About Chris
Chris began sewing close to 50 years ago to earn a badge for Girl Scouts. Throughout childhood she sewed with her Mom, learning to make costumes for dance recitals and school variety shows. After years of sewing clothes, making bridesmaid dresses and mending & hemming she was looking for a different way of sewing.
In the year 2000, a friend invited Chris to join her at a weekend quilt escape. Chris didn’t know a thing about quilting but was intrigued and her husband, Jim, encouraged her to go. Chris found that other quilters were fun, friendly, helpful and very welcoming. She enjoyed learning terminology, techniques and how to use quilting tools. Fabric shopping became an addiction and she has made a quilt of some kind for nearly every member of her family, from her Grandparents to her Grandchildren.
Second Street Stitch
In 2012, Chris purchased a longarm quilting machine and founded Second Street Stitch. This marked a new chapter in her love of quilt making and expanded it beyond a hobby. Longarm quilting for others gives Chris the opportunity to see beautiful pieces from table runners to king size quilts.
Chris regularly creates tshirt quilts for people and she also repurposes wedding gowns to create Christening gowns, as well as old neckties to create Dresden Plates. The Dresden Plates can be framed on their own, backed for a table centerpiece or appliquéd onto a quilt. She has found that these projects are great ways for people to give new life to old memories.
Chris has also had the good fortune of doing longarm quilting for “Quilts of Valor” and various other charity events. For one of these events Chris worked with teachers at Laremont School (a special needs school in Gages Lake, IL) to have students create art on patches that were then made into quilts and raffled off at a fundraiser for the school.
Quilting has become a part of everyday life for her. She belongs to quilt guilds, goes on weekend escapes, takes & teaches classes and her love of quilting only continues to grow.