CecilAnn Spencer
Jimmie & CecilAnn Spencer

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Hi, my name is CecilAnn Spencer. I grew up and still live in a small town, Kerens,in Central Texas that is 60 miles south of Dallas Texas. My love of quilting started at a very young age. My Grandmother hand pieced and hand quilted. Grandmother's sister was a seamstress and made clothes for the public. The scraps of fabric that were left over were given to my Grandmother. Grandmother would sit for hours cutting and hand piecing until she completed a quilt top. Then came the time to hand quilt. Grandmother's quilting frames hung from the ceiling in her dining room. She always used cotton batting, and "brown domestic" (muslin) as the backing. Our family were cotton farmers. Grandmother made beautiful quilts of many different colors that were given to her children and grandchildren. I was always amazed that something so beautiful started out as a piece of cloth that someone was going to throw away. The first quilts I made were machine pieced but hand quilted. It took forever to complete a quilt. I worked, was a wife, and mother of a very active son. This left little time for hobbies. After 31 years in a very stressful law enforcement career my husband retired to take care of our small farm with cows and llamas. I was still working in that same stressful law enforcement career but could see that retirement was not far away. I started looking for a long arm quilting machine. I did extensive research via internet, magazines, quilt shops and any other places where I could find information. I decided to purchase the HQ Sixteen and the Pro Stitcher. My husband and I made a trip to Plano Sewing Center in Plano, Texas. When we walked through the door we were greeted with smiles and such friendliness we felt as if they were family. The shop had just what I wanted and we purchased the machine that day. I still was limited on my time for hobbies, but it was amazing how fast I could get the quilt completed. I only make quilts for the "special people" in my life. My quilts are not the traditional type. If it is different I'm probably going to like it. My passion is creating living memory quilts that include photos, sports, school names or whatever the grandchildren, nieces and nephews are doing at the time. I have an embroidery machine and always embroidery their name on the quilt. I've also made themed baby quilts for family and friends with the new baby's name on them. I have finally retired after 30 years in law enforcement and am looking forward to getting training and lots of practice on my HQ Sixteen and learning to use my HQ Pro-Stitcher. I have done so much with this machine but still have so much more to learn. In closing I would like to recommend the Handi Quilter to anyone wanting to purchase a long arm machine. The machine is easy to use and the support you receive is the BEST!!!! You can not go wrong with Handi Quilter.

I own the following HQ machines: HQ Pro-Stitcher, HQ Sixteen

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