linda and the rest of my fabulous staff this summer. We have new fabrics arriving, exciting classes, and we’ll be participating in the Row by Row Experience shop hop.