By Iuliana Petre
Killeen Daily Herald

At the start of his free-motion quilting class March 6, Jeremiah Trumble, the manager of Sew and Quilt in Killeen, passed out blank sheets of paper and pens to his students.

Trumble asked each person to grip the pen awkwardly by wrapping his or her palm around the upper-most part of the pen away from the ball point. Holding the pen in that manner, Trumble asked the students to write their names in cursive.

After several tries, Trumble had each person attempt to write his or her name while holding the pen still, moving only the paper beneath it.

What appeared to be a lesson in doodling was actually a lesson in stitching.

The pen imitated the needle of a sewing machine, the paper imitated a piece of fabric, and the exercise gave the students a sense of how little control they have when stitching anything using the stationary needle of a sewing machine.

Later in the class, Trumble passed out pieces of brown fabric and pink thread and asked the students to stitch their names into the fabric using a sewing machine.

"When you're quilting, it's a continuous stitch. You don't stop, kind of like when we kept writing our names in cursive without lifting the pen," said Sandy Mayon, a retired teacher, who attended Trumble's class.

"Quilting isn't easy, but it's also not hard. It just takes time and it's hard to get good at it," Trumble said. "It takes a lot of practice when you can't move the machine and can only move the fabric around the needle."

Trumble also showed his students different techniques like stippling and meandering, which are used for decorative purposes.

As intimidating as it may sound, quilting doesn't have to be hard.

"Quilting can be as easy as sewing together two panels of fabric and putting a border around them," said Chris Laviolette, with Quilters Workshop in Killeen. "Every quilt is made differently. Quilting is a different form of art. There are different stitching techniques, which vary depending on how you want to decorate your quilt. But there aren't (written) rules about it."

Where it gets tough is when quilters use multiple pieces of fabric, which have to be cut and sewn precisely, especially at the points, the corners where pieces of fabric meet.

"When you get to doing points on a quilt, you have to get exact seams and sew them," Laviolette said. "It's hard to line them all up."

But, the challenge is worth it when a first-time quilter completes his or her first project.

"When you finish your quilt and you hold it up and say, 'I did it. I made my own quilt,' it's a wonderful sense of accomplishment," Laviolette said. The hobby can get expensive, but it doesn't have to be. "You can use any piece of fabric for quilting. I saw one once that was made out of old shirts. Your imagination is your only limit."

For those with a competitive edge, there are quilting shows held all over the country.

The Killeen Quilt Guild sponsors a show every other year in Killeen, usually during the month of September.

For more information about the Killeen Quilt Guild, call Nancy Judd at (254) 699-5920.

For more information about the classes offered at Sew and Quilt call the store at (254) 616-2200.

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