MARCIA LAYTON DESIGNS LLC
TAMPA, FLORIDA

For over 20 years I was a pre-K teacher and assistant director of Play Haven Preschool in Tampa, Florida, where I taught art, music, French, and school readiness skills to four-year-olds. I started making quilts using children’s handprints for the school’s spring art show and fund-raising event in 1998.  The quilts were so popular and I had so much fun making them that they became an annual tradition for the next 8 years. , was published by Martingale and Company and was followed by  In 2006 I stopped teaching and began working at Heritage Quilt and Needlework in Tampa.  What fun to be in a store full of fabric each day!  Making store samples gave me the opportunity and practice to improve my quilting skills and try new techniques.    As a former teacher, I started my quilting career by making embellished handprint quilts with my young students.  It is amazing what fun you can have with a painted handprint, some pretty fabric and some interesting trims!  The quilts make wonderful keepsakes and can be personalized in so many ways.  My books were the result of years of experimenting and trying every idea I could think of.