I am constantly amazed by the talented, impactful, amazing people I meet through my love of quilts and quilting. Our second Marquee Designer is one of those people!
I am excited to introduce my friend and fellow Oklahoma quilter to our Q2EA community, and I am absolutely honored to partner with her to launch her exclusive Quilt 2 End ALZ pattern: the Forget Me Not quilt.
Here she is: Teresa Marler…
An Incredible Quilting Journey
Teresa’s mom was an excellent seamstress and taught her how to sew starting when she was about 7 years old.
She made her first quilt (with lots of help from Mom) when she was 8 years old. She also took every sewing course that was offered by her local 4-H Club.
She mostly made clothes but also learned a bit more about quilting in her teen years, as her mom always had a hand quilting frame hanging from the ceiling of their living room every winter.
Teresa got more interested in making quilts when she started having children. She wanted to teach her daughters to sew and decided that making a simple 9-patch quilt would be a good place to start.
She ended up teaching a large group of home schooled girls to make 9-patch quilts. Her two daughters were included in that group. “I think I learned as much as those girls,” Teresa recalls fondly.
Teresa’s family moved to Tulsa in 1996, and this is where she discovered a quilt guild and several quilt shops.
She took classes at both places and greatly improved her skills.
As the years went by, Teresa started working and teaching at a local quilt shop. She also started entering quilt competitions.
Teresa has earned a “Best of Show” at the Tulsa State Fair and at the Green Country Quilters’ Guild Show.
One of her quilts hung in the National Quilt Museum and in the Paducah AQS Show. She has also had two quilts in the Pacific International Quilt Festival, one quilt in the Atlanta Quilt Show and four quilts displayed at the Houston International Quilt Festival, the last one being chosen as the signature quilt for the entire show in 2019.
They used that quilt to design all the show memorabilia, souvenirs and show catalogs. What a phenomenal accolade!
I appreciate Teresa and absolutely love her Q2EA design! It was so fun to work together on this project, and I really enjoyed learning more about her journey.
Teresa concluded our interview with these beautiful thoughts:
Quilting is more than just a hobby for me. I love making quilts and gifting them to family and friends. I feel like I’m giving a part of myself in each one. I’m hoping that after I’m long gone, my quilts will be full of memories for the recipients.
Forget Me Not
In July of 2020, Teresa signed on to be our second Q2EA Marquee Designer.
She had just completed an elephant appliqué quilt for the Green Country Quilters’ Guild show – which was cancelled due to COVID-19 – and she offered to donate the pattern to help us further our mission to connect quilters with the fight to end Alzheimer’s disease.
The pandemic continued to get in the way of this adorable design as 2 of the 13 fabrics that we chose to test the pattern and then use in kits were backordered. For 5 months!
We tried other colors and prints to replace the two that were missing-in-action, but nothing looked quite right.
By the time the fabrics arrived, the holidays had also arrived, so the sample quilt and pattern edits weren’t finished until after the new year.
And now – finally – we are very proud to present the Forget Me Not quilt.
Honoring Two Wonderful Women
Teresa chose to dedicate her pattern to the memory of two wonderful women who both passed away with Alzheimers.
First, Alma Wesley, who was her husband’s maternal grandmother. She is the first person Teresa knew to have Alzheimer’s, and she passed away in 1995.
Next is Teresa’s dear family friend, Evelyn Lupkey.
Evelyn’s daughter, Julie, has been a friend of Teresa’s for many years and Teresa’s husband has known the Lupkey family his entire life. Julie cared for her mom throughout her illness until her passing.
Teresa hinted that she sees a “Forget Me Not” quilt in Julie’s future!
An Elephant Parade
With a “random” placement of fabric squares and the 10 charming elephants on parade, Forget Me Not has a joyful, whimsical feel.
The raw-edge appliqué makes this an ideal pattern for learning the technique. The patchwork squares are wonderful for practicing how to sandwich seams to create a perfect joint of four right angles. All together, the design is a great fit for all sewing levels.
If you ever have an opportunity to take one of Teresa’s classes, do it, and in the meantime, take a look at her exclusive Q2EA Forget Me Not pattern – this one is truly a treasure!
With love and hugs,
Ashli
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