Today we’d like to introduce you to Lorrie Davis-Sonnek owner of Inspiration Quilting Studio.
Hi Lorrie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started quilting by hand over 30 years ago as a means to work through a profound loss. I found the rhythm and cadence of rocking the needle through the fabric to be prayerful and healing. Soon thereafter, the color work of quilting caught my imagination. My interest in piecing quilts outpaced hand stitching, so I learned how to use a sewing machine. Quilting became my primary creative outlet. I made and gifted quilts to family and friends as an expression of love.
When I retired from my first career in the judicial system, I worked for three years in two different quilt shops making store samples, helping customers curate fabrics for their projects and matching a customer’s sewing interests to the right machine for them. During this time my husband and I moved into a different house, one with a large studio space. Although I loved retail sales, our move birthed the idea to buy an industrial-sized sewing machine with computer-generated stitching, called a longarm, and open a business doing longarm quilting for customers.
Four years ago, I retired from retail sales and opened my home-based business, Inspiration Quilting Studio. To date, I have happily longarmed over 500 quilts for customers.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My first challenge was to become technologically literate. Having grown up in the pre-computer era, “computer speak” was not my first language. There was so much I did not know about working on a Mac computer that I had to learn in order to become proficient at digitized quilting. But the biggest obstacle was overcoming my fear that if I made a mistake, I would ruin my expensive machine. I am happy to say that despite my initial fumbling, nothing catastrophic happened and I now think of mistakes as learning opportunities.
A second challenge was making a hobby into a sustainable business. When I started out, I quilted charity quilts for free and offered my services to friends at a lower rate than market value. I learned that to be a business and receive the tax benefits of such, I needed to raise my prices.
A third challenge is learning new sewing skills such as garment and bag making so that I can create samples to demonstrate to customers that quilted fabric can be used for more than a bed covering.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Longarm quilting is a process by which the three layers of a quilt are stitched together using a large neck industrial sized sewing machine called a longarm. I offer personalized computer-generated stitching using edge-to-edge quilting designs. This means that the stitching is not area specific but rather goes across the entire quilt top. I have hundreds of quilting designs in my digital library to choose from. I am especially talented in “reading” a quilt top and recommending the best design to enhance the quilt.
My goal is to provide the extraordinary finish that every quilt deserves. To that end I adjust the size of the design to best complement the customers pieced blocks.
It is an honor and privilege to quilt for customers. As an experienced piecer myself, I know that every quilt brought to me is created as a labor of love; therefore, every quilt and quilter is important to me. I communicate well with my customers, involving them in decisions about the quilting process; I keep them informed via pictures and text messages as the quilt is being finished for them.
What makes you happy?
Sunshine, color and personal connection make me happy. I call my studio my happy place because in my studio I experience all of these elements.
My studio space has windows on all sides so I have a lot of natural light. I am an early riser and often watch the sunrise from my studio windows and sometimes catch the sunset as well.
My studio walls display my colorful creations plus every customer quilt brings color into the studio. Color energizes me.
My greatest happiness is the personal connections I make when customers become friends and friends become customers. It is a joy to collaborate with a quilt maker and to finish their quilt in a way that showcases and honors their work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.inspirationquiltingstudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorriedavissonnek
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inspirationquiltingstudio
Image Credits
Lorrie Davis-Sonnek
