Mary is primarily self-taught, learning through trial and error, though her work has been greatly influenced by others. One of her first inspirations was fellow KHQS member Pat Jennings.
“I took a class from Pat early in my quilting journey and she told the class something that has stayed with me since,” said Mary. “She told us we needed to share our quilts. She said ‘just do your thing and share it with others. If you don’t share your work, it is like writing a song and never singing it.’”
One of the benefits Mary has found in being a member of KHQS is the access to national teachers at an affordable price, closer to home. Mary took a class with Carol Taylor at a Quilting Adventures retreat which continues to influence her creative approach to design and color. “Color is like food for the soul,” she said.
Like most quilters, Mary has made quilts for all of her family members. In 2006, she made a quilt for her daughter using the pineapple design. It was paper pieced and she quilted it by stitching in the ditch across the entire quilt, except for the border.
“Someone told me to take my quilts to the fair,” Mary said. “I was a little intimidated but entered the Pineapple quilt.” To her surprise and delight the quilt won Best of Show that year. Mary laughs as she recalls just one year before asking a vendor in Paducah, “what is stitching in the ditch.”
Mary has a special affection for the Kentucky State Fair and believes it is highly competitive. She served as the assistant supervisor in charge of the quilts for 5 years and helped before and since. “I encourage all KHQS members to enter their quilts in the Fair competition,” she said.
Mary has since earned many awards in local and international shows with awards at the Kentucky State Fair, including Best of Show, Best Quilting and Sweepstakes. She has also won at the Bluegrass Quilt Festival, IHQS, AQS Grand Rapids, Daytona Beach, Charlotte, and Phoenix, and at IQA in Houston.
Mary admits to being competitive in nature and one who is always looking for ways she can make it better. She began teaching in 2006 and said it is so amazing to see how quilters she taught as beginners have excelled. “My goal was always to teach others to love quilting and to create with no boundaries,” she said. “There is nothing too hard, nothing you can’t do.”