Tour Lynne Hagmeier's Store

Lynne Hagmeier's passion and vision make quilting simple, accessible, and fun.

Lynne has designed 47 Kansas Troubles fabric collections for Moda Fabrics since 2000. She displays at fat eighth bundle of each fabric collection on a ledge in her office along with antique mini sewing machines.

To make an inspiration board for her office, Lynne covered a tack board with her fabric and hung shutters on either side.

Lynne keeps her antique fabrics in a storage piece from an old general store. She covered the glass front of each drawer with a coordinating color of fabric to protect the antique fabrics from light and to indicate what fabric colors are housed within.

In these samples, you can see how Lynne has pulled out a motif from an antique fabric (bottom of each stack) and featured it in one of her fabric designs. Of the popularity of her fabric, Lynne says, "People are drawn to the warm color palette and vintage prints."

Lynne has hundreds of antique quilts and quilt tops, which she uses as inspiration for her fabrics and also to decorate her retreat center.

Lynne and her husband, Robert, reopened their retreat house in 2013 and also opened a quilt shop, KT Bernina Quilt Shop and Emporium, in Bennington, Kansas, which is about 12 miles north of Salina.

At the quilt shop, most fabrics are Kansas Troubles collections plus patterns, gifts, and plenty of precuts.

In Lynne's workroom next to the retreat center are precut fabrics housed in an antique general store fixture. Lynne uses a lot of precuts with her layered patchwork technique (a simplifying technique that involves sewing patchwork shapes on top of a background instead of piecing them into the background). "Every time I see a traditional block that has two dozen seams in it, I immediately see how to simplify it to make it easier to piece," she says.

Participants in the retreats can take a break from sewing at their station to relax or spend time hand-sewing in comfy chairs.

The retreat center is right above the quilt shop. The dormitory-style sleeping room is filled with antique quilts and those made from Kansas Troubles fabrics.

Lynne's love of antiques isn't limited to quilts. Throughout the retreat center, Lynne displays her collections of vintage items, such as these clocks.

Vintage thimbles, travel sewing kits, and tape measures are displayed in this curio cabinet.

Lynne also has an adorable collection of vintage toy irons and miniature irons on display.

Architectural details grace the large walls of the hallway to the retreat center.

In her sewing room at the cabin in rural Bennington, Lynne sews, designs, and quilts at a custom sewing desk her son Neil built from reclaimed wood. The Seven Sisters quilt, upper right, is stretched around a wooden frame and prevents glare from the window behind while still allowing light to come through.

Neil built in tables with a variety of heights for each task, including one that has a custom insert for Lynne's sewing machine.