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This week's quilter in the spotlight is Cheri Gilleland. Sorry for the delay in posting this articles, I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath for the latest spotlight! If you would like to leave a comment or ask a question, you can head on over to the forum (you do have to have a forum account). A post can be found here.
MQResource: First, tell us about your family! I have been married to my high school sweetheart (although we didn’t get married until we were 27!) for 25 years. I am an RN and worked primarily in ICUs before I became a college instructor in nursing. Six years later my first child was born. I taught for one more quarter and decided that was not the life for me and have been a Mom at home since then. My DH, John, “all but” retired from his job as an attorney about a year ago (he couldn’t tolerate working in the legal world anymore) so we are trying to adjust to this new life together. He is adjusting much better than I am! I had visions of our traveling around after he retired and going to quilt shops and shows, but I didn’t count on him retiring when our youngest was only in the 6th grade! We have 3 great kids – our oldest (son – 22 yo) just graduated from the Univ of Ga with a degree in Biology and plans to begin dental school in the fall of 2009. Our oldest daughter (21) is also at UGA and recently changed her major from Spanish to Business. She has always loved to bake and is hoping to attend a culinary school after she graduates next year and then, at some point, open a bakery of her own. Our youngest daughter (13) will be in the 8th grade this year. She loves soccer and basketball and is great to have around. We have a 100lb, crazy golden retriever named Cody. (What were we thinking?!)  MQR: Where do you call home?
John and I grew up in Fitzgerald, a small town in south Ga, and still have ties there, but our “home” now is in Lilburn, a suburb of Atlanta. MQR: How long have you been quilting? How did you get into it? I have been quilting since 2000. About 10 years before that I started drooling over beautiful quilts and enjoyed thumbing through quilt books. Then in the late 90’s, I stumbled across Alex Anderson’s Simply Quilts on PBS TV and began absorbing all that I was seeing on the show. It took me probably a year of doing that before I finally got the nerve to actually take the plunge and try to make one myself. I had made my own clothes from the time I was an early teen and through college so I’m not sure why I was so hesitant but, once I started, I haven’t looked back. I named my first quilt “Just Do It!”, for obvious reasons. MQR: Do you still do much piecing, or are you all about the quilting?I do still piece and enjoy the process but am one of those strange quilters that makes one quilt at a time from the beginning to the very end. When I bought my longarm, I had no UFOs to quilt so most of what I make now is to have something to quilt. I prefer to piece those quilts which end up being very time-consuming so I still don’t have enough quilts to quilt! MQR: Do you have a quilting business? If so, what is your favorite part of quilting for other people? At this time I’m not quilting for others although I would like to and have a business name, etc – Quilts on Monday. There are between 12 and 15 longarmers in my guild and I am not one to put myself “out there” very well, so…. I would actually be happy to quilt 5 or 6 a month for others to just be able to use my machine more and to grow in that regard (and to have some extra money to spend on more longarm toys...er, I mean tools!). MQR: What is the most challenging part of quilting for you? PICKING OUT THE FABRICS!!! I waste so much time in doing this. My obsessive tendencies really rear their ugly heads here…….well…. they peak out in the piecing process also…. and certainly in deciding how to quilt the piece…… and in the quilting! Hmmmm…… MQR: What are your favorite quilting tools? I have so many that I really like to use (or think that I will really like to use) and so many that I still want/”need” to buy. I am a quilting book and DVD junkie and love my big wipe board. MQR: What hobbies do you have (beyond quilting)? I love to sing and am in 2 choirs at my church as well as a handbell choir. I also like to read.
MQR: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Cookie Dough MQR: Do you prefer salty or sweet snacks? Easy - - sweet. Unfortunately, I could live off sweets. I don’t have a sweet “tooth”, I have sweet “teeth”! MQR: What is your favorite beverage? Diet Coke, although you can’t beat a good margarita! MQR: What are your favorite books/authors? I love good mysteries/dramas the best, but I read The Secret Life of Bees about a year ago (I know, I’m behind) and when I finished reading it I proclaimed it as my new favorite.  MQR: What are your favorite movies? Rainman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Witness, Kramer vs Kramer, Pretty Woman – My family would say that these are my favorites because they are the only 5 that I have actually sat all the way through without falling asleep. Not true!! MQR: What is your favorite quote? My daughter’s middle school principal ends his morning comments to the kids and faculty every day with this wonderful thought: “Have a great day….or not…..the choice is always yours.” MQR: What is one of your goals for 2008? I definitely want to become a better longarmer (I can’t thank you all enough for all that I have learned here, and continue to learn every time I click on my computer to MQResource!) and to develop my business.All photographs were provided by Cheri. Cheri's Webshots: http://tinyurl.com/2ac75b Don't forget, you can visit the forum here if you would like to comment. Thanks for playing along, Cheri! Tune in next week to see who will be the next Quilter In the Spotlight! (I promise you won't have to wait 2 weeks for another one!) |
In the Spotlight 
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