Story from Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Karen Montgomery is good at piecing things together -- in more ways than one.
Mrs. Montgomery, of Hampton, is owner of The Quilt Co. Inc. and is one of many quilting fabric designers, pattern designer, writer, teacher and marketer.
This week, she'll have an active role at the International Quilt Market, a trade show at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown. She'll teach workshops, help to market the fabric she designs and her own line of patterns, and welcome many of those attending the market to her shop in Hampton.
Mrs. Montgomery, 51, has owned The Quilt Co. for 15 years, but she has been sewing a lot longer than that. "I think I've sewn forever," she said. "My mom was an excellent seamstress and taught me."
She learned other crafts in her various jobs, which included working as a regional coordinator for Leewards craft store. One of those crafts was quilting.
"I learned a lot of crafts, but quilting was something I loved right away and knew I would want to do it forever," she said.
The plan to open her shop began when the family was living in New Hampshire and the company her husband, Cary, worked for wanted to transfer them to south central Los Angeles.
"We knew that we didn't want to move our family there," said Mrs. Montgomery, a native of Hampton. "He said that maybe it was a good time to move back home and open the quilting store that I kept talking about."
So, they moved back to Hampton and she opened the store in December 1993. Over the past 15 years, the shop has become one of the largest quilting stores in Western Pennsylvania, and she has built an international reputation in the quilting world.
The store stocks thousands of quilting fabrics, patterns, books and supplies and offers dozens of classes.
Mrs. Montgomery has published her own line of quilting patterns and quilting books.
"Basically, I create the pattern, and then write the directions to complete the projects," she said.
She also designs fabrics for the company, Timeless Treasures, and helps to market the products for it.
Mrs. Montgomery is a frequent contributor to quilting magazines, including a column in the Fab Shop News, a trade publication. Her designs have been featured in several quilting magazines.
At The Quilt Co., Mrs. Montgomery and her staff of 12 part-timers offer numerous quilting classes, including Block-of-the-Month, which students join for $5. At the first gathering, they learn how to create a block to complete for the next month, then get the supplies for the next block free, as long as they have done their homework and attend class. "We also do a charity event. We are currently making 50 quilts for Bethlehem Haven," she said.
The international market this week is one of two held each year in the United States. It is a trade show and is not open to the public but will draw quilters from all over the world, said Mrs. Montgomery, who has attended 32 such markets.
"This is where we go to buy books, materials, and quilting patterns and to take classes and learn new things to take back to our consumers," she said.
The organizers of the market this year will offer field trips to Lancaster, home to Amish quilters. "Then they will visit three shops in our area, and ours in one of them," Mrs. Montgomery said.
At the market, Mrs. Montgomery will represent both Timeless Treasures and the Quilt Co. and teach a few classes.
"I will give a lecture on buying -- what kinds of questions the owners should ask themselves before they buy fabrics for their shops. For some of them, this will be the first market place and they are like kids in a candy store," she said.
Her new collection for Timeless Treasures will be also be introduced at the market.
