After too many years of dreaming about making quilts, I decided it was time to live into that dream. While many folks gradually drift into quilting, I claim a specific date when I declared I was a quilter: September 14, 2003. That was the final day of a three-day Martha Pullen quilt event in Huntsville, Alabama, at which I encountered today’s quilt world for the first time. I spent the next three days driving home — I lived in White Plains, New York, at the time — stopping at more than a dozen quilt shops en route. I was hooked.
It was a few years before I could give quilting much attention because I had a more than full-time job, but I did take classes at shops in New York City and surrounding areas and attended quilt shows, exhibitions and events whenever possible. When I was able to step away from full-time employment in 2007, I finally had time to quilt and soon began teaching at Quilter’s Crossing in West Nyack, New York, a wonderful shop that sadly is no more though its owner Colleen Nunes continues as a skilled long-arm quilter. I thank her for taking a chance on me as a new quilting teacher.
I owe my love of all things quilting to my paternal grandmother, Gertrude Jones, who made sure all her grandchildren slept under covers of love pieced from remnants of her house dresses.
Lecture
Pagtinabangay: The Quilts and Quiltmakers of Caohagan Island
You’ll be transported to a tiny island — just 13 acres — in the central Philippines as you enjoy images and stories of the colorful quilts and the more than 100 quiltmakers of Caohagan Island. You’ll see photos of more than 50 of these handmade, one-of-a-kind quilts plus be introduced to the unique techniques developed by these quiltmakers whose tools are simply fabric and scissors, needle and thread. I spent more than a month on the island, quilted with the residents, went fabric shopping with them on nearby Cebu Island, and snorkeled the reef that surrounds Caohagan. Those who view the quilts come away smiling, inspired by the creativity of these women and men. This lecture is perfect for warming up a winter guild meeting.
Workshop
Demystifying Design for Foundation Paper Piecing
This is my favorite class to teach in part because I don’t know anyone else who teaches quite what I offer. You’ll learn to create foundations for everything from traditional blocks to pictorial quilts. We’ll start with designing foundations for simple blocks then move to more complex blocks. In the process, you’ll discover when foundation piecing is the best piecing process for you. You’ll design a block, and you’ll design a small pictorial quilt working from a photograph.
While there won’t be quilt police in the classroom, you will meet the Paper Police© who will become your new BFFs on your journey to design for FPP. Their goal is your success.
You’ll create patterns for a block that is uniquely yours and a pattern for a pictorial quilt. You’ll be creating quilts with extreme angles, sharp points, precision piecing, easy cutting, one-of-a-kind images and more before you know it.
