Bert Cowles
Location Fremont Ne

Quilting Machine (Brand, type, age):
APQS Ult II  1995

When did you start quilting? What /who is your inspiration?
My mother always quilted. She would hand piece and quilt. She started me on my first quilt when I was 6 years old and I finished it when I was 19. I still have it.  I love Karen McTavish’s work and Mqresource on the web

What type of quilting do you prefer? (custom, panto, freestyle, etc)
I only do freehand and most of them seem to end up custom.

What is your greatest quilting obstacle?
The greatest obstacle would have to be dark colors as I have trouble seeing them.

How many quilts do you quilt per day/month/year?
I have the routine of starting at 9 am and work until 3 pm. That is unless I find something better to do.
I usually end up with about 130 per year of which most are large quilts. I have very few small ones.

Awards:
 Several best of show at our localquilt shows and an Honorable mention one year at the State Fair.

Memberships
Machine Quilters and GOALS

Experiences:
The most fun I’ve had is wishing I could do what others do at MQS. The other thing is letting other people experience running a longarm while giving a little instruction.

Family info:
My wonderful husband, Tim, has been by my side for 45.5 years. We have 3 children, Chris, Scott, and Bobbijeanne. Tim was an Electrical Engineer
Chris- Structural Engineer in Las Vegas, and has 2 sons 12 and 10
Scott- Civil Engineer, bachelor, still living at home.
Bobbijeanne- Heavy equipment operator, a son 14 and a daughter8, who live across the yard from us.

Experiences:
I always sewed all the family clothes while being a stay at home mom. When the kids were starting college I used my cosmetology license and ran my own business until they through school. I retired from that job and Tim kept bugging me to go get a longarm, so 2 mos. Later I had another job. The rest is history.