Jean Folkes

Ed. note: Jean is the author of Machine Precision Piecing

I live in Hutto, Texas – just north of Austin with my husband and best friend Glenn.  We have been married for 38 years on February 28.  We have three adult children, two are married and one is divorced – they have given us a total of 11 wonderful grandchildren.  The two youngest grandchildren live only 7 miles from us and are 16 months and 2 ½ years old.  The oldest grandchild is 25!

In 1989 I decided to make a quilt for a grandchild.  Well that was the start of a great adventure.  My first quilt won a ribbon for first quilt in a quilt show and that was all the encouragement I needed.  I did take a couple of quilt classes at a quilt shop.  The classes were good but left me with a lot of questions.  I continued to work at making quilts but with a great deal of frustration and a lot of frogging stitches (rip-it).  Over time I have developed my own style and methods that work for me in creating accurate pieced blocks.
After I found the internet and the great email groups that were there I found myself attempting to answer questions and was frustrated by the limitations.  Someone said to me I should put it into a workbook – that was my darling husband.  So I began to put the book Precision Machine Piecing together.  I was able to take a lot of digital pictures to show the actual work in progress to illustrate the directions given in writing.  The book is a work in progress and will only help those that do the exercises in the workbook.  Many that have purchased the book have written to me telling me just how much it helped them with making better more accurate blocks.
I do take occasional classes and enjoy the interaction with others.  I love going to quilt shows and the inspiration is fantastic.  I have recently taken a look and I have so many WIP (Works In Progress) I will need to live forever to complete them all.  I must say I get a laugh out of some of my early efforts but they too are part of my journey.  My favorite type of quilt making is reproducing quilts that could have been made or copies of quilts that were made in the 19th century – especially the samplers with no two blocks alike.  Each block is an adventure and never boring.  This does not mean that this is all I do – I love some of the old one block quilts and the appliqué quilts from the same time period.

I am a well rounded crafty person with little time available for my other loves – some of these include, bobbin lace making, knitting, crochet, tatting, embroidery (hand and machine), needlepoint, oil painting, and bear making.  Most of these crafts are self taught.

I have found that with each craft that I do that the results I achieve have a direct relation to each step in the creating of a piece.

My classes reflect my desire to help quilters to develop a style that is comfortable for them and that allows each person to achieve a standard that makes them feel pleased with what they have accomplished.