About the Artists - Twice the Quilt

Meet the Artists

Andrea Stephens

Andrea has been surrounded by sewing, quilting, and crafting her whole life. She began piecing her own quilts in 2002 when all her kids were in school, and then started longarm quilting about 6 years later when her quilt tops were piling up. Andrea loves the design process and piecework, sewing traditional quilt blocks into non-traditional settings. She enjoys playing with color and making scrappy quilts to donate and share with others. She is a member of the Nappanee, Indiana Artful Quilters.

Kim Kaarto

Kim learned to sew as a teen making garments and household items, setting it aside for years in favor of the on-the-go crafts of crocheting and knitting while riding to work and other long drives.

After being captivated by a quilt top at a thrift store and asking a friend to help her finish it, Kim found her way back to the sewing machine and quilting. Her quilting projects are both big and small from placemats to large bed quilts.

Mary Shroyer

Mary learned to sew as a 4-H member at the age of 10. She enjoyed the project so much she chose it every year after. As a mother she later put her skills to work making items for her children to wear and sewing doll clothes for her daughter. She also made clothes for herself. As her daughter grew she made many long formal dresses for my daughter’s special events.

Later she fell in love with machine embroidery and made several quilts, wall hangings, & crafts with these skills. Mary belongs to the American Sewing Guild, Sugar Creek Quilters, & the Knotters at her local church where they make quilts & other charity projects.

Laura Ott

Being surrounded by her mother and three older sisters who sewed, Laura took home economics in middle school. Her interest for sewing was put on hold to finish school, find a job, and raise a family.

Fast forward to 2015, she purchased a used beginner’s sewing machine from a teaching studio, and after lots of hesitation, she realized that this might be very therapeutic. Laura began taking classes from local quilt shops. She was overwhelmed and utterly enamored by the camaraderie and encouraging environment. Feeling welcomed, her journey in the “art of quilting” began.

She discovered her passion is free motion quilting and thread painting however to get to that stage she enjoyed using many different techniques. She enjoys switching gears with every project, mixing up the techniques from precision, which may involve following or modifying a pattern, to creative, which is a road never traveled. Switching and mixing techniques keeps me interested and my skills honed. I had no idea it would give me a new purpose as well as perspective.

In the last ten years, more than one hundred projects, large and small, have been completed for family, friends, and charitable donations. I “Ott” to continue my journey because the ending is foggy.

Lorel Schneider

Lorel’s sewing journey started at a very young age, using scraps her Grandmother gave her to make Barbie clothes. At about 11 she started to make clothes for herself. Eventually going on to design and create wedding gowns and alterations at a Bridal shop. Her family owned an interior design shop in Antioch for 7 years, where she became the head drapery maker.

Lorel started quilting around 2002 when she attended a presentation on new ways to cut fabric, the rotary cutter changed my life! Now I am obsessed with Quilting and can not stop!