Bio: Lydia Franko

Lydia was born and raised in Edson, Alberta. That’s where she met and married her husband, Ken. They lived in Edson for eight years where they started their family, and then they moved around a lot. Lydia had always admired quilts and always had a desire to do quilting but never found the time to pursue it. Then she saw a Piecemaker pattern, a beautiful queen-sized appliqué quilt, and that was it; time to make the leap. It was hardly your standard beginner project, and it took several years to finish. It got packed up and taken along with every move. She worked on it sporadically, but Lydia was determined to not get sidetracked and start other projects until this quilt was finished. 

When she finally finished all the appliqué and piecing, she sent it out to get it quilted. She was thrilled when she got it back. What a difference it made to see it expertly quilted and she knew she had to learn how to do this. There was no looking back. She was hooked. Lydia and Ken retired and moved to Oliver in 2014. She has a studio in her home where she creates her quilts which are “quilted to death”. She’s been doing ruler quilting for at least 8 years.