Teri Cherne won Best Longarm Machine Quilting and received $2,500 from Sponsor, Babylock, for Finding Light in the Darkness.
Meet Teri Cherne
Teri Cherne was encouraged by her mother to use her hands to create. Teri feels “fortunate to be given that gift from her to share with others.” A two-time cancer survivor, Teri entered her first quilt contest in 2014 at MQX – Machine Quilters Exposition in New England. Her quilt, “Rays of Hope,” won second place which “thrilled” Teri.
The Story Behind Finding Light in the Darkness
Finding and using colors to capture light and darkness is what inspired Teri to make this award winning Best Longarm Machine Quilting design. It took several years for Finding Light in the Darkness to become a quilt. First, Teri designs the entire quilt on her computer before she even begins cutting the fabric.
Finding the correct colors of fabric took a couple of years. Teri says she “got lucky” to find that Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics had all the colors that she needed.
Metallic threads were used to allow the quilt to shine bright in the light. Teri used Wonderfil’s Dazzle 8wt thread for all the hand couching to add more color and shimmer.
An important lesson that she learned along the way was to not rush the process especially after spending so much time with the design process.
Naming the quilt came from her experiences with cancer. “Being a two-time Cancer survivor, there were many times I had to look within to find the light,” commented Teri.
A Winning Quilt
Teri found out that she had won Best Longarm Machine Quilting late Thursday evening, the first full day of Road 2020. She got an email from a friend who was at the show congratulating her on her win! “I was so excited, and very honored to receive Best Longarm!” Teri planned to purchase new glasses with her prize money.
Future Quilting Endeavors
At the same time Teri was working on Finding Light in the Darkness, Teri was also working on her next project, an appliqué quilt. Terri says her life is busy, so she has to keep putting her project aside. But she is confident that it will all come together, a bit at a time. For Teri, there is no rush, “it’s about savoring the journey!”
