TERRELL SUNDERMANN'S
LIFE STORY
Meet the author of Pieced
Roman Shades: Turn Your Favorite Quilt Patterns into Window
Hangings!
In the late 1980s, Terrell Sundermann found herself in a new home
with no window coverings. Having grown up in southwestern Kansas,
where her grandmother had taught her to sew and "you were expected
to do things yourself," she decided to turn a pieced quilt top into
a Roman shade. Terrell loved the resulting treatment so much that
over the next several years she covered every window in her house
with pieced Roman shades, dubbing them window hangings.
Throughout this creative endeavor, Terrell, who holds a PhD in
physics from the University of Illinois and has studied business
at Bentley College, worked as a manager in the high-tech industry.
Never content, she switched jobs every two years, thinking she would
be happy if she could just find the right company. It finally dawned
on her that she was in the wrong business. So, with much trepidation,
in 1993 she quit the tech biz and founded Terrell Designs, with
the grand idea of filling every home in America (perhaps the world!)
with window hangings.
She launched her business with just four designs: Log Cabin, Shadows,
Churn Dash, and Four Diamonds. But she was good at looking at pictures
and figuring out how to make what she saw. She also had an eye for
color and fabric combinations, which allowed her to produce stunning
designs.
For a time Terrell struggled with the best way to market her work.
At first she called herself a manufacturer, then she realized she
should refer to herself as a fabric artist.
Terrell initially spent her time designing and marketing, while
hired stitchers worked part-time in her home to make the shades.
As the years passed, though, her clients asked for more and more
custom shades. It became impossible to explain to other quilters
how to create certain pieces, so Terrell pulled back and transformed
her business into a one-woman shop. She now sells her window hangings
as commissioned art pieces. Each is a one-of-a-kind design.
Terrell's beautiful shades hang in homes throughout the United
States and have been featured in show homes in Colorado and Massachusetts.
During one of these exhibits, Terrell noticed the reaction of quilters
to her invention. Home sewers would rush up to her shades, look
at the backs, pull them up and down, and stand back and admire them.
A little later they would reappear with notebooks (and sometimes
fellow sewers) and attempt to figure out how to make such shades
themselves.
To acknowledge their interest, and wanting to share her years of
experience with quilting enthusiasts, Terrell wrote a book containing
step-by-step instructions for making window hangings. Pieced
Roman Shades: Turn Your Favorite Quilt Patterns into Window Hangings
was published by C&T Publishing in February of 2000.
Today Terrell designs and produces valances, wall hangings, pillows,
placemats, and other home-decor accessories in addition to her window
hangings. A member of the Arapahoe County Quilters and the Colorado
Quilting Council, she offers workshops and lectures on window hangings,
and uses her web site
to keep her students and readers up to date on new designs.
Terrell lives in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, where she and
her husband ski, hike, bicycle, and garden. The understanding Ned
allows her to drag him along different routes every time they go
out, even though they often get lost and ride or hike much further
than they'd planned. "Hey," says Terrell logically, "it always takes
twice as long as you thought to create a new design!" Her son is
a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and Ned's daughters have exciting careers in Texas and Ohio. Terrell
and Ned visit the kids as often as possible, but love being empty
nesters.
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TERRELL SUNDERMANN