Growing up in New York City, we didn’t have much. As a child I was always making do with what I had. There wasn’t a lot of money to buy expensive toys or clothes. My grandmother was a avid sewer and she raised me and my sister. My aunt lived downstairs and she and grandma would sew all evening making dresses. Aunt Margie would wear the dress to work the next day! So, many nights I would go to sleep with the whirring of the sewing machine. There was always lots of fabric around and I was sometimes allowed to mess around with it. I loved dolls and grandma would show me how to make clothes or little blankets. All the beds in the house had homemade bedding. I mean even the sheets were homemade. Grandma worked down on Canal Street in the textile industry. Every night she would come home on the subway with a shopping bag full of fabric. Every closet, under the beds, hidden in huge pillows she would make, everywhere she could tuck it in, there was fabric! So you see, it’s in my blood!
In the early 1970’s I developed an interest in quilting. I made baby quilts and dolls among other handcrafted items. I would sell them to co-workers, friends and family. Once a year I would have an open house and invite everyone to come. This would be my Christmas shopping money.
After my first child was born I became a stay at home mom. I made quilts for all our beds and everyone in the house had their own throw quilts. I used to call them “Fireside Quilts” back in those days.
Back in 1986 my husband and I moved up to the Adirondack Mountains with our two little boys. I eventually worked part time as a chair side dental assistant. I got involved with my local quilt guild and started making quilts, wall hangings and folk art fabric accents and sold them at craft shows. I also made custom quilts to order. As the years went by I evolved and started teaching quilting classes at a BOCES Adult Continuing Education program and at local quilt shops.
I purchased my first Longarm Quilting Machine in 2002. Things evolved again! I started hosting “Sit and Sew” sessions which gave me built in customers for my Longarm Quilting business. I needed more space and wound up opening Patchwork Passion Quilt Shop in 2006. A cute little shop located in historic Glenwood Manor in Queensbury, NY. The manor was also an antique center which made it a real fun location to visit! I had always designed most of my quilts and had written a few patterns prior to opening the shop. As new fabric lines came in, inspiration was all around me and I began designing samples for the shop and writing the patterns. They were selling very well and “Little Louise Designs” was born. Again, I needed more space and moved the shop to a bigger location in downtown Glens Falls, NY in 2010. As fate would have it we had a huge flood and sustained quite a bit of damage. My passion at that time was to keep designing and the demands of being a shopkeeper made that difficult to pursue. The flood made the decision easy! It was time to close the shop and do what I love to do best, design quilts!
I am now back in my Adirondack Mountain studio and Patchwork Passion is now an on-line quilt shop featuring “Little Louise Designs”. The shop offers fabrics, books, patterns and kits.
Thank you for visiting my website and hope you’ve enjoyed it!