Wendy Gilbert and Cathy Howell
Cynthia Schwartz
Cathy Howell began her sewing journey at a young age. She commented, “Since I am short, I altered my store-bought clothes. After taking a home economics class, I found that it was easier to sew my own clothes. My mother let me pull up a chair to the “old Singer” at home and, with six kids in my family, I made clothes for my younger sisters and myself.” In Willamette, Ore., the Pine Needle Quilt shop opened that offered an eight-week quilting class. According to Cathy, it was a marathon, where they cranked out a quilt top every week. She loved quilting because they don’t need zippers! Inspired by the class, Cathy took every quilt class that she could and still does to this day.
Cathy moved to PebbleCreek in1999 and joined the Estrella Mountain Quilters Guild that included other quilters in the West Valley. The guild shared a PebbleCreek Activities Center room with the tap dancing group. As PebbleCreek grew, the Creative Arts Center (CAC) was built, and the quilters created the resident-only PebbleCreek Quilting Club. Cathy, who is one of the earliest members of the club, has seen it grow from 15 to over 250 quilters. Cathy has served as president, charity and program coordinator, but simply enjoys being around other quilters in the Fabric Arts Room. Cathy is a traditional quilter, sewing blocks and following patterns. She said, “However, If something catches my eye on a website like Pinterest, I will graph out the design, use my math skills, and create a pattern. I like math and being creative.”
Wendy Gilbert taught high school home economics in Redmond, Wash. When the local vocational school offered a quilting class, Wendy enrolled and eventually ended up teaching the class. Wendy commented, “If you have been sewing for a while, quilting is easy!” Wendy moved to San Diego and began teaching for Quilt in a Day (QIAD), a quilt publishing company founded by Eleanor Burns, who revolutionized quilting with her simple strip quilting method. At QIAD, Wendy became the company’s educational director and eventually wrote five quilting books that have been sold all over the world.
After moving to Wisconsin, Wendy began traveling to guilds all over the Midwest, teaching and lecturing on quilting. Eventually she started her own quilt pattern business, Morning Star Designs, where she continued to take traditional patterns and rewrite them incorporating new and fast methods. Wendy has written many patterns but her real love has always been teaching. Wendy has taught more than 2,000 beginners to quilt. When Wendy moved to PebbleCreek, she served as the PC Quilters’ program chairperson and taught Quilter’s Academy, Block of the Month, beginner classes, and special projects. She commented, “There is so much talent in our organization. I am really proud of our club. We are an amazing group of ladies and one guy.”
We celebrate Cathy Howell and Wendy Gilbert and thank them for their contributions to the PebbleCreek Quilting Organization.