Founder & Inventor

1968 - First quilt at age 5

Andrea’s first quilt began with scraps from her mother’s sewing. While her mom made clothes for the family, Andrea sat nearby, playing with the leftover pieces of fabric. That first quilt at age 5 was the beginning of a lifelong foundation in quilt making.

1992 - Invents the puzzle style T-shirt quilt

Without knowing the traditional rules for making T-shirt quilts, Andrea broke them all! She created her first quilt using blocks cut to fit each graphic, no interfacing, no sashing between blocks and no rows and columns. The puzzle style is born.

2002 - Name her company Too Cool T-shirt Quilts

Andrea had been making T-shirt quilts for customers for nearly 10 years before she decided it was probably time to give the business a name.

The name came from a customer’s simple reaction. Andrea overheard someone looking at one of her quilts and saying to a friend, “That is too cool.”

And that was it. Too Cool T-shirt Quilts had its name.

2003 - Launched the Too Cool T-shirt Quilts website

In 2003, websites were still new territory for many small businesses. Andrea knew the Internet was going to matter, so she learned Microsoft FrontPage and built the first Too Cool T-shirt Quilts website herself.

She still does all the work on this website today.

2005 - Published How to Make a Too Cool Style T-shirt Quilt

The first book to document the puzzle-style method. This was the first book used by quilters who want to replicate the Too Cool approach at home.

 The book is in its 5th printing. 

How to Make a Too Cool Style T-shirt Quilt

2016 - Released a set of how-to videos about making puzzle-style quilts

Some people love to learn via video. This series was made for them!

This video series is now available on YouTube for anyone to watch. 

How to Make a Too Cool Style T-shirt Quilt - Part 1.

2018 - Developed the stained glass style T-shirt quilt

Andrea developed the Too Cool style stained-glass T-shirt quilt. Thin strips of fabric between the T-shirt blocks mimic the lead lines in stained-glass windows. The result is a T-shirt quilt that feels more like artwork than a traditional grid layout. It became one of Too Cool’s most iconic specialized quilt styles.

Ongoing - Ultra Modern style T-shirt quilts

Andrea developed the Ultra Modern T-shirt quilt method after moving beyond even her own puzzle-style designs. These quilts use curves, angles, color, negative space, and movement while still keeping the T-shirts at the center of the design. Each quilt is planned around the actual T-shirts being used, making every Ultra Modern quilt different. This ongoing work continues to push what a T-shirt quilt can be.

Today - 200+ articles in the Too Cool Learning Center

Andrea has authored more than 200 articles in the Too Cool Learning Center, making it one of the most comprehensive public resources on T-shirt quilts.