I love creating simple, pieced, country quilts that are easy and fun to live with

Bennington, Kansas is where we can find the international quilt design expert Lynne Hagmeier and her impressive business Kansas Troubles Quilters.

Lynne Hagmeier is too modest to describe herself in this way, but Hagmeier’s world-class quilt design work has been recognized across the USA and beyond.

Lynne and her husband Robert Hagmeier are the owners of Kansas Troubles Quilters shop in Bennington.

How did it happen that you became a quilter?

Lynne Hagmeier: Oh it’s a long story. At an early age I became fascinated with sewing. Mom taught me to sew, and my grandmother made Barbie doll clothes with me. But quilting came much later. I grew up in Bennington, married my high school sweetheart, joined the Air Force, and used the GI bill to earn a degree in social work. We were living in Texas with my family, but my husband was killed in a car accident, and I with my four little kids returned to Kansas.

In Kansas I met Robert Hagmeier who was from Salina. He had children the same age as mine. We married and settled in Salina.

One day I went into a local quilt shop and became fascinated with quilting.

This was the beginning of your career as a quilter?

L. H.: Yes, that’s it. I started making little quilts, and two of my friends joined me. We decided to sell them at the Salina Riverfest.

The Riverfest needed a name to put in the program. We looked in the quilt encyclopedia, which has thousands of quilt blocks, and found a design from the Civil War called Kansas Troubles. One of our husbands called the three of us triple trouble, so it seemed like a fit.

That’s how your Kansas Troubles Quilters was born? 

L. H.: Yes, our Kansas Troubles Quilters was born in 1994. After many requests for the patterns of our original creations, we published our patterns for wholesale distribution to quilt shops. I continued the business after my friends moved on.

You especially liked the design work?

L. H.: Well, over time, I saw that I didn’t want to make the same quilt over and over. I liked designing new ones, and I wanted to sell my ideas rather than sell my labor.

So you started traveling around the state in search of customers? 

L. H.: Yes, I traveled around the state showing store owners my designs. One owner suggested I go to the International Quilt Market in Houston. I did so and connected with the Moda fabrics company, sometimes described as the Cadillac of fabric wholesalers. The people at Moda liked my work so much that they asked me to design a fabric line for them in 1999.

Since then, I’ve been designing fabric for Moda and create simple, pieced, country quilts that are easy and fun to live with.

Does your business need a lot of space now?

L. H.: Over time, as our business grew, and our quilt retreats were becoming popular. we needed more space, of course. So we bought and remodeled a vacant building in my hometown of Bennington where we eventually moved.

We made the upstairs into a place for quilt retreats and put my studio and a small retail space on the first floor. The space became booked solid for retreats. As demand grew, the retail space expanded to fill the entire first floor and the studio was moved into our home.

Do you get requests to do training in other states?

L. H.: Oh yes, we have many requests to do training and demonstrations in other states.

So I began participating in something called a quilting cruise to places such as Alaska, Europe, and the Caribbean. Demand blossomed to the point that Robert left his job and joined the business.

Say a few words about the annual event you hold every fall.

L. H.: Kansas Troubles Quilters now hosts an annual fall KT & Friends quilters retreat which attracts 50-80 ladies from across the country. I like to bring in a guest teacher each fall.

Today, Kansas Troubles Quilters shop in Bennington is a destination stop for quilters from across the country, isn’t it?

L. H.: Yes, in a way. Many admirers of quilting craftsmanship come here to learn and share their experiences.

You have created hundreds of quilt designs and written two dozen books?

L. H.: I designed my first line in 1999. Now I’m now working on my 80th line.

We also enjoy collecting antiques and display many of those antiques in our store.

For quilters across the country, Lynne and Robert Hagmeier are making a world of difference.

By Alex Arlander| ENC News