As co-owner of The Quilted Sampler on South MacDill Avenue, she teaches a variety of quilting classes. She also designs and makes her own quilts at an impressive rate, and just recently, she co-authored a book about quilting that is getting national distribution.

Not bad for a woman who got into quilting by accident

As a young wife and mother, Hart was busy enough managing the home front for husband, Don, a Tampa lawyer, and her sons, Brian, now 27, and Leighton, 25.

``I had no interest in quilting,'' she said.

Then in 1988, a friend asked Hart to accompany her to an evening quilting class at The Quilted Sampler. Hart got the flu and couldn't go to that class.

``But my curiosity was piqued, so I signed up for a hand-quilting class,'' said Hart.

The hand quilt got put on permanent hold when Hart took a machine quilting class.

``It's still not finished,'' said Hart of the hand quilt. ``Once I discovered the sewing machine, there was no looking back.''

A registered nurse by training, Hart had worked on and off for several years at Women's Hospital in Tampa, and later volunteered there and at her sons' school, Mitchell Elementary.

But that all changed once the quilting bug took over.

``I loved the way you could combine fabrics and textures,'' said Hart, who took more classes, made more quilts, and became proficient as well as prolific.

An opportunity arose in 1991 to become a co-owner of The Quilted Sampler.

``It was something I wanted to do after about a year of quilting,'' Hart said. ``I've always wanted to experiment with my own business.''

Recently, Hart fulfilled another ambition: to write a book.

Just published in July, ``Creating Quilts With Simple Shapes,'' is Hart's first book.

``It was one of the things on life's checklist to do. One of those things like going up in a glider that I wanted to accomplish in my life,'' Hart said.

Hart co-wrote the book with her friend Ann Castleberry of Gainesville.

``Ann and I found out we both wanted to do this, and we knew if we did it together, we'd get it done,'' Hart said. ``We had each other to make us stay in line and keep going.''

``Our philosophies about quilting are very similar,'' said Castleberry, 42, a former environmental chemist who is now a full-time mother and quilter. ``There's a great synergism between us.''

The duo unknowingly began the long process toward publishing a book when Hart made a quilt in 1998 called ``Tampa Connects Up,'' using simple shapes like squares, rectangles and half square triangles.

Castleberry saw the quilt and suggested design and fabric changes that resulted in two totally different quilts from the same pattern.

Thus the idea of progressing a design to make different quilts was born, and ``Tampa Connects Up'' became the first quilt for the book.

``It's for people who have a few quilts under their belt and want to explore design,'' Hart said. ``And for people who are uncomfortable with fabric selection.''

A flow sheet in the book shows how to use simple shapes to progress a design. Another helps people select fabrics for a specific project, all in easy- to-understand directions.

Hart has already taught one class that used a design from the book, and will teach two more in the fall at The Quilted Sampler.

``I really like the design of the book,'' said Cathy Leitner, 52, a quilter since 1976 and co-owner of Just Quilted in St. Petersburg. ``She [Hart] really takes you from design to putting the quilt together.''

Leitner did the quilting on the 30 machine-pieced quilts Hart and Castleberry made for the book.

Mary Ellen Hopkins, known widely to quilters as the woman who popularized quick cutting and piecing methods, provided the introduction to the book.

Finishing the book took Hart away from the shop a lot. Fortunately, her co-owner, Adrienne Tavares, was understanding.

``This is something Mischele has wanted to do for such a long time, I just had to let her do it,'' said Tavares, one of the original owners of The Quilted Sampler.

``I found in Adrienne a partner who would allow me to try some of my ideas out. And she would also let me fall flat on my face without ever criticizing,'' Hart said.

Before Hart was a partner, Tavares had taken her to a quilt market in Houston, where fabric, notions and book vendors from all over the world were gathered.

``She really went wild,'' Tavares said of Hart. ``Her imagination just started going in all directions. She saw things I couldn't see.''

That imagination and color sense are invaluable to customers in The Quilted Sampler looking for help with fabric selection. Open since 1984, the owners say it is the only shop in Tampa that addresses strictly quilting concerns.

According to industry statistics, interest in quilting as a hobby grows every year. Hart agreed, and described the average Quilted Sampler customer as a woman over 50 who spends about $600 a year on quilting supplies.

``She wants price tags in big letters [so she can see them] and doesn't want to bend over to look at anything,'' joked Hart.

Hart has already developed 45 designs for her next quilting book.

``At this point, all I need to do is start sewing,'' she said.

Now, what about going up in a glider?

``Did that last year,'' Hart quipped.

Correspondent Esther Hammer can be reached at (813) 286-0838.