Biography ________

LINDA WORLAND

     Hello! My name is Linda Worland, and I am the do-it-all person for Paper Panache. I live in the San Fernando Valley, CA, in a community called Winnetka.
     I saw my first "real" quilt around 1985 at the California State Fair. I remember being mesmerized by it...but it never occurred to me to try making one myself! A year or two later in late '86 I took my first quiltmaking class, making a Crystal Carter log cabin heart design, and I fell in love with applique. The next year I became a member of the San Fernando Valley Quilt Association.
     My fifteen minutes of quilt fame came in 1992 when I received a first place in the theme category at the American Quilt Society Show in Paducah for a quilt entitled "California Scene: 1890/1990". The same quilt also received Viewer’s Choice at my guild Quilt Faire and Best of Show at the California State Fair.
    Eventually it struck me that I had been making paper-piecing patterns for many of my small quilt projects for at least five years, and most people seemed to like the results. After some admittedly light research (to keep from becoming too discouraged), I made a sample issue of my "patternletter" and took it to my guild's Quilt Show as a test. The response was positive, and Paper Panache was born.

Personal Trivia
     I am very much a "process person," which means I generally don't want to own the quilts I make, I just want to make them. Designing is just as absorbing as sewing.
     I have an affinity for pictorials. I like to blend foundation piecing with applique because piecing is so much faster at the machine, but applique is so much more comfortable curled up on the couch.
     You wouldn't be too impressed by my studio. I sew in the dining room on a Kenmore 8-stitch I bought in 1978, and I will not fantasize about a fancier machine before that one dies. Someday, however, I will get to do machine applique.
     I owe a great debt to my husband, Steve. He is a kitchen-loving guy... If he did not shop, feed, and otherwise hold down the fort, there would be no Paper Panache. It is his care and support that has allowed me to chase my dreams for the past 27 years.