Staff and Teachers
Candy Bailey
Candy is a retired nurse. She moved to Lakeland in 1998 and caught the quilting bug. She enjoys making purses and has a big interest in crazy quilts. Candy has been with The Quilting Barn for almost two years and works at the shop 3 days a week, teaching classes on her "off days." Candy has one son, Tom, and one grandson, Aaron.
Elise George
Elise is a native of North Carolina, but she has lived in Millington since her husband, Phil, retired from the military. Elise loves to teach beginner quilters, and she has worked at several fabric jobs in her past. She and Phil have two children and three grandchildren. Elise is very active in the Pickin Up the Pieces Quilt Guild as well as the Millington Guild. She also is very active in Girl Scouts as a troop leader. Elise works at the Barn 2-3 Saturdays a month.
Debra Hamsley
Debra has worked at the Quilting Barn since it opened. She is the "Queen of Color", and her color confidence class is one that you don't want to miss. Debra lives in Arlington, and her husband, Keith, is an educator in the Shelby County School system. They have three children, and they just found out that they are going to be grandparents in March 2009. Debra works at the Barn 2 days a week in addition to the classes that she teaches.
Libby Ledford
Libby taught home-economics at Bolton High School for 20+ years before retiring. She loves to teach "beginners" to quilt, and her love of quilting is obvious to all that meet her. Libby has a Statler long-arm quilting machine at her home, and machine quilting is her passion. She is married to Bill, and she has one son and her beautiful granddaughter, Ada.
Shelia Medlin
Shelia and her sister, Lynda, opened the Quilting Barn in 2005, and just recently sold it to Pat Vargo. Shelia loves all types of crafts - especially quilting, scrapbooking and smocking. She previously owned a custom frame shop, as well as another quilt/hobby shop in the Bartlett area. Shelia loves to machine piece, but she also enjoys hand piecing. Shelia retired from bookkeeping prior to opening the Barn. She is married to David, and they have two children and seven grandchildren.
Jean Person
A native of Memphis, Jean taught biology in Florida for three years. After graduating from art school, she worked as a graphic designer and artist. In 2003, after receiving several of her mother's quilt tops, she began to hand quilt the tops. This began her machine quilting experience and in the first year, she completed twenty-eight quilts. Jean enjoys applique', hand piecing and quilting charm quilts and original designs. Jean works at the Barn 2 days a week, in addition to the classes that she teaches.
Pat Vargo
Pat is the current owner of the Stitchin' Station (dba Quilting Barn). Pat has been quilting for several years, and she has always wanted to own a quilt shop, so this is her dream come true. Pat is married to Mark, and she has two daughters and one step-son. She has a Gammill long-arm quilting machine at her home. She looks forward to meeting all of the customers as they visit the Barn!