Remembering M'Liss Rae Hawley

Starting in the Spring of 2006, we published 8 books with M’Liss.

M’Liss Rae Hawley’s Round Robin Renaissance

Mariner’s Medallion Quilts

M’Liss Rae Hawley’s Fat Quarter Quilts

Make Your First Quilt with M’Liss Rae Hawley

M’Liss Rae Hawley’s Scrappy Quilts

101 Fabulous Fat-Quarter Bags with M’Liss Rae Hawley

Fast. Fat Quarter Baby Quilts with M’Liss Rae Hawley

M’Liss Rae Hawley’s Precut Quilts

It was wonderful to work on books with M’Liss. While she was quite busy, she always had the time to discuss her books, answering questions and brainstorming possibilities. We always started off conversations with updates on our families and dogs (her love of dachshunds is very well known and reflected on her book covers!) before getting down to business. And she was a confident and professional business woman when it came to the her activities in quilting. She made great partnerships, including the partnership with C&T but also working with different retailers and working on delightful fabric lines. She always worked with creativity and integrity.

She had a very loyal and very active group of quilters that worked with her on samples for the book. She inspired in them — and her readers and students -- a love of quilting, an attention to detail, and an element of play, be it a dachshund print fabric hidden in a traditional quilt or a statement fabric flower sewn onto a fat-quarter bag.

I was able to attend various lectures and classes M’Liss led at different Quilt Market trade shows and consumer shows like the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup. She was always a great presenter — prepared, calm and thorough, and quite funny. (She often worked in a joke about her long and always carefully manicured fingernails.) When speaking with students one-on-one she was very warm and easy to approach.

At tradeshows and other industry events, I always saw M’Liss accompanied by her steadfast companion, her husband Mike. The two were great together, both supportive of each other. While taking a backseat to M’Liss in specific quilt business discussions, Mike was a great foil for M’Liss and both creatively brainstormed possibilities. Together (and separately of course) the two were easy and fun to talk to.

In the immediate aftermath of the sudden onset of M’Liss’s illness, it seemed quieter at Quilt Market. M’Liss was full of energy and bright red hair, bright colored fabric, fun dachshund stories, and warm conversation.

She will be missed.