Meet Marcia Layton
Inheriting a love of sewing from my grandmother and mother, I have always enjoyed experimenting with all kinds of arts and crafts, from painting to smocking to embroidery, and most recently, to quilting. I love fabric, have way too much of it, (not enough!) but truly enjoy working with it and seeing all of the possibilities it offers my creative soul.
I’m a Florida native who spent much of her childhood traveling around the eastern United States and overseas to Germany and Australia with our Air Force family. Later I attended Florida State University where I graduated with a degree in French and German, and a minor in art. It was during college summers that I started working with young children as a performer and recreation counselor with the Florida State Flying High Circus at Callaway Gardens, Georgia.
For over 20 years I was a pre-K teacher and assistant director of Play Haven Preschool in Tampa, Florida, where I taught art, music, French, and school readiness skills to four-year-olds. I started making quilts using children’s handprints for the school’s spring art show and fund-raising event in 1998. The quilts were so popular and I had so much fun making them that they became an annual tradition for the next 8 years.
In 2003 my first book, Handprint Quilts, was published by Martingale and Company and was followed by Calendar Kids in 2007.
In 2006 I stopped teaching and began working at Heritage Quilt and Needlework in Tampa. What fun to be in a store full of fabric each day! Making store samples gave me the opportunity and practice to improve my quilting skills and try new techniques.
In 2008 I fell in love with yo-yos while experimenting with the Clover yo-yo makers. In searching for a way to use all of those cute little fabric puffs, I was inspired to create a little gingerbread house decorated with brightly colored yo-yo “candies”. Lollipop Lane came about when I decided to try my hand at pattern design. Other yo-yo quilts followed and to date there is no end in sight to my newest obsession.
I still call Tampa home but in 2010, Heritage Quilt Shop closed its door. The shop owner, Betty Sadow, and I have decided to try a new adventure and take the shop on the road. So, in future years I will be traveling with the shop and taking my quilts, books, and patterns to various quilt shows around the country. I continue to teach classes on my handprint and yo-yo quilts to guilds and shops in the time between shows.
Hope to see you in my travels!
Marcia
I’m a Florida native who spent much of her childhood traveling around the eastern United States and overseas to Germany and Australia with our Air Force family. Later I attended Florida State University where I graduated with a degree in French and German, and a minor in art. It was during college summers that I started working with young children as a performer and recreation counselor with the Florida State Flying High Circus at Callaway Gardens, Georgia.
For over 20 years I was a pre-K teacher and assistant director of Play Haven Preschool in Tampa, Florida, where I taught art, music, French, and school readiness skills to four-year-olds. I started making quilts using children’s handprints for the school’s spring art show and fund-raising event in 1998. The quilts were so popular and I had so much fun making them that they became an annual tradition for the next 8 years.
In 2003 my first book, Handprint Quilts, was published by Martingale and Company and was followed by Calendar Kids in 2007.
In 2006 I stopped teaching and began working at Heritage Quilt and Needlework in Tampa. What fun to be in a store full of fabric each day! Making store samples gave me the opportunity and practice to improve my quilting skills and try new techniques.
In 2008 I fell in love with yo-yos while experimenting with the Clover yo-yo makers. In searching for a way to use all of those cute little fabric puffs, I was inspired to create a little gingerbread house decorated with brightly colored yo-yo “candies”. Lollipop Lane came about when I decided to try my hand at pattern design. Other yo-yo quilts followed and to date there is no end in sight to my newest obsession.
I still call Tampa home but in 2010, Heritage Quilt Shop closed its door. The shop owner, Betty Sadow, and I have decided to try a new adventure and take the shop on the road. So, in future years I will be traveling with the shop and taking my quilts, books, and patterns to various quilt shows around the country. I continue to teach classes on my handprint and yo-yo quilts to guilds and shops in the time between shows.
Hope to see you in my travels!
Marcia
