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Jenny and her award winning quilt. |
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About Me |
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Here is my story of my sewing life and how I became bit by the ‘Quilting Bug’. It’s a little long and if you don’t want to read it by all means pass it by! It is a silly story but then I am a little silly anyway!
Hello everyone!
My name is Jenny Schlutz and I have been sewing since I was a little girl. My Mom (Norma Jean Miller) and Gramma Anna Mix (Mom’s Mom) sewed all their lives too. So that is where I inherited my love of sewing and homemaking. Their homes were very important to them and housework was always done first before sewing on a project. They both did lots of canning of produce and meats and anything they could get their hands on and I find myself doing the same things. I don’t remember my Gramma Mix sewing but remember my Mom always seemed to have projects in the works when not working outside of her home. |
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My earliest memories of projects were knitting with a small round knitter that made tubes that could be a mile long depending on how much yarn I had. I remember that I wanted to make a doggy sweater for our little dog Cookie. The yarn I had was soft and sparkly and I was thrilled to make those long tubes of a future dog sweater. Well needless to say the project never went any further than knitting the tubes, but I sure had fun. Mom also showed me how to embroider. I got little kits at the local Ben Franklin and was thrilled if anyone gave their old UFO’s not completed. (That love of finishing others UFOs still goes on today in my quilting world!) I was taught by Mom and her sister Lucy to crochet doilies. Now that was so easy and it kept me out of trouble. That was one thing I loved to do. Could never read the directions on the patterns but I could look at the picture and be able make the exact doilies! There were so many colors out there to use! In my later years for my Mom and Dad’s 25th wedding anniversary I crocheted them a table cover that was eight foot across for their new oak kitchen table. It was not an easy feat as at that time I was newly divorced and working fulltime and had a daughter to take care of. It took me a good year to make. My only regret is that I never got a picture of it on the table. I know that Mom shortened it at one time to make it more manageable to use. It still looked pretty neat. I also remember very well getting scraps of fabrics, buttons and thread that Mom could spare and sitting with my best friend Kathy and making clothes for our Barbie dolls. Her Mom didn’t sew so she improvised by taking her Brother’s shirts unbeknownst to him for fabric. She had a harder time making pants for Ken. So she would just put skirts on him! We traded fabric and buttons. This also was probably the first time that I ever swapped fabrics. As I grew up I took Home Ec in school every year through graduation. I experimented with lots of patterns. My hardest project was making a bikini in lime green in my Junior year(I was skinny back then)! Those spaghetti straps were the pits and took several sittings to get them turned right side out! I got an ‘A’ for effort because the teacher knew how I was struggling for days and refused to give up, the project only deserved a ‘C’. I never again made anything like that. As I moved on in life and married for the first time and had our daughter Kari, I continued to sew on my Gramma Mix’s Singer sewing machine that my Mom gave me. This machine is so old it only sews in one speed and has no reverse. But I have to tell you it sewed like a dream and I didn’t care if it didn’t have reverse. I still have this machine in the original case. I made lots of clothes for my pregnancy and for my daughter when she was born. As things do, my life changed and after a few years a divorce was imminent, I stopped making clothes for her and I and went to work full time. Have no fear I didn’t stop sewing completely. I still made pillows and table runners with embroidery kits and I loved to crochet. I did try to make a couple of sun dresses for Kari and made a dress out of the stretchiest fabric I ever worked with for a friend. That fabric for the dress was so ugly I could hardly stand sewing it. She was worth it though. Then a few more years passed and my life changed again. I met my Soul Mate Steve. He was the kind of guy who wanted a stay at home wife and Mother. I worked until just a week before I had our child Bob. Well after all the hoopla of new baby in the house my machine came out again to make sleepers and little outfits for him. And of course I was back to making Kari some simple short outfits and sun-dresses. This was also the time that Mom and I started a Crafting Business. We would make crafts all year long and then have an ‘Annual Craft Sale’ in the last week of October at her home using her basement as a store. Then with another baby on the way, it was time to move to a larger house. This house has no basement but had more rooms and they are larger than what we had been living in these past 7 years. I felt like I had moved into a mansion! Not much sewing went on during this time before daughter Jessie was born. There were too many other things that needed attention. Getting new home in order and putting in new garden and all the kid’s activities there just wasn’t time. So I made what crafts I could sitting at my kitchen table. The crafts continued for 6 more years. Our oldest daughter Kari reaching the age of middle school no longer wanted me to make clothes for her! Imagine that! I understood and really did stop making clothes for any of us. Just did the crafts and was having a ball with that! When Jessie started kindergarten I wanted a part time job. I missed people! Against my hubby’s wishes I went to work part time at ‘what else’ a Ben Franklin! This was probably not the best choice as I was surrounded by crafty things and fabric! Well I didn’t have much of a pay check but I sure had a lot of fun. I also was just getting into counted cross stitching big time. After 2 ½ years of that my hubby really wanted me to be at home. I gave it thought and at that time I noticed that Mom was doing something different! She had quilt magazines laying around and was talking about quilts to me. I listened politely but thought to myself that I will never make a quilt! They take too long! What was she thinking! As the days passed into weeks I noticed one day that she had the most beautiful fabric on her counter top. The prints were calicos of navy blue, medium blue, mauve and white print. The next time I came over the fabrics were cut into strips. I was curious as to what she was making. She said a ‘Rail Fence’. I said ‘Oh’. Then I didn’t see it for a bit and the next time I saw the quilt top. I must say it was really pretty. But we had our next Craft Sale coming up and I was into those crafts! Little did I know that Mom was struggling to make crafts too but had been bitten by the quilt bug and was working hard to get her quilt done and crafts at the same time and not really liking the crafts anymore. She kept talking about quilt stories she had read and kept those magazines in my line of vision. Well later after the sale she had her Rail Fence done. When I saw it for the first time hand quilted it looked so different! I picked it up to look at I fell in love with it immediately. Just the feel of the quilting in the quilt not to mention the colors had really done me in. Not to make quilts mind you, but I was learning a new appreciation for them. So every time I visited and was near this quilt I wanted to wrap up in it and whisked it off ‘a quilt rack’ that suddenly appeared (why would Mom need that thing?) and just hug it! It was about 6 months later that she gave it to me. I was absolutely thrilled. Not knowing any better at that time I used it for years not realizing the wear and tear it was getting and exposure to the sun. That quilt now is safe and sound and even though worn it is labeled as Mom’s first quilt and when she made it and is safely placed where I can see every day in my bedroom. Mom also was experimenting in appliqué. She had made up 30 Pansies blocks that were so cute and had gotten out of an old quilt magazine. I always oohhedd and aaahhhedd over those blocks as she completed them. She tucked them away for some reason. I didn’t know it at the time as I know full well now that she had other quilts to get going and would eventually get back to the Pansies! Yup! That’s how us quilter are! Then all of a sudden there was a Quilt Show that was going on at the Armory in Mason City 1990. Mom asked me to go. I didn’t want to go to some old quilt show! I was still crafting! Reluctantly she dragged me along as one of the girls I worked with at Ben Franklin was showing a quilt and I felt I should go see it at least…. The quilt show was being put on by the North Iowa Quilters Guild of Mason City, Iowa. We entered and Mom immediately wanted to go to vendors. Mom was looking for a particular ruler! I sauntered along and saw all these quilting tools and things that meant little to me. I hadn’t even really looked at quilts yet. When Mom found all the ‘quilt things’ she needed we then turned our attention to the quilts. The first quilt I saw was by Bobbie Meggars. It was a wedding quilt for her son and new wife. It was stunning and hand quilted by her. I of course went bonkers over it and was handling it and flipping it around to see the back and really inspecting all the beautiful details of the quilt. We moved on to the next quilt and I lost my cookies again. I handled I am sure to the horror of the Hostesses, every single quilt there! I was oohhing and aahhing and so excited about every single quilt I saw and touched! My Mom of course was so thrilled for me. She knew that the ‘Quilting Bug’ had bitten me and was never going to let go! That moment was the end of crafts! We had to go through the quilts one more time. By now I think the Hostesses understood that I couldn’t be stopped and didn’t want to try and stop me and knew another quilter had just been born so let me go at it! Strange I do remember all these ladies smiling at me. They must have seen the ‘Quilt Bug’ hovering over to me. Needless to say on the way out the door we both turned around and there was as big as day, a huge sign that said ‘PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE QUILTS’. It was then that I realized I mowed over every single quilt there and was probably in trouble! But I saw no mad faces only happy quilty ones! Being close to a fabric store, Mom and I went immediately to Jo Ann’s Fabric and I bought my first cutting board, rotary cutter, 2 rulers and half the store’s fabric, a couple of pattern books and magazines and Mom’s quilt magazines were in trouble of being confiscated soon! The Pansies Blocks came my way. I made them up just as fast as I could and it now hangs in my bedroom. We soon joined the North Iowa Quilters Guild that meets once a month and puts on a bi annual quilt show. Now on my 16th year as a member I am heavily dedicated and involved in our Guild. I serve and have served on different committees through out the years and am now the Newsletter Editor for the last 8 years. This is one thing I absolutely love is creating the newsletter for all members to enjoy. I am still learning every day and need to share it with all. I currently am sharing the pattern committee with my good friend Sue Hansen. We are having a ball to be planning our next years projects! After joining the Guild I soon discovered that the Guild has a chance to sell their wares once a year at our local downtown mall free of charge. Well upon loving to make little quilts and lots of them, I have sold hundreds and hundreds of little and big quilts over the years. One thing I really like doing is improvising the patterns to make them more my own. Lot of times I just made up my own pattern to suit me. This has taught me a lot. I feel I know what the buyer wants and have a blast creating. This also meant that I had to get a better machine to accommodate the changes in my sewing. After buying an old used ‘something or other turquoise machine’ and wearing it out literally, I finally invested in Elna in ‘95. When I graduated from that machine and needed something with a little more in it I bought the Pro Quilters Dream Elna this past March. What a great machine for me! It is larger and I still am learning the stitches! I have learned so much from our wonderful members and from all our workshops and programs. Our Guild celebrating 26years, has donated over a 1000 quilts in total to charities in our area and South America. We have donated about 700 to the ABC foundation (Babies in Need), 175 to the Linus Project (youth to adult), 50 quilts to Crisis for Intervention (Families in Crisis), 45 quilts to Northern Lights (Men in transition), 24 Habitat quilts to Habitat for Humanity and 90 quilts to Wrap a Smile program (these quilts go to South America for children born with cleft palates and are shunned by society). We also have donated over 40 wheel chair quilts, 25 knitted caps and mittens to our military men and women at the Fisher House Military Hospital. We have donated numerous quilts to families in need in our surrounding area. A project in our Guild we have created recently is ‘Comfort Quilts’ that are given to our members or member’s families on a needed basis. After all we have to take care of our friends when they need us. Now after all this said the next project in my life is a Pattern Company. I don’t want to be famous or anything like that. I just want to share all these ideas that keep bouncing around in my head with other of like mind. Maybe I can come up with something that makes someone’s day. That is rich enough for me! So here it is: Jenny Penny Designs! The name came from my youth. My Gramma Rowe used to call me Jenny Penny when I was a child. I always liked it when she called me that nickname. My brothers, cousins and I spent a lot of time year round on their farm enjoying mini vacations. So, after many years and the last seriously thinking about starting a pattern company the name Jenny Penny Designs seemed a natural title. I have so many ideas ready to burst out of my head that I wish I didn’t have to sleep. My friend Kelsey is going to publish the patterns and keep my website up and running. She is very knowledgeable in the field and will be a great asset to me. We also are good friends and like to do things together. Another good thing that has happened in my world is that Bob graduated UNI, landed a job immediately and moved to Des Moines. That meant ‘AN EMPTY BEDROOM’. With new carpet and painted walls and new window dressings Jessie moved into that room. She wanted a fresh new room. Well no complaints from me. Her old room has 2 windows! More lighting for me! With much cleaning and painting and buying what I think I need for a sewing room I finally moved into Jess’s old room this past week. I have moved the tables 3 times now to make sure I am happy and can utilize the space in the best manor. My Step father is making me quilt hangers for every wall so that I can hang quilts of course and have a place for flannel to play with blocks to be put together at my leisure. Another great thing is that I can leave my machine up and projects out instead of packing them away all the time and to use the kitchen table for what it is really meant for. Most people have pictures of the families or sceneries on their walls. Not my house. If there is a space there is a quilt hanging in it. I did have to leave up the living room clock. It was a gift from friends that has our wedding date on it and it is pretty….but a quilt would look so good there! The furniture is laden with quilts! I have 2 quilt racks and need another. The beds are covered and had to get pretty shelves to stack more quilts! The only room doesn’t have a quilt is the bathroom. Too moist in there to safely hang a quilt. My friend Kelsey and I recently joined another Guild in Clear Lake. This one is called Clear Lake Area Quilters. We are just now getting to know members. This group is planning a quilt show next spring. We are seriously thinking of vending the show even though we have never done this before. Kelsey is into making Quilted Postcards and sells them as kits or made up. She is very talented and I think we compliment each other in the quilting world. Well now you know a little bit about me. I hope you haven’t been bored beyond tears. I plan on writing as time lets me for this website. Please feel free to comment or send pictures of your quilts that you have made from my patterns. Patterns will be posted as soon as they are ready. If not for family functions I would be sewing 24/7. So please bear with me as new things are added for your leisure.
Patterns can be ordered soon by sending check or money order to: Jenny Schlutz Jenny Penny Designs 1468 2nd S E Mason City, Iowa 50401
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