More about Rob
My Family
I first met my beautiful wife, Jenny, in the 7th grade. I had a crush on her from our senior year on. We attended the same church, but never dated until I returned home from my snowboarding adventures in the Pacific Northwest. We've been married since 1997, and have two amazing kids. Our son, Brayden, loves music and our daughter, Ruby, has more talent with a pen than any person I've ever met.
My Home
I live on the central coast of California in Morro Bay, and it is truly God's country. The amazing people and beautiful landscape help to foster my creative spirit. As a family we love to surf, hike, and spend time soaking up the sun and enjoying the "SLO life."
My Creative Outlets
I've been known for my expertise in the machine quilting world. I even spent four years hosting the Man Sewing channel over at Missouri Star Quilt Co. I love using my boundless energy to share the joy of creativity. I am blessed to to have great companies to work with such as Stitchin' Heaven in Quitman, TX and Juki Sewing Machines. I also love to spend time playing the guitar, working in my woodshop, and drawing.
MY Story
My quilting journey began when I started working in my mother’s quilt shop, The Cotton Ball, in Morro Bay, California. My wife was working on her teaching credentials so, I needed to pick up some extra hours around the shop. Shortly thereafter, the shop started selling Pfaff sewing machines and I became a certified technician for them. I hadn’t done much sewing yet, but I was about to!
I taught myself to sew by making about 30 aloha shirts—which yielded a fantastic wardrobe and a ton of scraps, mostly batiks and florals. This large fabric stash fed my desire to try free motion machine quilting and those scraps became my very first quilt. It wasn’t much to look at, but my second quilt, “The Dolphin Dance,” was a hit! It’s an easy strip pieced quilt that has now sold hundreds of patterns and countless kits. From then on, I began teaching myself how to quilt using traditional techniques adapted by me on my domestic sewing machine. I soon became known for my quilted seascapes and people started referring to me as “that surfer dude who quilts.”
It wasn’t long before I began teaching my self-taught quilting techniques in classes at our store and then at four-day quilting retreats. During one of my trips to Houston Quilt Market I made a wisecrack to the president of Free Spirit Fabrics and landed my first job as a fabric designer! Another wisecrack later and I was designing quilts for Michael Miller Fabric’s new releases. I was also offered the opportunity to show my quilts at the Marine Art Gallery. The opening was a huge success and I was able to sell a third of my wall hangings the first weekend and booked a commission quilt that now hangs in our county’s most prestigious health club.
This story travels with me as I present my quilts and techniques to guilds across America. I have filmed for Simply Quilts, Uncommon Threads, The Quilt Show, and Missouri Star Quilt Company with Man Sewing for the past four years. Wow, what a great ride! Now I’m traveling and teaching and developing new quilt projects along the way. Life is short, be creative, and have fun!
Partners
