Meet Eileen Lovett

East Providence, Rhode Island, USA

All photos courtesy of Eileen Lovett unless otherwise noted.

Written by Karen Griska (Eileen's big sister!!)


Eileen Lovett is an encourager. She sparkles with energy, creativity, enthusiasm, generosity, and a big smile. All of these qualities contribute to who Eileen is as a quilter. Eileen lives in East Providence, Rhode Island with her husband Campbell, minister of Newman Congregational Church, and sons Sam and Nathan, both in high school. 

 

Eileen started quilting at age 30, just before Sam was born. She never had lessons, but had watched Mom sew clothes. Her first quilt was made with green and white 4-inch squares, embellished with iron-on red hearts.

 

Her second quilt was much more challenging: a circular quilt! Machine pieced and hand quilted, it took 6 months to finish, “working all the time.” It was a special gift for her mother-in-law, who displayed it on a special table.

 

Eileen’s quilting life is very people-oriented. She joined a quilting group 17 years ago.

After being a member for a short time, she was asked to be President. She says, “I couldn’t quilt, but I could organize!”  Three years later, they moved to another church and Eileen started a new quilt group. Now in Rhode Island, Eileen leads yet another quilt group at her church.

 

Eileen’s favorite aspect of quilting is introducing new people to quilt-making. She has taught many people how to quilt. She also likes to help people stretch in their quilting. The group likes to do “Add-A-Round” quilts where each person makes a center medallion for a quilt. Then members hand off their block to another participant, who then adds the next “round.”  This is repeated until the quilts are finished. It was hard at first to work outside of what each person liked. “This took people from a safe spot and threw them over the edge, and they’ve been loving it ever since!” Eileen says.  Members come up with themes for the Add-A-Round steps: sometimes they will have to incorporate curves, or rectangles, etc. They prefer this to regular challenges which are more competitive.

 

The group has a quilt show in the church every other year. They hang their quilts in the sanctuary, from the balcony, and lay them over the pews. They invite the public, and love to hear their comments. The hanging quilts remain up through the next Sunday service.  The minister says that’s okay, but he draws the line at quilting during the service!



Eileen has five sewing machines! Everyone knows she quilts, so some machines have been given to her. She likes to have a buddy quilt with her, so she has two machines set up, a Kenmore and an Elna, two irons, two big ironing boards, a ceiling-to-floor design wall (double-wide),  two cutting stations with big mats (smaller mats are near the machines),  two chairs and a big table.  She can sew, cut and iron, all from her swivel chair. She has three racks of thread on the wall, thousands of buttons, boxes of trim, ribbon, and bolts of fabric. Eileen bought some of this collection when the nearby JoAnn Fabric store closed. Her stash grows when people bring her fabrics and is reduced when she contributes fabrics to group projects.

 

Her favorite quilting gadget is the “Brooklyn Revolver” from Come Quilt With Me (.com). It is a circular cutting mat that revolves like a “lazy Susan.”  She uses it at the sewing machine, and takes it on trips to use as a work surface.

 

Eileen’s all-time favorite quilt block is the log cabin. She has made many miniature log cabin quilts for gifts. The “logs” are a scant ¼ inch wide! Most recently she made a stunning queen-size log cabin quilt in a spiral arrangement for a friend who lives in Ireland. It is a scrap quilt with many blues and greens. Eileen’s favorite color has always been yellow. The only fabrics she just can’t stand are 1930’s prints!

 

Most of Eileen’s quilts are group quilts. She made a signature quilt for a retiring school principal that was signed by all the kids in the school. It now hangs in his family room, and he has sent her several thank you notes.

 

She made a quilt for the assistant pastor when he moved, and it had over 300 signatures! It was almost lost when one of his suitcases was accidentally left on the airport tarmac.  A few days later, it arrived safely in Arizona. (His other suitcase was accidentally taken by someone else, and then returned. He said he didn’t care about that one, though.)

 

In 1999 Eileen started a “thousand pyramids” quilt. She planned to use 2,000 pieces to celebrate the turn of the century. It was to be a charm quilt, no two fabrics alike. During the process of cutting all the pieces, she considered compromising, and fussy-cutting several different images from the same fabric. Eileen asked her sons what they thought about that, and Sam said, “Mom, let your conscience be your guide.” Needless to say, she stuck with her original plan, no two fabrics alike. Then she decided to make the quilt even bigger, and ended up using 2,257 pieces! It was finished in 2004, and it has every fabric imaginable, except 1930’s prints. It is dazzling!

 

At the moment, Eileen has about 15 quilts in progress. She loves a challenge, and is always ready to try new ideas. Although she has sold some quilts, nearly all of her quilts are made to give away.  None of her finished quilts are in her house. Her family sleeps under quilts made by her sister, Karen. Eileen’s quilts have been displayed in shows, fairs, at church, and at the library.  She has won numerous prizes, but she says, “A good quilt is one that you like.” She adds, “The quilt police are not coming. So, just enjoy yourself, and don’t fret. It’s your creation, and it doesn’t matter what others think.”

 


A big Quilty Girl Thank You goes to Karen Griska and Eileen Lovett for putting this story together!  Wouldn't you just love to visit Eileen's church some Sunday morning and then sneak home with her to make quilts all afternoon (maybe Karen will be visiting that day, too!).

So who do you want for the next Real Women Quilt Featured Quilter?!!  I'm always open to your suggestions.  and let me know.


We are working on loading all the past Featured Quilters into our Featured Quilter Archive....sort of like our own little Hall of Fame!! 

Featured Quilter Achives!!