Marlene Klauba's Big Addiction by Kristin Jacobsen

Artistically, Marlene enjoys the challenge of designing and the tactile and visual richness of the fabrics, as well as the beauty of the finished product.

Beyond art, though, she has experienced a link to the past in learning about the role that quilting has played during at least 2000 years of tradition. She has also enjoyed creating history herself by commemorating events with quilts she hopes will be saved and passed down.

Being part of a community of quilters is a different kind of link to tradition, as quilters share wisdom, tips, lore, and stories. In quilting guilds and in quilting friends, Marlene has found a tight-knit community that is almost as important as the quilts themselves.

A self-described "fabricoholic," Marlene has always enjoyed creating with fabric and other materials. She has been sewing since she was seven years old, and she also learned early how to embroider, crochet, and do cross stitch. It wasn't until she discovered quilting, though, that she found her calling and her community. Even then, the interest didn't take immediately.

"When I was 16, my grandmother gave me a quilt top and said I would have to learn to quilt it," Marlene says. "I still have it."

Few classes or resources for learning about quilting existed until the 1980's, Marlene says, when she saw a newspaper ad for a quilt class at Minnesota Fabrics in 1986. It was here that her real interest began to develop.

She finished her first full-sized quilt in time for her aunt's 40th wedding anniversary in 1987 and started a family tradition of making quilts for significant family events.

"After that, it was all history," Marlene said. "I've been quilting like a maniac ever since."

That interest was fed in 1990 when Marlene joined the Friendship Star Quilt Guild, a group that meets monthly for classes, field trips, and individual quilting advice. That same year, she also joined the Northwest Suburban Quilters Guild. In both groups, she found an appealing diversity of women and men of all ages and walks of life.

By 1997, Marlene had won an honorable mention at the Northwest Suburban Quilters Guild show with her favorite technique, a stained glass pattern. Now, she's made more than 50 wall quilts and at least six full size quilts. She has more than 200 books on quilting, and she owns five sewing machines and approximately two six-drawer chests of fabric organized by color.

Marlene has also developed a specialty in photo transfer quilts. Staff members who have attended retirement parties or other staff celebrations will remember signing these quilts and sending honorees away with NUL memories.