Cristanya Custom Quilting
7812 163 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
T5Z 3K8

Phone: 780.472.9936
Fax: 780.475.8353
connie@cristanya.com
andy@cristanya.com

Autobiography

I was born and raised in Edmonton, in a family of 9 children. In 1972, I married the man I am with to this day. We have two adult children and four precious grandchildren.

My sewing career began in 1976, when I took ladies tailoring classes at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). As a young mother, I sewed constantly for my family and in 1980, I began seamstress work from my home.

In the course of the past 26 years, I have worked in fabric stores, sold sewing machines and sergers and taught sewing classes. For 3 years, I worked in the wardrobe department of the Citadel Theater and the University of Alberta Studio Theater, sewing theatrical costumes.

In 1992, I took my first quilting class. I quicly became a "topper" loving to piece tops, but then being uninterested in the additional handwork necessary to quilt the layers together.

The first quilt I had machine quilted locally was sadly lacking in the skill needed to execute fine workmanship. My disappointments lead me to believe that there was opportunity to excel with the right longarm quilting machine and a commitment to practice and ongoing education. I had a closet full of tops and I knew many others out there like me!

In 1998, I purchased a longarm quilting machine and began a home-based business. I was quickly impressed with how dramatically the surface stitching could influence the personality and design of a quilt top. I also saw a genuine need to educate and train new quilt machine owners. I developed a two day beginner workshop, helping new owners get started in business and teaching them the skills necessary to operate their longarm quilting machine.

With the insurgence of new specialty threads and a background in theater sewing, I became curious to know how a longarm quilting machine would handle the tremendous variety in thread wight and fragility. I wondered what would happen if I mounted one layer of organza and thread painted on that! What adjustments would have to be made regarding tensions, mounting techniques, and stabilizers? What adjustments would have to be made as the operator?

So began a curious and intriguing adventure into making contemporary fabric - and advanced workshop for longarm machine quilters. I expect my curiosity and love of sewing will lead me on to develop future workshops on art quilts and wearable art. I love teaching and I love quilting!

I have been sewing and crafting for almost 40 years.

My formal education as a seamstress also included working in fabric stores, teaching sewing classes and selling sewing machines and sergers. I also worked in the Citadel theatre in Edmonton for 3 years in the wardrobe department making historical costumes.

My needlework interests are diverse, including knitting, quilting, sewing, beadwork and embroidery. Operating my own longarm machine quilting business since 1998, I am also a Canadian representative for American Professional Quilting Systems (APQS), promoting and selling their machines in Canada. I also teach quilting workshops in my home studio.

African Folklore Embroidery is a newly discovered handwork that used simple embroidery stitches and brightly colored cotton threads to produce one of kind African pictures, while encouraging economic independence for the indigenous Ndebele tribal women of South Africa.