BETH MILLER
Cumberland Co.
Correspondent
CARLISLE (Cumberland Co.)
Expert quilter Karen Kay
Buckley says she got into her craft
by accident.
The Carlisle woman said that it
all happened about 10 years ago
when she went to take an adult
education class at the Carlisle
High School.
When she got to the school, the
class was cancelled, however, so
she decided to take a class in
quilting instead.
“The rest is kind of history,”
Buckley said.
The quilting bug bit her hard
and it found a good target. Since
she accidentally fell into quilting,
Buckley has written several books
on the subject, taught about 1,000
other people how to quilt, and
won several national awards.
Pennsylvania Dutch
MINCE
MEAT
WITH BEEF
Packed: 35 Lb. Containers •12 Lb. -4 To Case
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33 N. Market St. • Elizabethtown, PA 17022
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Karen Buckley Becomes Expert Quilter
Buckley said that after that first
quilting class, she continued taking
classes while she worked. Her hus
band, Joe, was attending the Dick
inson School of Law at the time.
After the couple were in
Carlisle for a while, Joe got a
job offer in Bucks County. Karen
didn’t want to move at first, but
she said she changed her mind
after Joe convinced her it would be
a good place to open a quilt shop.
That idea caught her interest,
so they moved and Karen did
open a shop. The shop was suc
cessful and is still doing well even
though the Buckleys have since
moved back to this area to a feder
al-style farmhouse just outside
Carlisle.
The entire third floor of the
Buckleys’ big old house is devot
ed to Karen’s quilting studio.
Karen needs a lot of room for
her craft because she enjoys all
types of quilting—hand quilting,
applique, hand piecing, and
machine quilting.
She displayed her love and
skill at quilting in her first book,
“From Basics to Binding,” which
is a handy and comprehensive
guide to the craft. She said she
also has another book that is ready
to be published.
Buckley’s quilting skill has
been recognized many times.
For example, not too long ago
she won a blue ribbon in the tradi
tional applique category at the
American International Quilt
Association Show in Houston,-
Tex. That quilt, which she called
the “Buckley Album Quilt,” beat
quilts entered by contestant from
10 other countries.
Her album quilt was a very
personal work of art since it
depicted significant events in her
own life.
Her quilt, which is similar to
the so-called Baltimore Album
Quilts of the 1840 s and 1850 s,
features nine blocks on an ivory
background. The colors used to
create pictures on the work range
from rose to dark green.
Since it is an applique quilt, it
is made of fabric cut into various
shapes and applied to the back
ground fabric with a series of
blind stitches.
Karen said her award-winning
quilt was something of a team
effort since Joe did the artwork
for some of the center blocks
using an indelible pen.
One block depicts one of the
Buckleys’ favorite hobbies; visit
ing as many of Pennsylvania’s
more than 240 covered bridges as
LancMtor Arming, Saturday. Octobar 29, 1994-B7
Karen Buckley displays one of the 200 quilts that she has
made in the past several years.
they can,
Another block features flowers
because joe likes to send them to
her, Karen said. A large heart and
love birds in another block
depicts the Buckleys’ love for
each other.
The center block of the quilt
depicts their house, another one
shows a star and the dates of their
birthdays, the day they met and
their wedding date.
Other blocks show the law
school from which Joe graduated,
Lock Haven University where
they met, and a picture of heart
and hands to symbolize the fact
that Karen and Joe are each oth
ers’ best friend.
Another big victory for Buck
ley came when she won the Best
of Show Award at the National
Quilting Association annual show
in Charlestown, W. Va.
At that show, her winning
entry was her “Dreaming of the
Tropics” applique quilt that won
in a competition with more that
500 entries from throughout the
nation.
That winning quilt was adapt
ed from a 16th century Italian
mosaic, Karen said. It features a
display of flowers that radiate out
from Hawaiian-styles yellow and
red center on a black background.
On the back is an underwater
scene that shows coral reefs.
Karen’s expertise in the quilt
ing field caqje in handy last year
when she helped coordinate a pop
ular quilt exhibit for the Cumber
land County Historical Society.
When she isn’t quilting her
self, Karen is either taking or
teaching a class on the subject,
working with her local quilt club,
lecturing on quilts, or designing
her next project.