Lois Levihn

Lois Levihn, author of the “Around The Frame” column, stitches together stories of current events while highlighting a significance woven into each quilt.

As a Fort Wayne native, I grew up close to Waynedale graduating from Wayne High School and IPFW. I’ve been a writer since 2009 when the new owners Alex Cornwell and Michael Alberico (2009-2013) were looking for new columnists.

I enjoy the community spirit of Waynedale which was never more evident than how we banded together after the murder of Perla Nieto last November. We are a family that supports our Waynedale businesses and have our own special Memorial Day Parade that Herb and I have walked in for many years and attend the ceremony at the Prairie Grove Cemetery. Gathering at the legion to eat and talk to friends afterwards has also become a part of our Memorial Day tradition.

Quilts have always been important to me. I love the stories surrounding them, the techniques used in making them, and the happy faces when a beloved quilt is restored and returned to its family. I turned that passion into a business when I opened Born Again Quilts in 2012 in a building that dates back at least to 1926 when it was Hoosier Grocery Store #50. I received a façade grant thanks to the late Mayor Henry that allowed me to enhance the appearance and make it accessible to all.

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To date, I’ve had over 100 sales on Etsy. I’ve sold fabric to a woman who had started a project 10 years ago, ran out of fabric, set it aside and found it in my shop. I had a woman who cried when she saw I was selling a baby quilt an exact replica of one she had as a child that was “lost”. She told me she cried when she saw it. I asked her how did she lose it: a move? A parent thought it was in shambles and threw it away? She wrote me back that knowing it was her most treasured possession, her soon-to-be ex-husband destroyed it. WOW! I never saw that coming and so to reunite her with one was an honor. On a more positive note, nothing beats having Tilly Grimes the Broadway designer for the Tony Award winning musical Shucked! to buy a quilt for the show and go to New York City and see it on Broadway!

Now as I enter my 15th year of writing Around the Frame, who knows what quilt or textile will be showcased next in the Waynedale News. At first my columns were in every edition until I transitioned to the first issue of each month. Boy did I hear about that! Readers, some people I didn’t know, called me to ask me why I was missing from the WN. I explained it was to give other people space to write their columns. That told me how much my column means to readers!

You can visit my facebook website at www.facebook.com/bornagainquilts/ or the store at: www.bornagainquilts.com