Younger minds may think it’s a lost art, but Kimberly McKeough says quilting is far from dying out.

“My mother taught me how to hand sew,” Kimberly says. “I had Barbie dolls and made doll clothes for them.”

Kimberly took home economics courses throughout middle and high school, including an advanced sewing class where she discovered quilts.

“There were 12 of us in the advanced class and we had to work on a final project at home,” she says. “It had to be at least 15 hours of work and at the end of the year we modeled or presented our projects. I though I was so clever doing a bathing suit because it was almost summer. I made a cover up and reversible hat to go with it.”

A girl in Kimberly’s class chose to do a quilt for her project, and the class was in awe.

“It was the most unique project — very simple, but ambitious,” she says.

Kimberly wanted to try her hand at quilting. Her first project was a patchwork skirt at the end of her senior year.

She studied interior design in college, and at her first internship, she noticed all of the previous season’s fabric swatches were being tossed out.

“Most of the fabrics had the same pattern in different colors,” Kimberly says. “I thought they would all look good as a quilt. The studio was just throwing them out, and that’s when I started making simple — nine-patch quilts.”

Not long after, Kimberly began making bed-sized quilts.

Kimberly has always had a sewing closet — and now room — in her home.

“All of my cut fabrics are organized by color,” she says. “I have fabrics I’ve had for 40 years. It has to be a really small piece before I’ll actually throw the fabric away. I’ll even work in miniatures because many fabrics, once they are sold, may not print them anymore. Fabrics were my favorite part of design in college.”

When Kimberly’s family lived in Louisiana, she had a quilt shop. She admits it is hard to compete with the “big box” stores’ ready-made quilts.

“Although their quilts are ready made, mine are all made by me,” she says. “This is something you can’t buy from a mass market. This has sentimental value.”

Kimberly now does quilts on commission and will teach her first quilting workshop at the Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope on Nov. 5 and 6.

“I wanted to call my business Keepsake Quilting, so someone can use anything to make a memory into a quilt,” Kimberly says. “You can make quilts out of children’s T-shirts, sorority T-shirts, Dad’s or Grandpa’s neckties and ever handkerchiefs. Quilts can be made out of just about anything.”

Kimberly has made quilts for anniversaries, mission trips, music festivals and more. She made a quilt for a couple’s 40^th anniversary; all of the children and grandchildren traced their hand and gave it to Kimberly with their name. She cut out and stitched all of the hands in separate blocks on the quilt with their names.

Even if you have a few memorable items of fabric or neckties or handkerchiefs, Kimberly reminds her customers quilts don’t have to be full size bed quilt. If you have something small or a few shirts, Kimberly can make a lap quilt or a small quilt to hang on a wall. The possibilities are endless.

DID YOU KNOW…?

Kimberly’s quilts have been featured on the cover and inside of Quik Quilts and in “Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts.”

UPCOMING DATES

Nov. 5 – 6; 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Keepsake Quilting workshop

Eastern Shore Art Center

Oct. 4; all day

Trunk show

4 Bags, Fairhope

PEOPLE PROFILE

NAME: Kimberly McKeough

BUSINESS: Keepsake Quilting

NUMBER: 251-214-5449

EMAIL: KimberlyMcQ@bellsouth.net