Northcott Fabrics

Designer Profile

Rita Guzzard and Lori Marsh of Nine Mile Patterns

www.ninemilepatterns.com

Lori and Rita met over 10 years ago as co-workers at the Log Cabin Quilt Shop in Spokane, and quickly became friends. Even though the shop closed its doors several years ago, the two remained in close contact.

Lori is originally from North Idaho. As an adult, Lori moved to Los Angeles and worked as a System Analyst. Her interest in quilting started around age 8, when a grandmotherly mentor taught her to hand sew a Cathedral Window. She was hooked, and over the years, has learned every aspect of quilting. To hone her skills, Lori has enjoyed creating miniature quilts. Lori teaches beginning and intermediate quilting classes, as well as binding classes. In addition, Lori is a proficient long arm quilter. From piecing to quilting to binding, Lori’s skill, knowledge and ability are at the expert level. Her love of fabric led to her working as a fabric representative for several years, until she chose to retire.

Rita retired from the California Department of Corrections as a Correctional Counselor at the age of 50. While always a garment sewer, retirement offered Rita the opportunity to expand her hobby to include machine embroidery. Before long, Rita was creating her own designs. Not actual embroidery, rather, more applique in the hoop and quilting in the hoop designs. Rita’s Best Designs was established, and Rita sold her designs at trade shows, retail shows and to shops. In addition, she became a designer for Floriani, and developed project based webinars for the My Decorative Quilter/Total Quilter program. With the addition of two new grandsons,

the desire to travel, and to indulge in her weekly bridge games, Rita decided to reduce her workload by quitting her business and no longer developing webinars. She still creates designs for machine embroidery, however, and these designs can be found at the

www.kreationsbykara.com website.

At Houston Market, Rita met Patti Carey and was given the opportunity to design a pattern for a beautiful peacock panel. Knowing she lacked a solid understanding of piecing, she approached Lori for help. The design might be great, but, if it can’t be pieced, it can’t become a pattern. Lori’s vast knowledge of piecing techniques helped to edit the design into a doable pattern.

Building on the strength of both, a partnership was created. Since both live in Nine Mile Falls, the name Nine Mile Patterns was chosen. Lori and Rita truly enjoy creating patterns for the beautiful Northcott fabrics, and consider it a privilege and joy.One small (large) problem... Rita is not a quilter. Knowing how to manipulate software is one thing, knowing how to put a quilt together is quite another. This is where Lori comes into the story. Rita and Lori have been friends for over 10 years. Rita has always been impressed with Lori's talent at every aspect of quilting. From piecing to long arm quilting to binding, Lori's work is impeccable. Who better to turn to for advice on quilt construction? It soon became apparent that Lori's contribution to the effort of making a pattern was as much as Rita's. So, a partnership was formed. This is a fun venture for the two, and they hope you enjoy their patterns!

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