News Main Page >> Mosquera makes patterns of success

Danville Times
November 24, 2006
by Deborah Burstyn, Staff Writer

Can you keep a secret? The dark-haired mom with two little boys tugging at her jacket while she studies fabrics at Danville's Quilter's Inn shop is an international celebrity. To quilters, that is. And that is enough - more than enough, really, for quilt pattern designer Verna Mosquera.

"I fear success more than I fear failure," the 39-year-old Danville resident said with a laugh. "Success brings stresses and demands."

But success is what Mosquera must face now that her quilt pattern designs are known throughout the quilting world. From Japan to Spain to Texas, thousands of quilters have purchased her patterns. Mosquera has created 25 of her intricate pastel-hued designs for her three-year-old company, Vintage Spools. Over 5,000 copies of her first pattern "Vintage Valentine" have been sold, either over the Internet or at one of 500 stores. But Mosquera has no idea what any real inventory or income figures for her efforts might be.

"It's literally on a piece of paper around here somewhere," said Mosquera. She tries her best to multitask but considers her first priority to be her role as mother to sons Milo, 4, and Nico, 2. "Being creative is like breathing to me," she said. "But being a mom is my No. 1 priority right now. I am trying to figure out how to balance between the two."

A lifelong artist, Mosquera briefly studied ceramics and Florentine paper-making in Italy after graduating from Cal State East Bay with a degree in arts marketing.

Mosquera acknowledges, "Those marketing classes really come in handy now."

But although she had taken a sewing class at a Singer store when she was 9 years old and stitched the occasional Halloween costume in college, Mosquera did not sew very much. She did not begin quilting until 10 years ago.

She took a quilting class as the result of a New Year's resolution to explore the traditional fabric art. Then, after dabbling in real estate, she took a part-time job in the Walnut Creek quilt shop Thimble Creek. The owner asked her to teach a class.

"I had never taught anything," Mosquera recalls. "Six people signed up and two were the owners. I was really nervous." But she enjoyed it and continues to teach.

At that time, Mosquera was becoming disenchanted with fine art. She had always thought of herself as an artist, even as a child growing up in San Lorenzo, the child of immigrants from Uruguay and Guatemala.

"My parents got me a private tutor for painting and drawing. They were really good about nurturing the things I enjoyed," she said.

But by now, studio space was an ongoing problem and she was also concerned about ventilation from the paints and paint thinners she worked with. At the same time, she realized that she was getting bored with quilting from other people's designs.

Mosquera's husband, Miguel, a heating and air conditioning engineer who is also from Uruguay, encouraged her to try to create her own pattern designs.

"He said, You've got this all figured out. Go ahead and try to make your own designs."

That was easier said than done., Mosquera soon discovered. Mosquera struggled with that first design as she transitioned from creating in drawing and painting to the scraps of patterned cloth used in quilting. The quilting class she was teaching at the time consented to be her test group and every month Mosquera tried to come in with yet another piece ready for them to re-create for themselves. It took her 14 months.

"I swore I would never do it again," she said. "Deadlines are not something artists enjoy. That was a very emotional design."

That was Vintage Valentine. Mosquera now considers it her signature design and its enthusiastic reception encouraged her to create more.

But she still finds deadline pressures stressful. Luckily she only has to contend with two a year, but they are major. Mosquera tries to have a booth at the biennial Quilt Market, a commercial trade show for the industry. At the recent fall event, Mosquera and her booth designer Meredith Harbaugh won an award for best booth out of 500 booths.

Eight of Mosquera's popular designs form what is called her "postcard" collection. They measure 27 by 35 inches when finished and are intended for wall display, not bedding. Others are larger. But all require assiduous work.

Admits Mosquera, "My stuff is not the type of thing that you can whip up in a weekend. These are heirloom quality pieces that you will keep for your family or give to someone very special."

All of Mosquera's quilt patterns depict quaint motifs of flowers, birds and baskets. Many employ a holiday theme with greeting card-style objects. And most of them use the color pink.

"I even was able to get pink into a Halloween design!" Mosquera said.

Although quilters who buy her patterns do not need to use the same fabrics, many of them choose to do so.

"There are people who will go to the ends of the earth to try to track the exact fabrics that I have used."

And soon it is going to get a lot easier to duplicate the look of Mosquera's pattern photos. She plans to launch in August a fabric company called, "FreeSpirit."

Mosquera admits that she never lacks for inspiration.

"If you're not inspired by everything around you, look again - I love that quote. I don't know who said it but I love it because that is how I work," Mosquera said.

"I'll be looking through a magazine and see an article title that inspires me. I was listening to music with my kids and the name of a song, "Lullaby" struck me as a good name for a quilt.

"I get inspired by vintage pieces. I bought a vintage quilt and thought, "What would that flower look like if it was smaller?"

"The Vintage Valentine pattern came from real vintage valentines," Mosquera said. "Once you start creating quilting patterns, you see them everywhere, ties, floors and tiles - everywhere."

Mosquera's patterns are available locally at the Quilters Inn, 125-F Railroad Ave., Danville; Thimble Creek, 1534 Newell Ave., Walnut Creek; In Between Stitches, 2033 Railroad Ave., Livermore; and online at www.thevintagespool.com.