Marian Gallian
I have a passion for quilting which sustains me through all life’s joys and trials. My mom and my aunt both made beautiful quilts and they were my inspiration.
I learned to sew as a young girl sitting at the kitchen table watching my mother sew all of my clothes and all of hers. When my first daughter was born I made her a stuffed pink hippopotamus, big enough for her to sit on. My first quilt was made in the early 1970’s and it was a child sized lion sleeping bag. I intended to make more quilts but raising my seven children took all my time.
By 1997 I took my first official quilting class and learned to make a queen sized log cabin Christmas quilt. Making 2 more large log cabin quilts with a scrappy look was the start to my stash which is now neatly organized and covers an entire wall in my quilt room.
I bought a Gammill long arm sewing machine in 2000 and began quilting professionally. I quilted several of the quilts in Blanche Young’s book, “Dresden Flower Garden” which was published by C & T. I worked for Bernina of Las Vegas for 2 years selling and teaching quilting. I also started a web based business about this time, Quilter’s Hideout, which sold quilt books, supplies and fabric. Breast cancer in 2006 brought all of this to a halt as I took a couple of years off to recuperate.
But I can’t stay away from what I love. I am a compulsive quilter and I now spend most of my time designing new quilts, traveling to classes, writing quilt patterns and teaching others to quilt. I usually work on at least 6 quilts at any one time, each in various stages of completion.
I have studied under Margaret J. Miller, Jane Sassaman, Linda Taylor, Nancy Johnson-Srebro, Blanche Young, Evelyn Sloppy, Liz Porter, Jan Mullen, Ricky Tims, Pepper Cory, Vicki Pignatelli, Flavin Glover, Laura Wasilowski, and Libby Lehman to name a few. I graduated from the University of San Francisco with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration in 1969 and received my CPA certificate in 1972. I have a strong foundation in math which I think is why quilting is so pleasing to me. I am proud to be a Grandmother and have 13 granddaughters and 5 grandsons. I keep busy making sure all have quilts made by Grandma.
