Janine Burke
From the Troy Corporation website:
Janine Burke
designs by jb
Janine’s love of textiles stems back to her childhood. You might say that while The Righteous Brothers had “that loving feeling”, Janine had “that tactile feeling” from the the time she was born! Her mother made sure that Janine and her siblings were always doing something with their hands! After all, busy hands are happy hands! Pen or scissors to paper, crochet hook or knitting needles to yarn or needle and thread to fabric. Janine and her two sisters, Jonelle and Jeanette, were rarely idle and thus very productive girls!
As the years passed and Janine grew into her preteen years, her passion for all things fabric expanded. She learned to embroider and turned tea towels and pillow cases into masterpieces. Then came the cross-stitch phase of her life. She enjoyed every minute of her adventures in fabric and thread, but she knew there had to be more. A better way to express her creativity had to be out there, and she was going to find it.
Janine admired her mother and both of her grandmothers with every fiber of her being. She would watch them as they sat in the parlor and quilt phenomenal works of art. She loved the camaraderie between them as much as she loved the elegant quilts they created. It is easy to see why quilting has always been a part Janine’s life. Janine sold her first quilt at age 11. The success of that experience spurred Janine on to become the expert quilter that she is today.
Janine is a rare combination of technical skills and artistic talent. She’s a practical woman who likes to pay her bills. After finishing school her practical side kicked in and she entered the corporate world. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to sustain her way of life by simply doing what she loved the most, quilting. By 2001, however, she tired of the bureaucratic lifestyle and went out on her own to start a longarm quilting business. Culture shock for sure.
Janine loves to teach and share her knowledge with others. She was living in suburban Chicago at the time and was a regular instructor at local quilt shops in the area. She loved what she was doing, but wanted to take it one step further. That is when in 2005 she co-founded Blue Underground Studios, designing quilt patterns for both the modern and traditional quilter.
Being a local Chicago professional quilter and teacher, Janine would visit TROY’S warehouse. She loved wandering the aisles looking for fabric for the patterns she designed plus for use in her classes. In 2013, on one of her visits, she was approached by the TROY design team. The team was…and is…a big fan of her designs. They asked her if she would consider designing fabric for their RIVERWOODS COLLECTION. Without any hesitation she answered with an enthusiastic yes.
TROY is proud to say that we have produced seven of Janine’s collections with two more already in production. Janine’s eternal good taste is appreciated by her legions of fans throughout the nation and the world.
In 2014, the call of family helped Janine decide to move back to her childhood home in Washington State. Due to the 2,000 mile distance between Chicago and Seattle, Janine thought it would be best to go out on her own and designs by jb was born. Janine’s library of contemporary quilt patterns continues to grow while she continues to sell her most popular patterns from the past.
Janine’s relationship with TROY has once again expanded! Not only does Janine continue to design her sensational fabric for TROY’S RIVERWOODS COLLECTION, she is now TROY’S REPRESENTATIVE in WASHINGTON STATE and OREGON! Janine is the rep you can count on. She’ll do her best to be there when you need her and follow through to the nth degree!
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