Our May 2026 $100 Shopping Spree Winner is Rebecca Dorn from Amsterdam, New York!

The first quilt we’ll look at is Rebecca’s Tiger quilt. She quilted it using our “Flame Light” stencil (#77023) by Karlee Porter, and what a perfect choice it was! The quilting almost looks like tiger stripes! It adds so much movement and texture to the quilt.

And what a fantastic attic window quilt this is!

The second quilt Rebecca entered was a sweet baby quilt featuring our Meandering Leaves stencil #30327. Read on to learn Rebecca’s story.

This is what Rebecca shared:

I was introduced to quilting by my mom who was always involved in one craft or another. She began craft vending as I was competing in dog shows and dog agility trials. She had a friend who owned a quilting business and did local craft vendor shows. Prior to instant internet search days, we would find quilt shops and fabric stores everywhere I was traveling to with the dogs always on the lookout for new fabric. My mom made baby quilts for all my friends, co-workers, and throw-sized quilts for a charity my father was involved in. She made me a new bed quilt with my dogs embroidered around the border. Her friend would finish the quilting with her long-arm machine. I was the master at selecting colors, patterns, and finding sales, but rarely did any actual quilting. Mom had a Janome Memory Craft 10001 that she treasured - only she could use it. I could use the portable Janome Jem when extra help was needed for sewing crafts.

In 2012 I had to leave my job and I stopped showing due to a disability. Out of boredom, I tried to make some quilts. I made 2 that our friend finished, 1 full-size top done, and did the blocks for 2 other quilts before putting them aside and leaving the quilting to my mom. Eventually, my mom shifted more to other crafts, and the quilts paused. My mom passed away after an accident in 2024, and the men in the family decided I knew best what to do with all the sewing craft stuff. As I worked on cleaning, donating, and organizing, I got what some might say was a message. I was in a Facebook group (for fans of a clothing brand) where I happened to mention I was organizing my mother's quilting stuff that day, and someone randomly posted if I had ever made a quilt out of this brand item. It immediately made me flashback and think of the T-shirt quilts! No, I had not, but now I had a challenge to meet.

Well, I can certainly sew, and soon a top of the brand likeness was completed. But I could not get in contact with my mom's friend or anyone to do long-arm quilting! Luckily, we now have the internet, and so began the journey of learning first how to use my mom's machine, cleaning it, and learning to do free-motion quilting. With that quilt challenge completed, I was now hooked on finishing many of the unfinished projects I had found, several of which were my mom's. It would also pass the time and use up the fabric we had.

I started free motion quilting, trying to just do a loop meandering pattern, but I am not good at consistent spacing, so I next tried a paper overlay pattern. This gave me better results, but it was too bulky and so messy. I then found the chalk stencil and pounce pad, and this has been the easiest method.

I'm still very new at this quilting, so I'm exploring with easy continuous line designs and learning how to get comfortable with using a domestic machine. Starting out, there have been a few mistakes. Now I see improvement in each quilt! When you see quilts with intricate quilting, they are beautiful but can also be intimidating for a newbie. Beginners have to just remember that everyone started out once as a new novice and made mistakes too! Don't be afraid to just start. And yes... it's actually possible for unfinished projects to get finished and leftover scrap pieces to be used up!

So true, Rebecca! You are an inspiration with your never-give-up attitude. It's amazing how much finishing just one quilt improves skills. Thank you for sharing your quilts and story and congratulations on winning our drawing!