My name is Penny Allen and I live in Tucson, AZ. As a child I remember playing on the floor under the quilt frame with my Grandma and the church ladies quilting and visiting away. My maiden name was Catterson, so we called her Grandma Cat. Grandma's quilts were totally utilitarian, made from scraps. She could take nothing and make something out of it.

In the early 90's when my own children were young, I wanted to make them quilts for their beds and I was instantly hooked on the medium. What excites me about quilting is seeing good workmanship.  I love the fact that if I live to be 100 I will never master all the techniques to quilting. Tucson is a wonderful place to live for a quilter. I belong to the Tucson Quilters Guild, Arizona Quilters Guild and the Arizona Longarm Quilters Guild. It is so awesome to be able to attend lectures and classes with nationally known teachers. I also teach at the local Quilt Shops.

My love for good workmanship pushed me to begin entering quilt shows as a learning tool. I am not a competitive person but I wanted to see what the judges would say about my quilts.  I've won numerous ribbons and awards at the Tucson Quilters Guild show, Arizona Quilters Guild show in Phoenix, and HMQS in Salt Lake City, UT. I always feel honored to read the judges comments and see that they spent enough time with my quilt to see an error I knew was there. I am always learning and growing as a quilter and striving for perfection.

 

In 2004 I realized that I was the most excited when a quilt was ready to be quilted. When I would pick out a pattern, I was already thinking about how I could quilt that particular pattern. I love being a professional longarm quilter. Grandma Cats Machine Quilting is the name of my business because every day I walk out into my studio and think of Grandma and say "Wow, Grandma would not believe all that I have!"