About T.J.'s Quick Quilter™
T.J.'s Quick Quilter™
Eliminates sore fingers from hand quilting. It is used in the under hand to receive the needle, then helps guide the needle back up through the surface of the quilt to begin again. With practice, the Quick Quilter™ also helps to make small, even stitches. You'll love the new grip!
Invented by Thelma Johns (T.J.) of Kerrville, TX,
in the early 80's, the Quick Quilter™ was designed to protect her fingers while receiving the needle from the quilting hand. She found a manufacturer & took her new quilting tool to one of the early retail quilt venues in Houston, TX - now known as the International Quilt Market & Festival.
Born in 1912, Thelma was in her 70's when she created her new Quick Quilter™ tool, and according to her family, only attended the festival 3-4 times before her death in 1993. Thelma gave the business to her granddaughter, Lisa Moore, who then gave it to her daughter, Elisabeth Darnell - who is not a quilter.
Gayle Ropp demonstrated how to use T.J.'s Quick Quilter™ at the International Quilt Market & Festival for three years. Knowing Gayle and her work with the product, Elisabeth felt that Gayle should be the one to purchase the business in January 2002. Since then Gayle has added a new grip to the Quick Quilter™ and brought this wonderful quilting tool to the Internet - for all those sore fingers around the world!
Gayle Ropp began her first quilt in 1981
and has been a member of Quilters Unlimited of Northern Virginia since 1983. Her special area of expertise is the quilting stitch & quilting design. After 12 years of commission work for both national & international clientele, Gayle was awarded the honor of quilting the National Symphony Orchestra raffle quilt for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 1997.
Several of her commissioned quilts appear in two books by Joen Wolfrom: Patchwork Persuasion and The Visual Dance as well as two others by Jinny Beyer: Soft-Edge Piecing & Designing Tessellation. Gayle quilted the cover quilt on another book by Hanne Vibeke de Koning-Stapel entitled Silk Quilts. Many of her quilts have appeared in numerous quilting magazines as well as other books by Joen Wolfrom & Jinny Beyer.
Gayle has been on staff at the Jinny Beyer Hilton Head Seminar since 1990 and teaches several quilting classes to numerous groups. We have included a list of her available classes & fees below. Gayle first purchased T.J.'s Quick Quilter™ to relieve her own sore fingers and is pleased to now carry on this family tradition.
Gayle Ropp
