Jenny Kae Answers Seven Questions
1. How did you learn to quilt?
Although I grew up with sewing and hand-embroidery, I didn’t start quilting until I was in my 30s. At the time, I was homeschooling my daughters and we were working through a homemaking curriculum. One of the upcoming projects was making quilted place mats. I thought “Good grief, I better try this out so I know what I am doing”. I was hooked.
Because I was homeschooling, I didn’t have a lot of time to take classes. (I have only taken a handful in 20 years.) But we were at the library every few weeks so I would check out every book and magazine I could carry. I also recorded quilt shows (Quilt-in-a-Day, Simply Quilts, and Love of Quilting) and watched them when I got some precious alone time. I find I learn the most by doing and teaching.
While we teach, we learn
Senca
2. What is your favorite project?
My first one, the quilted place-mats. It is my favorite because it opened my eyes to this entire world of color and quilting. I have made many others I love and am really proud of, but those quilted place-mats changed the course of my life.
3. What is one of your quilting disasters?
Oh my! I have created many disasters, er, I mean cahllenges but I had one that almost stopped my heart. I just started working at a local quilt shop and I was making a sample quilt. The sample would hang on the shop wall and help sell the latest kit. The center was a repeated scene. Well, I miss-read the directions and cut the center the too small. I just about fainted!
I managed to piece the center with a super-thin seam allowance. I finished the quilt and turned it in to my manager hoping against all reason it would not be noticed. Later I saw my manager and a co-worker looking at it and talking and my heart just sank. Almost in tears I spilled the story. My manager was very understanding. We hung the quilt and no one else noticed.
Measure once, go buy more fabric!
Jenny Kae Parks
4. What part of quilting do you struggle with?
I hate basting. And hate is not too strong a word. Basting sucks my will to live! I have hand-basted, pin-pasted, board-basted and pool-noodle basted and still hate it. For me it is like driving over two miles of continuous speed-bumps to reach the finish line. Ugh. I struggle with free-motion but I keep challenging myself and keep getting better.
5 . What is your favorite part of quilting?
Color, hands-down, color, color, color! Color is where the magic happens. Picking fabrics for my own projects, for kits, for patterns, for fabric companies, for magazines and helping customers select fabrics has taught me SO much. Color is the make-or-break of every project. I love to help people pick fabrics they love and to develop their own color eye! And the whole process just thrills me to my soul!
Color is where the magic happens.
Jenny Kae Parks
6. What made you decide to go professional?
I am a teacher at heart. 14 years of homeschooling refined me. And I am a ham, truly. I started acting when I was young, hosting plays for the neighbors in the backyard. I studied acting, voice, improvisation, and even won awards for public speaking.
Fortune favors the prepared. So when Shannon Fabrics contacted the shop where I was working and asked if I would film demos using Cuddle Cloth, I about fell on the floor. I kept my cool and almost shouted, “Yes, please!” Since then I have filmed over 150 videos for Craft U, Quilting Daily, Fons and Porter. This also led to opportunities to design quilts, write patterns, teach in guilds and shops, webinars, and several magazine quilts.
7. What are some highlights in your quilting career?
I have a couple events I consider highlights. My first time at Quilt Market in 2015 was amazing! Quilt Market is a wholesale trade show. And everyone in the business is there! Think “Comic-con” for quilters. I was in total fan-girl mode.
The one that makes me tear up was being a guest on Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting in 2020. It took me full circle because I used to watch LOQ when I was learning to quilt. To be ON the show was a true honor.
