Instructor Name:

Jan Yancy

Instructor Bio:

My name is Jan Yancey and I am a creative soul. My grandmother was a quilter and my mother was a fabulous seamstress and professional tailor. So naturally, I?ve been sewing since I was very young. I?ve dabbled in lots of crafts including cross stitching and embroidery, scrapbooking, jewelry making, ceramics, cake decorating, woodworking, calligraphy and bookmaking to name only a few. And oh my goodness! There are many others! But the ones that really drew my full attention and focus were decorative painting and sewing. I taught myself to paint early in my 20?s and ended up teaching for the next 25 years. I am a Certified Decorative Artist with the National Society of Decorative Painters. Today I work mostly with watercolors.
All that time I was painting and teaching, I was sewing too. I made clothes for my 6 children (along with their dolls and teddy bears.) I never could find patterns for many of my projects so I learned early on to design and create my own. I?ve slipped patterns off of well-fitting jeans. I?ve made a suit. I designed and painted on my daughter?s blessing gown. I?ve sewn a parachute. I made 500 American Girl outfits for Christmas gifts for 5 granddaughters. I?ve sewn leather moccasins. I made over 1000 masks during the pandemic. I remade and beaded my daughters store-bought wedding gown one week before her wedding. I?ve made custom car seat covers. I mean really, doesn?t everybody do these things? It?s what I grew up with. Its what comes naturally to me. And its who I am.
I began longarm quilting about 15 years ago. I would make tops all year long then fly to my sisters house in SLC for a week to quilt them all on her longarm. My husband surprised me one Christmas with a used HQ Simply Sixteen! Now that?s true love! When it finally came time to purchase a new longarm I didn?t even consider anything but Handi Quilter. I was selected by Handi Quilter in 2019 to be their one representative for the Pacific Northwest in their new ?And I Quilt? advertising campaign. My pictures were in several well know quilting magazines that year. What an awesome experience that was for me! So much fun! They are an amazing company. I am and always will be their #1 fan. You can see the ?And I Quilt? video they made of me here:
https://www.facebook.com/HandiQuilter/videos/jan-yancey-and-i-quilt/2285310554902632/
I was once asked how many quilts I?ve made in my lifetime. I think that number would easily be in the hundreds, if not over 1000. I?ve worn out 5 sewing machines. I currently own 3 domestic sewing machines and a longarm. I do not own a Pro Stitcher. I only do custom, free motion quilting. My painting and designing skills love to play together too much to stand and watch. So I let them run like wild horses, free and untethered, making up my own rules and never doing the same design twice. Working at my Amara is my happy place.
Sewing and quilting are my heart. I sew almost every day of my life and I love, love, love a new quilting project. The bigger and more pieces a pattern has the better it is. All you have to do is look in my home in which I?ve taken over 2 rooms now, one for sewing and one for quilting. My house is filled with quilts. They?re on the beds, over the chairs, hanging on the walls, stuffed in closets, in boxes and on shelves. My very supportive husband once asked me ?how many quilts do you need?? I told him I?d have to get back with him on that. I?m still working on those numbers.
Oh, and yes, I?m a writer too.