When Jody Whalen took up quilting as a hobby 10 years ago, she had no idea it would eventually become her life. The Olalla resident now makes quilts for a living, enters them in contests and is a member of several quilt guilds. She’s also the president of the Gig Harbor Quilt Festival.
“I started out with basic technique classes, then started buying fabric and going nuts,” Whalen said. “It takes over your life. It’s an obsession.”
Whalen said her boyfriend joked that she stored so much fabric on one side of the house that the house was lopsided.
She got a special surprise last month when she entered a piece in the National Quilting Association, Inc.’s 40th Annual Quilt Show in Columbus, Ohio. When she was mailed back the package from the competition, there was a ribbon in it — a Judge’s Recognition Award from one of the show’s three judges, Andi Perejda.
“I’m sure they made an announcement sometime in Ohio, but I didn’t know about it until I got the quilt back,” Whalen said. “It was really a surprise.”
Each judge is allowed to pick two favorites out of about 400 entries. Whalen’s piece, “Serenity,” fashioned after a watercolor painting of horses, was one of Perejda’s choices.
“I’ve got first- and second-place awards in local shows, but this was a national show,” Whalen said. “It’s quite an honor to have a big-time judge like your quilt. She had a lot of good things to say about it.”
In a pamphlet listing the winners, Perejda described “Serenity” as “very painterly,” and added, “The barbed wire and birds are expertly created.”
One of Whalen’s quilts, “Olalla Berries,” is part of a traveling exhibit with the Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters called “Living Color.”
A couple years ago, Whalen set up a quilt design studio in her home with the help of a 12-foot Gammill long arm quilting machine that takes up the length of the room.
“I decided I did it so much, I turned it into a business,” she said. “The rollers for the machine had to be brought in through the window.”
She makes custom quilts for clients and is currently working on establishing a client base. She buys her fabric from a Seattle company called “The Warm Company.”
“I’ll get the fabric, do the quilting and binding,” she said. “Whatever they want. I can make quilts for the home, shows or wearables.”
A former teacher, Whalen is sharing her knowledge of the craft during classes. For more information, visit www.olallaberryfarm.com.
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