Carolyn Heniges

Carolyn’s story is a wonderful blend of lifelong creativity, skill development, and a passion that bridges two seemingly different worlds: engineering and quilting.  Carolyn started sewing in 4-H 50+ years ago, learning to make basic clothing, crafts and even those tiny Barbie clothes.  She’s been quilting for over 40 years, starting with an appliquéd baby blanket for her now 44-year old son that basically melted in the washer and dryer!  She’s come a long way in her quilting that now includes piecing, raw edge and needle turn appliqué’ (that doesn’t melt in the laundry), English paper and foundation paper piecing!  She continually expands her skills through the increasingly difficult quilt projects she takes on as a life-long learner.

Today, Carolyn is a Professional Civil Engineer overseeing highway, road and bridge construction and nearing retirement where she hopes to share her passion for quilting.  She sees quilting as similar to engineering – building beautiful, lasting projects from different materials and well-loved long into the future.  Her love of math supports both her engineering and quilting.

She’s an award-winning quilter and enjoys sharing her knowledge with others.  Carolyn is currently mastering foundation paper-piecing Quiltworx patterns and projects and hopes to become a certified instructor.  She’s transitioning into retirement and now offering quilting classes.  She shares tips, tricks, and tool demos to help students build confidence and create projects that they love and may have been afraid to try on their own.  Carolyn encourages students to pick projects they enjoy and focus on learning the skills needed to accomplish them with a ‘can-do’ attitude.  Join Carolyn’s quilting classes for a fun, skill-building experience and a chance to create their own works of art!