Story from the Spectrum
Most of us measure time in minutes and hours, but St. George resident Marilyn Badger thinks in bobbins and threads. Her creative ability to mix colors, textures and designs gives birth to exquisite works of art.
Her medium: fabric.
Badger is known as a "master quilter" to some and by others, "quilter extraordinaire."
"Quilting started as a hobby and turned into a full-time job," Badger said.
Badger has been featured in many magazine and newspaper articles, won numerous awards from competitive quilting shows with ribbons that wallpaper her workroom wall, and regularly appears on various quilting shows. Originally from Memphis, Tenn., Badger has a past as interesting and colorful as one of her quilts. The beginning of her quilting story actually starts with her grandmother.
"My mother was into crocheting and sewing clothes," Badger said. "My grandmother (quilted), and I've since learned that it sometimes skips a generation like that. My grandmother made me a quilt when she was 90, and it was her last quilt she did. It was all hand-pieced and hand-quilted."
In the late '70s, Marilyn lived with her husband Hartley Badger on a boat at Marina Del Ray, Calif. Her husband's employment as an engineer with Pacific Telephone necessitated boat trips to Canada, Mexico or the East Coast that could last up to six months. With limited space available, she began hand piecing quilt tops as a hobby that took up little room on board.
After 15 years of life on a boat, they settled in Southern Oregon, and her husband built Badger's first sewing room. With the intention of providing a little income, Badger purchased her first longarm quilting machine in 1991. It could only do vertical and horizontal stitching.
A longarm consists of a movable, hand-guided sewing machine arm which can stitch through the quilt top, batting and quilt back with less time than hand quilting.
That first year Badger made 300 quilts for people and paid for her machine in six months. Five years later and wanting to do more, she asked her husband to create something to help her do diagonal and circular stitching directly to quilting fabrics.With his background in engineering, he invented the "Hartley Fence," an accessory to enhance longarm quilting.
Then he suggested she send pictures of her unique longarm quilt - on which she used the Hartley Fence to stitch diagonal patterns - to Jeff Jochims, president of American Professional Quilting Systems, the manufacturer of the longarm machine. That led to the offer of working at a quilt show in Portland, Ore.
She agreed and brought quilts to display. It was the beginning of a new direction for the couple.
"I took that quilt, and it got a lot of attention from the industry," Badger said. "The owner of the APQS company called me afterwards and said, "'FedEx that quilt to me right away because Traditional Quiltworks Magazine wants it for their cover.' He told me it was the first time a longarm quilt had ever been featured on the cover. It was really big news."
Jochims also invited her to appear on a PBS show called "Love of Quilting: with Fonz and Porter." She began participating in competitive quilt shows, teaching quilting classes and her husband started a business line of accessories for long arm quilting. His latest innovation is called "Micro Drive."
In 2003, after hearing about St. George, the Badgers visited and decided to relocate to St. George. They bought a lot at SunRiver that same visit.
They love to golf, and she continues her passion for quilting. She is also a welcome addition to the local Dixie Quilt Guild.
Margaret Miller, co-chair of the Festival of Fabric Arts show said they are fortunate to have Badger.
"In spite of her international exposure, Marilyn is so gracious in sharing her talent and encouraging beginner quilters," Miller said.
She said the public can view Badger's work at the festival this weekend. It will showcase more than 250 quilts, 89 of which are submitted for judging. Sally Hatfield, a National Quilter Association Certified judge from Arizona will oversee the judging and also present a trunk show/lecture on Friday at 1 p.m. in the Entrada Room.
The festival exhibit will include 14 of Badger's prize winning quilts and six garments - "wearable art" - also created by her.