Meet Kelly Pederson Hanson

Hi, I'm Aurora and I'm here today with Kelly Peterson Hanson. And we're going to talk a little bit all about quilting. So tell me a little bit about yourself, Kelly. Oh, there's so much to tell Aurora. I have a wonderfully supportive husband.

I have five children and four grandchildren with a fifth on the way. I have three cats, three dogs and two horses. And I live in Duluth, Minnesota and I have my own little business in my home. I have a quilting studio and a Longarm business. Awesome.That's Wonderful.

So how did you get into the quilting? The quilting , it's actually an interesting story. My aunt was a quilter and she had become terribly ill with cancer and I'd watch her as she would hansel these quilts. And right after she passed away my uncle had brought a dumpster to the house and I drove up to watch him bringing her sewing machine and all of her quilting supplies and the quilt that I'd watched her work on to throw in the dumpster. So I asked him if I could have them and he gave them to me and I brought them home, not knowing what I was gonna do with them because I had never quilted before.

And I just stuffed them away. Well, then we can jump head about six months and I had a grandson that was going to be born and his mom was having problems during her delivery. And I just couldn't settle myself. So I looked at all of the supplies, and I thought, you know, how hard can it be? So my very first quilt I made that night and I did applicate it with a sunbonnet, but the little boy.

Yeah. And I applicate his name across the top and I used a five eighth seam allowance. Right. Because I wasn't a quilter. I had sewn a little bit in my past.

I'd been a seamstress, but no, it was, it was kind of funny. And so ever since it's been almost therapy for me. Yeah, absolutely. I understand that. So it sounds like you've had a little bit of prior experience with sewing.

Tell me a little bit about your prior sewing experience before quilting came along. Well, I took sewing all through high school and junior high and it was seventh grade. I remember our instructor came up to us and told us that we needed to go out and buy denim material because we were going to make banana pants. And that's probably way before your time. But we also call them hashed jeans.

They were like very tight around your hip. And then they flared out, well I went and took her very literally. And when I went to the little fabric store they didn't have a lot of quilt shops around then or fabric stores. They had the general chains and it was a little chain that we had up in that area. I went and I looked for denim fabric that had bananas on them.

Oh my. Yes. And I ended up sewing these together and they turned out wonderfully. And then I found out we had to wear them to school. Oh gosh.

Yeah. So I was a little embarrassed to wear them. Did you wear them? I did, I had to wear them because that part of our grade. Right.

But yeah, that was my earliest experience with sewing. That's too funny. So you've turned it, it seems like you've turned your experience into, you know almost a business, like a small business. So tell me what you're doing with that now on a daily basis On a daily basis, I have customers coming in and I give lessons, I charge them hourly rates. I also will do some consignments where people will come to me and they'll ask me to do a special piece for them.

Or one thing that I've really enjoyed is I do a lot of memory quilts. I will take in quilts from people who have passed away and their loved ones will be able to finally hand them over to me. It could be two to three years after their passing and I will put those together or T-shirt quilts for graduations and wedding quilts. So that's kind of one of the specialties I do. Right.

But I do everything. Right. Do you feel that that is a rewarding aspect of doing the quilting? I actually do, because it's so rewarding when you give that back to an individual and you see the tears well up in their eye and you know that you've comforted them somehow. Yeah.

That's amazing to be a part of that. That's pretty special. It is. Yeah. What is the oddest or your most favorite commission that you did for somebody or project that you helped somebody with?

You know, some kind of a, you know very small pieces or, you know, a lot of angles. Oh my goodness. That one is really difficult. Okay. I know exactly.

It happens to be a T-shirt quilt. And it was a very dear friend of mine whose son had passed away and it was suddenly, and she was, she was just heartbroken and devastated as we all would be if it was our child. And the only thing I could think of to comfort her was to make her this quilt but I didn't really know how I was going to do it. So I asked her for pictures and what I did was I used, he had a tuxedo and I used it as a slideshow around the quilt and I put pictures of his life. And so it's told a story of his life and then inside were all of his T-shirts and any clothing.

I remember we actually had a pair of boxer shorts that he had had. That he had, the picture was on the quilt of him dancing on the table with these boxer shorts on. He had been given them at Christmas. They were over his sweat pants. Oh it's too funny.

But yeah, I, that was something that was really that has just really stayed with my heart. Probably my most special quilt that I've ever given out other than the ones that I've made for my family for my dad when he passed away. Right. Right. So it sounds like you get to take a lot of your own creativity, you know and try to invent these things to give to people.

Yes. But have you had any have you incorporated any kind of formal training into that? Oh, yes. When I started quilting it was 10 years ago when Jeremiah was born. And what I did was from that day forward decided that I really enjoyed quilting.

So I took classes for the first two and a half years, every single day. Wow. And I would find places in Minnesota where I could find them to teach me. I would go down to White Bear Lake. I would find different, the Quilters Cove.

There are different quilt shops all through the Midwest. And then I decided, okay, now we're doing the same thing. So I started traveling and I'd go to San Diego. And I went to Texas and I went to California and I went to Florida and I went to New York and I just kept taking more and more classes. And then as I started taking more and more classes I thought, you know, there's always something more to learn.

So then I also started to go on to quilt shows and meeting very, very well known quilters who were just wonderful, that, you know helped me along the way. That's amazing. Do you feel like quilting has changed your life in any way? I think it has. It's given me a sense of peace.

I used to be really obsessive compulsive and I was kind of a control freak. It's kind of hard to do that when you're quilting because there are a lot of unknowns True. And especially when you're doing something for someone else because you're not in control. They are. One thing that I often would do is I would take pictures of my design board and I would text them to the customer and they would let me know what they liked and what they didn't like.

And then I would rearrange it. And then I would take a text, a picture and text it to the customer. And that's kind of helped me out a little bit because it gives me a little bit more control, but I've, I've learned to sit back and relax a little bit. Right. Which is something that I was never ever a very good at doing.

Right. Five children. You were always running. There was always something to be done. Always something.

Give me a little insight into your design process. When you get an idea to make a quilt how do you put it from an idea into your head into being? What are some of the key steps that you hit upon? Well, something that I do, if I'm if it's a T-shirt quilt, for instance what I'll do first is I will cut all of my T-shirts to a 16 inch square size and I'll put them up on my design board. Doesn't mean that they're going to be 16 square inches.

It might mean that I cut them in half or I piece them, or, you know, there's always an element and I'll start rearranging them on my quote wall. So I see how the, the colors flow because I want them to flow. I don't want there to be like a a section of red and then a section of blue. And so it's divided, I want it to flow. So it becomes one.

If it's a quilt that I'm just choosing fabrics the first thing I'll do is I'll go and I'll find my fabrics. And a lot of people will go first and find their pattern. And I'll just pick out a lot of fabrics that I like. And then I go and find my pattern. And then I weed out the fabrics that are my less desirable ones.

Right. And then I'll cut little swatches and I'll take and this is kind of funny. I'll take a picture of just one of the blocks and I'll put it on my computer and print out a whole bunch of them. And then I'll go and I'll cut a piece of my fabric and I'll lay it in that block or I'll lay the fabric right on my printer. And I'll print that out and I'll cut it to the size of the block so that way and I'll start organizing on my wall.

Yeah. The papers that I have out to see what I like. That's great. Yeah. It works better than coloring because I get the actual effect.

Right. But I also have all of the different computerized design programs but sometimes they take too long because you've got to try to download the fabric. And this is just such an easier way for me to do it. And for me to show other people. Right.

Because it's actual size too. Yeah. Absolutely. Being a fabric store owner, I get to see a lot of people come in and go through the process of trying to choose their fabrics. Do you know which fabrics you want before you go to a quilt store to pick them out?

Or how, how long do you spend in a quilt store? Are you there for hours? That's kind of my process. I take forever to pick. It depends because I have got a small quilt store in my home.

I use it for my customers, but I've got I've got about, about, I would say 500 bolts of fabric. Wow. In my home. And I will go through and look through those and find those first and then I'll go from there because I just think, you know he who dies with the most fabric still dies. True statement.

Yeah. I don't want my husband to decide that it's time to have the biggest state sale before I'm gone. Right. So yeah. That's too funny.

What's the thing that you like to make the most when you you are quilting for yourself and do you quilt for yourself? Do you get the time to do that? You know, I really don't quilt for myself in that that I never make a quilt for me, but because I have grandchildren, I'm continually making quilts and my children have just, they adore my quilts. There'll be asking for them for every holiday. So yes.

In a sense, yes. I am always quilting for myself. If I do one for my customer, I'll do one for me because I have to get my Christmas lists done. Right. That's true.

Or my birthday list. And my grandson is, Jeremiah is so funny because he'll go into my quilts, my fabrics and he'll start matching them up. He knows what he's going to use for his next quilt. He's gotten really good at choosing his colors. He's 10 years old.

And now my, my six year old granddaughter is doing the same. So I have two quilters on the way out. Yep. That's great. Teaching them how to quilt.

Yep. Getting them addicted early. They are. And the only problem is they will only quilt on this machine. Oh.

Yes. They know which one they like. They know which one they like. Yes. They like ruby.

That is amazing. Yes. And this machine is absolutely gorgeous. Tell me where you came across this machine. It's lovely.

I've always wanted red, ruby red, feather weight. And I had purchased quite a few of them on eBay as many Quilters and Sowers have. And last Christmas I just told my husband that I just my heart was just aching for one. And he said, well, why do you need another one? You've got all these.

And I said, it's like a man with his tools. You have more than one ranch. Yeah. Right. True statement.

True statement. And so I happened to find this individual who lives in Wisconsin by Steven's point. And he was able to do this for me. He actually take, took it all apart and then reassembled it. Wow.

And they're all original parts in it. That's beautiful. And it sows like a gym I have a, I have an older sewing machine. That's not a feather weight. In fact, I I'm not even sure what brand it is cause it's rubbed off.

But my, my great grandmother used to sew costumes for the, the San Francisco Ice Capades on that machine. Yeah. So I feel like in both of our cases it's a thing that you know, runs in the family too. Right. So now any of your kids do have they picked it up?

Did they do any sewing? My daughter, my 18 year old daughter had started when she was about eight years old and she's made about four or five quilts and like some wall organizers and things like that but now she's off to college and it's not cool. So I'm hoping that she'll pick that skill, back up. Right. Absolutely.

Yeah. She, she probably will. I did buy a sewing machine for my older daughter and it sits in her closet. And every time I come down she lets me know what I can sew. And I think one of the last moves that we did for her we had a shower curtain that was too long but we had the girl's room that needed a, a curtain in it.

Right. So I just cut the shower curtain off with my rotary cutter and I made little loops for it. So that way we could put it up early. Perfect. Yeah.

Great. So if you're anything like anything me, sewing kind of is your life. You eat, sleep and breathe it but is there anything else that you like to do? Do you have any other hobbies or? I like to golf.

Oh. I really like to golf. That's difficult. Good for you. Yeah.

I actually had worked at UPROSE shop yeah. That's great. Jack of all trades master of none. Yes. Oh, that's how I am too.

The last time I went golfing, it was with my IT group and I hit the side of a house and I haven't gone golfing again. So I'll stick to hiking. That's that's pretty safe for me. Yes I know. I really enjoy it.

But one of my favorite pastimes really is spending time with my grandchildren. Yeah. That's wonderful. I really enjoy that. And it's, it's just so heartwarming when you see them jump out of their parents' arms to go to me because I like to sugar them up.

Oh yes. Give them lots of caffeine. Absolutely. And then go home. Absolutely.

It's great. Absolutely. Too funny. Have your children and grandchildren affected the way that you quilt? Were you, you know, more into, you know, do you do more simple, you know, more baby quilts?

Do you find now that you've got some grandchildren? No, I don't think that I do. And I don't think that it has it has stopped me in, in doing challenging quilts because most of the older grandchildren 10 and six six-year-old they like more challenging quilts. The younger ones. The one thing that has inspired me is to always back my quilts with Minky when it comes to the children.

Yes. They just enjoy it so much. And I've actually had a couple adults that have said could you put that on the back of mine too? So, yeah that would be the only thing that has changed. Right.

And altering maybe the way that I think and quilt. Right. I know that you do travel around to go to different places or you have an order to learn new techniques. Do you keep up with that? Do you also go to shows to learn about the new fabrics that are out there?

Yes, I do. I do. I'm always looking at the new fabrics and I'm always trying to educate myself. There are lots of because I'm a long-arm culture as long as well. I'm always looking at all the new the styles that are coming out because you have to be aware of that.

I would probably consider myself more of a traditional quilter, but I try everything. One of the things that's really popular right now is the paper piercing. Yeah. It's a Judy Niemeyer pattern. They are, you know, these radiant stars.

They're very intricate. And campuses. Yes. They're very intricate. How, how much time does that take to do something like that?

They say it's not long. I haven't done one of her quilts yet but I have been doing a paper piece quilt. That's called Tales, Amazon. And it's a very large star. And that one I would probably say has taken me about three weeks.

It's okay. Get this. It's a block of the month. Okay. And I'm on block eight and the block of the month was actually over probably a year and a half ago.

But I, I, you know, I'm just thankful that I haven't run into a problem where I've run out of fabric. Cause that, that would be the problem. Right. But I, I am just really enjoying, just doing it at my own pace because I'm so busy with my customers. They tend to come first, which has which has been a little bit difficult because I had a lot of customers come in who wanted their T-shirt quilts done for their kid's graduation.

So my daughter's T-shirt quilt for her graduation this year didn't happen until the day before graduation party. Which was in August. Yes. I have a quilt like that. This coming Saturday is my niece's wedding.

And I have yet to sandwich the three layers together. So I understand that the time is hard to find. Right. How did you convince your husband to let you buy a Longarm? That's what I want to know.

Give us, give us some ammo that we can tell our family members we need this Longarm. I've been working on him for quite some time. And actually my, a friend of mine had owned a Longarm and I had brought a quilt. It was actually the quilt that I was going to give him for our anniversary. It was made out of my father's clothing after he passed away.

And it was really special to him because my father was like his father and I had brought it to my girlfriend to do. And when I got it back I felt kind of bad because I thought, you know I should've done the whole thing I should have. If it was my gift to him, it was special. I should have done the entire thing. So I was driving past of all things.

It was a truck, a truck load sale. And I just whipped this U-turn. And my son was in the car and he said, "Mom, what are you doing?" I said, "Don't worry about it. I got it under control." And with my other hand, I'm dialing my husband, you know, speed dial. And I said, honey, would it be all right if I bought a Longarm and his deal was always, yeah I always said that you should.

But he said, I don't want you buying the bottom of the line. He said by the top of the line and I didn't and I bought like the middle of the road, because I didn't know if it was something I was really going to enjoy. Exactly. I've never met a long-arm quilter who didn't go and end up buying the top of the line within the next year. Right.

So the next year, yes, I went and I had to I sold mine on Craigslist and bought the top of the line. And I just so enjoy that. That is, that adds an extra little touch to people's quilts when they bring them to me, you know, you're. I agree. You just take your time and you plan it out and you look at it and the quilt kind of talk to you.

They let you know what they need. Yeah, absolutely. So one last question for you. What would you tell to beginners who are thinking about getting into quilting but they're a little bit daunted by all of the pieces and things that go in it. What advice do you have them?

My biggest piece of advice would be get into a class, take a class. They're really non-intimidating you get into a beginner quilting class and you're going to be with other beginner quilters. And if you've picked the right instructor you're going to be really pleased because she's going to be supportive and she's going to be your cheerleader. And she's going to show you the right ways to do things. So that way you're not stuck and frustrated when you something comes up and you've you've pressed something open and you see, oh this didn't turn out quite the way I want.

None of my seams are matching up. Right. You'll learn the right way from the beginning. You won't develop those bad habits. Absolutely.

Kelly, it was a pleasure talking with you today. Thank you so much Aurora. Thank you very much for taking the time. And I look forward to working with you in the future. All right.

Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you.