Who’s Who in Pieced Together Quilters - Rae Hooks

Rae Hooks began quilting in 1992 – she first made a Baltimore appliqué quilt block and decided she wanted to quilt. She had always sewn because mom didn’t mend fast enough. She began with Kathy Honeycutt at San Lorenzo Adult School on Tuesday evening. Rae remembers taking a “beginning” class but it wasn’t called “Baby Beginners.” There were beginners and intermediate quilters.  After she retired, she moved to Kathy’s Wednesday afternoon class.

Rae estimates she has made over 50 quilts but doesn’t really know how many – it may be 75. Just within the last three weeks she has penned five quilts. She has given most away but has quilts in most every room in the house. There are no blank walls without a quilt.

She and Joan Allie have been friends for a long time and Rae helped finish the appliqué quilt Kathy had planned for her son’s wedding quilt. That is when Rae found out about Pieced Together Quilters. One more quilter was saved by having this wonderful group to join. 

Married 56 years – so many men and only one sample – Rae you’re a hoot. Jim and Rea have two sons, Lee and Mark. Her oldest grandson graduated from High School June, 1^st and the second grandson was born the next day. They are 18 years apart.  Her oldest grandson is in his third year at Annapolis and the baby is in England.  Darn, they live so far away. Mark teaches at the University of Wales, biochemistry, and Kashia, Mark’s wife, is finishing her doctorate in microbiology. Mark’s little man’s name is Christopher.  Lee, the oldest, lives in Seattle with his wife, Fran. Their son, Dennis, is the midshipman.

Other than quilting, Rae loves to square-dance but her husband began to be hard of hearing, so they had to stop dancing. She belongs to Amador Valley quilters and American Sewing Guild, Walnut Creek Chapter. Rae loves to garden. She also spends an hour a day, five days a week, at the gym. She loves the floor exercises where she socializes with her friends.

Rae was an Army brat and lived all over the US during the Second World War. Her husband got a job in the Bay Area after they married in Tacoma, Washington.  Rae was schooled in New York and Nebraska and Jim got his doctorate in Nebraska(agronomy – study of plant genetics). A little know fact about Rae is she is most proud of her grandchildren and the most satisfying thing she has done is finish Kathy’s quilt.  Thanks so much for sharing your fun story with me Rae.