About Us

Carmen was raised in a big family of 17 kids- 10 girls and 7 boys. Her business name is Tensisters Handicraft. From an early age she was taught to quilt by her mother and sisters. She has had a children’s clothing business in Seattle, was a freelance educator for Viking and Pfaff for 15 years, and is an award winning longarm quilter. She has taught at many quilt shows around the country.

She was named HMQS Teacher of the Year 2013

Something she often says in class is, “If it looks HARD, but is actually really EASY then that is my style!” Her classes focus on quilting techniques– skill building and confidence building. She loves the traditional quilt patterns of days past, but loves new, easy techniques to make the process fun, faster, and successful. She has developed the Tensisters Piping Tool and the Tensisters Easy Piecing Grid with its companion book, “Ten Quilts for Ten Sisters”.

Although her favorite work is to be in the classroom teaching quilting techniques, her real love is her family of five kids, their spouses, her ten beautiful grand kids, and her husband of 36 years, Patrick. Her other hobbies are digging in the dirt; whether gardening, dutch-oven cooking, making rock pathways, or playing in the sand box.