“It’s Willie Nelson and Waylon Jenning’s fault! Music
influenced my move to Texas.” Susan
McKinney was born in Bartesville, Oklahoma, and then moved to Missouri with her
parents. After college, Susan packed up
everything in her car and headed to Texas.
She landed in Abilene working with an engineering firm. Within a few months she met a young man at the
firm who had just graduated from Texas A&M.
They married and had two children, Jenny and Jeff, then moved to the
Dallas area. Jenny is now married and
lives in Washington DC. Jeff is a Graphic Designer with an advertising firm in downtown
Dallas. Susan isn’t yet a grandmother,
but she would love to be!
Susan has always sewn. She learned by watching her mother
and grandmother. She still has the first
quilt she ever made. It is about a foot square, made when she was 4 or 5 while
at her grandmother’s house. At 16, Susan
made a full size quilt she still has, although it is in poor condition. One she made at 19 is still being used on her
son’s bed at home.
A few year ago while working part time at the library and at
The Old Craft Store (where she still works), Susan saw a volunteer ad and found
Quilts For Kids. She made many quilts
for this organization. She heard about
Newborns In Need when Marge Bessire came in to The Old Craft Store to pick up
some donated fabric. When there was no
longer a Quilts For Kids representative in the area, she started donating to
Newborns In Need. Last year she donated 57 baby quilts and her goal for 2014 is
72! Susan also brought in four new
volunteers from her friendship quilting group.
