Welcome to Bold Notion Quilting!

Welcome to Bold Notion Quilting! Our mission is to inspire confidence, provide accessible learning, and empower quilters to create on their terms.

I’m Just a Mom with a family to support and who supports me.

For those of you who don’t know me, Hi, My Name is Lauren; I am the lady behind the magic… (it seems like magic but it’s a whole lot of work, and thankfully my family is SO supportive, and helpful!)  If I’m being honest I fell into quilting completely by accident… I didn’t grow up with a family who sews, the most sewing I got was; hand hemming my pants and watching Abuelita fix Abuelo’s work clothes. She used this cool teal sewing machine that flipped up and out of the solid wood antique cabinet (they don’t make them like that anymore), I just remember wanting to play with it cause it was so cool!

Another reason I just fell into quilting, was that I never felt a calling, you know, that yearning to do something you just can’t live without… Does that actually happen to people so early in life, is that a thing? I felt like I should have known what I wanted to pursue when I graduated high school like my peers,  but I had very limited knowledge of life and the variety of jobs out there. All I knew, was that I wouldn’t go to college, I wasn’t going to waste money just to do more math and write more papers trying to figure out what my calling is in life. I might have had no idea what my calling would be, but I knew I didn’t want to rack up student debt when I could earn a living for the time being. Ans so, I fell into retail management when I graduated high school at 18 for my first job.

In the 19 years from high school to now, I married my wonderful husband who is in the USCG, we had 2 wonderful kids, now full-blown humans (teenagers who are my size and bigger than me!), and we moved all over the USA (due to military transfers). We have made wonderful friends from all over, been privy to different cultures, foods & traditions, and have been lucky enough to get transfers and keep my retail management job for 14 years of that time. It was nerve-wracking trying to keep transfers, as transfers are just like looking for another job but we were so blessed to have the option and I always got my transfer.

At 12 years into my retail management job, When we were stationed in Cleveland, I finally found myself at my wits end with my job, my patience, and my work-life balance; so my husband (Kris) STRONGLY suggested I get a hobby, I purchased a sewing machine a few years before that and so it seemed fitting to pull that machine out of the box and give it a try.  I promised my kids when they were 2 & 3 that I would make their memory quilts out of their clothes, so I thought it fitting to learn to make some quilt tops first. I had enough common sense to know I couldn’t begin my quilting journey with their baby clothes and knew I had to get going on learning this piecing thing. After all, how hard could it be to cut up and sew squares together? (insert raised eyebrow here)

Lucky for me living about an hour south of Cleveland, I was close to Amish country and the many quilt shops. I had so many stores I loved to frequent and the ladies in the shops were so helpful with tips on this and that, to help me hone my skills. I started small with a simple block pattern. When I finally completed my first quilt I bound it and took it to the quilt shop to show it off to the one lady who shared her knowledge so easily and had a lot of patience for this feisty gal… “Look, Susan! I did it! I made my first quilt!” (I exclaimed) It was a simple block quilt pattern to make a Minecraft Creeper face (think pixelated squares to create an image); Susan replied, “Well that’s nice but how are you going to quilt it?”; I replied smugly, “Umm, there is a top, a fluffy middle and a back… IT. IS. DONE!” (I clearly was an expert by now…) Susan just giggled and smiled like the Grinch who had something up his sleeve; she pulled me over to the longarm machine (literally dragging by my arm), explaining that there’s a difference between making a quilt top (piecing) and quilting it (quilting). (side note I wish the entire quilting community would proudly display the difference between piecing and quilting tutorials… because when you’re a newbie googling “quilting” it doesn’t yield specific results for what you need.)

Anyway, the longarm machine was a thing of beauty, it was running on a computerized system all by itself, but at that moment I could see the challenging and artistic potential in it, which is right up my alley, I was in love! I pieced and rented time on the manual and the computerized longarm machines, making quilts for others, and creating a self-sustaining hobby until I could afford to buy one. It took 2 years and a windfall to make it possible for me to purchase the longarm, floor model show special and it was all mine!

Now I know what you’re thinking, I’m magically good at FMQ and just fell into my calling, right? Wrong! I know you must be thinking this because I thought it too; when I first began FMQ I looked at other quilter’s work and I thought I must be cursed; I spent many nights up at 1 am fighting with tension, cleaning, timing, design disasters.. and crying over the Instagram posts of all the magically gifted quilters out there. I seriously could not fathom how they made smooth consistent curves or feathers without a ½ inch wide spine,  I had to pep talk my Type-A personality, OCD, navy brat, do everything right the first time brain; into not breaking down with every minute failure. Or how about talking myself into giving myself a break, into being open to my “version” of failure, so that I could make way for my very own “version” of success. My brain would go to a really dark place at the first sign of failure, “ I just spent all this money and I can’t even quilt a straight line, what a hopeless failure, I can’t believe you wasted your family money on this, you’re selfish, what is wrong with you, you can’t do this, you could have bought a new car for this kind of money! ugh!” Luckily I thrive on being told I can’t do something… even if it’s me talking badly to myself, lol. I was going to figure out this machine and I was going to make this decision a positive experience, after I trek through all this darkness there is bound to be some light, right?

So of course this type A personality had to take what she thought would be a calm, stress stress-relieving hobby, and turn it into a mission; Every day when I came home from work I practiced and practiced until  I felt COMFORTABLE with my machine.  That comfortability turned into taking chances and experimenting with the unknown. I had many moments where I’m not sure I would have been proud for anyone to be in that room with me, I threw tantrums from a rage only the incredible hulk would understand, I would stomp upstairs when I had enough and swore off the basement, never to return again (I’m a passionate person, drama sometimes follows me when I’m low lol), but I couldn’t let the machine beat me, and I came back, each time more determined to figure it out, and make it better.

I found out quickly that, I am such a “kinesthetic learner” where I learn most effectively through physical engagement and practice; I knew if it was this hard for me to learn and encourage myself, then others in the community must be feeling the same way; I know I’m high strung but I can’t be the only one, can I?  So I set to Facebook and Youtube, sharing tidbits and tips the best I could (it wasn’t fancy! Lol) to help quilters learn to longarm quilt; Mostly sharing those “aha! Moments” that helped me take my quilting to the next level. As silly as it sounds, learning for the sake of others made learning easier for me, I liked innovating and problem-solving, Why? I don’t know… all I know is that it helped to be more open to expanding my knowledge base so that as my students grew, I in turn, would have more to teach them each time we met. It was a win-win, and opened my eyes to how much I could help others. Keep in mind at this point I was working 30+ hours a week overnight, watching my daughter and her friend during the weekdays, and quilting in ALL the spare time I could stay awake. (those years were a little bit blurry… lol)

I thought I could try my hand at a quilt along, as a freebie on youtube, but it went well enough, that I decided to do another one, but made it a paid one through email. That paid quilt along was only $20 a person but it was so successful it made way for boldnotionquilting.com, I started my business with the money I made from that class; it wasn’t much, but I bought a shelf of thread and some materials for another quilt along, and kept going until I had to expand my website and enlist the help of my whole family to film classes and fill orders. I learned new skills and shared my experience with others in mini videos on YouTube, and now I quilt for others and teach at quilt expos and Guilds. People attend my classes from all over the world and I can’t believe this is my life.

One day I hope to travel the world and teach if the world still wants in-person training by then. I hope to visit Australia and Ireland one day, teach for an event or a guild, and take some extra days to take in the culture and see the beauty of the planet.

Teenage me never thought I would find something I was good at, something I could be passionate about, and even Something I LOVE to do… let alone have that something be sewing. (seriously, I thought I would be ¾ of the way through my naval career by now.. but God had other plans, he lit my path and I followed the light.

I truly love teaching, being creative, experimenting, and building others up to succeed; I feel so much joy in seeing the progress of my students and cheerleading you every bit of the way. My teaching style is unique because I like to explain the WHY of everything I do, I need to know that you can take the class we are working on and apply it to any project once you leave my class. This ensures the learning process is simple for new quilters, and all the tidbits, tips, and tricks keep it interesting for even the most experienced quilters.

Like I said, I am a passionate person, and I feel so invested in Bold Notion, in Free Motion, and in uplifting others to succeed. My hope is to make Bold Notion Quilting your hometown quilt shop, right in your back pocket; and now, the actual hometown quilt shop right here, in Brooksville Florida, where you can shop in person Wed-Sat 10am-3pm.

I hope that our presence online makes you feel like we are Amazon lol, but we are still so much a mom-and-pop shop. Every class you take,  every quilt kit you make, and each thread you break, you’re contributing to a family’s ability  to pay tuition, put food on the table, and teach the next generation of quilters out there to work on their passions.

My family is the only reason Bold Notion is still standing after 9 years (7 online) and we all work hard to make everything amazing for all of you.

From my family to yours,

Thank you for Quilting and shopping with us, without all of you none of this would be possible.

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