Quilt Guilds.com has a full page of 32 ideas for Programs and there are some great ones there! Click here to check them out and look at all the other goodies there too!
Wisconsin Museum of Fiber Arts
YouTube Videos! Take a look at their YouTube Channel for a series of videos that your guild might like to watch together in a Zoom meetup: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChAuVqsbqHkqaEIxPX8DcSg
Sue Glass
Home: Redondo Beach, California
Sue is a longtime quilter who discovered the way to applique in about 2009 although she has been quilting since the mid 1970’s. Before that she pieced everything and hoped that no applique would be involved. Since then, she has discovered the delights and pitfalls of sewing little circles, houses, leaves, stems, and various other items onto her quilts. Her use of color and pattern gives her quilts their very own personality which she tries to change with each new project.
Prepared Edge Applique is Fun and Easy – 45-minute lecture/demo ($150, Zoom only)
Sue will talk about and demonstrate how to use the prepared edge method of applique to achieve those lovely round circles and edges common in her work. Her lecture includes information on and demonstration of how to prepare your project, make the extra items like bias stems and circles, the use of different basting techniques, and how to set up an applique block to its best advantage.
Sue happily answers any questions regarding her demonstration. Contact her via email at sglass1946 @ gmail.com [take out spaces]
I watched Sue’s demo twice and LOVED it! She has an even, easy manner and describes things thoroughly and yet is very entertaining with her personal experiences. I learned so much and LOVED her little tips and tricks! Both times the guild members congratulated the Program Chair on such a good find for their presentation 🙂 ~Marguerita
Here’s a short intro that describes Sue’s Presentation.
Sue’s Bio
Sue is a retired federal civil servant who spent 30 years working mostly in the Air Force space system (read Satellite) business as a logistics management specialist. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. She traveled extensively for work to such exotic locations as the Marshall Islands, Hawaii, and Colorado. Sue is a member of South Bay Quilters Guild in Torrance California where she served as president and quilt show chair on several occasions. She is also a member of Flying Geese Quilt Guild in Irvine California. She was a partner in The Traveling Quilters, a tour service for quilters, from 1994-2014. This partnership allowed her to visit quilt shows and shops all over the United States, and she learned early on to leave plenty of room in her suitcase.
Sue and her husband Larry have two sons and two daughters-in-law, six grandchildren, and two great grandchildren with number 3 on the way. No kitties at present but she keeps a big bag of Milkbones in the kitchen for the neighbor’s dog.
Norene Skiles
Home: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Norene, a retired school library media specialist, began sewing as a young girl, and has never stopped. She primarily sewed clothing until the birth of her first grandchild 24 years ago. She made her first quilt in 1996. Her quilting style has evolved over the years from patterns and traditional quilting to modern Improv with a scrappy focus. She loves to incorporate technology into her quilting and as many fabrics as possible.
Lecture/trunk show : Zoom – “Use It All” $100 -1 hour
Quilters are the curators of extensive textile collections and should use their materials wisely and without waste. Norene will explain how she organizes her collection (including scraps) and her techniques and ideas for using all your scrap fabric and batting. She will show how her scrap quilting has progressed and includes how she upcycles old quilt blocks and clothing (not tee shirt quilts). She is a firm believer that you should use it all since you paid for it. The lecture/trunk show is centered on the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle theme.
Lecure – 1 hour – Zoom- Using Spoonflower.com to print your own fabric and quilt labels.- $100
This lecture can be tailored to your guild’s interest. I can cover the following topics in Spoonflower:
- Overview of what Spoonflower is including: ordering readymade fabrics, getting the most different fabrics for the money (Fill-A-Yard options), and uploading your images.
- How to upload and manipulate your own designs or images to make custom fabrics
- Using Spoonflower to make custom individual labels or bulk labels
Class – $300 – Quilt As You Go String Pieced Quilt
Learn to use your scrap fabric and batting to make any size string quilt with the economical and fast “quilt as you go string piecing”. No paper required! You will learn to take larger scraps for the backing, strips of leftover batting for the middle and all those lovely scraps to make a stunning quilt. After finishing the blocks you will learn to piece them together with quilt as you go sashing. Class is 6- 7 hours long (your option) and will open up the world of possibilities with this easy and relaxing technique.
Class – $300 Scrappy Improv 4 ways – Quilt As You Go
Learn four different techniques to make Quilt As You Go scrappy improv blocks that include endless variations. You will learn to use your scrap batting and fabric scraps to make blocks that will be joined by 2” sashing. Additionally, you will learn to “add a border”. This technique can be used on countless types of quilts making your domestic machine quilting easier to handle and quilt. The add a border also makes the back of your quilt have a perfectly centered and bordered back. The class is 6 hours in length. It is the perfect Zoom class since you will have all your scraps available for use during class without having to carry them to class!
You can follow her on Instagram at pskiles or her scrap quilts on Instagram #psscrappy. Visit her website/blog at https://luvtwocreate.wordpress.com/ Contact her at: luvtwocreate @ yahoo.com [remove spaces]
Sandy Fitzpatrick
Home: Cary, North Carolina
Sandy Fitzpatrick of Hissyfitz Designs is an applique quilt pattern designer whose goal is to get as many of the quirky designs, that are spinning around in her head, down on paper for you to enjoy!
Her fusible applique patterns are full of whimsy and will certainly bring a smile to your face. Sandy strives to make her full-sized patterns easy to follow and fun to make. Her classes, which focus on machine applique and free-motion quilting are equally fun.
Having lived in many places as she and her husband moved around with the Air Force, Sandy currently lives in Cary, North Carolina. Her lectures and workshops are always an informative, fun experience. View her line of patterns and laser cut kits at www.HissyfitzDesigns.com
Sandy presents and teaches via Zoom! Here are some short descriptions, in her own words. For more workshop and presentation information, please visit Sandy’s website:
My most popular workshop is, “You Choose the Project”. Students are allowed to choose any of my applique designs for this fusible machine applique class. I also offer a Free-Motion Quilting workshop to help you reduce that pile of UFOs you have lying around in your sewing studio.
Zoom Lectures:
My most popular lecture is, “Why Didn’t I Think of That?” – Tips, tricks, and shortcuts to make your sewing and quilting easier and more enjoyable. How to sew a sleeve to your quilt quickly and easily, tricks to add dimension to your quilts, and organizational tips.
Free-Motion Fun and Facts – Ideas and inspiration to help you along the path of a wonderful, relaxing free-motion experience. How to set up your sewing area and taking the fear out of your quilting.
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/HissyfitzDesigns
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/hissyfitzdesigns
Please let Sandy know you found her on The Quilter’s Calendar!
Joy Duke
Home: Hampton, Virginia
Joy Duke is the designer of over 100 patterns for Joyous Appliqué Designs and the author of numerous articles for Quiltinghub.com as a quilting contessa. Joy specializes in applique patterns that are easy, fun, and nature-inspired that all quilters are capable of making. Joy also likes to incorporate yo-yos in unusual ways in her applique pattern designs. Her latest passion is bamboo felt applique which allows those that are allergic to wool, or that don’t have the budget for it, to create beautiful fun pieces of art.
In addition to designing, teaching, and lecturing for guilds (both in-person and via ZOOM), she enjoys going to the beach and spending time with her family. Sometimes she is even found stitching on the beach or around a competition swimming pool and meets the nicest people when stitching in public. These interactions lead her to create one of her most popular lectures/trunk shows entitled “Stitching in Public”.
Lecture titles include:
“Stitching in Public” – A fun trunk show where Joy shares the funny things and advice people have shared with her while she is stitching.
“Making It Your Own” – A look at how we can take a pattern and make simple changes to personalize it either for the recipient or the maker. It is meant to help quilters think about how they can use that pattern that they really like and “tweak it” a bit. This was the way Joy got started designing her own patterns.
“A Look at Inspiration and What Designers Like to See” – this trunk show lets you see how a designer comes up with ideas and what inspires us. It may also give you ideas of ways that you can use something in your life to add to a design to take a pattern further; whether that means having a “pillow pattern” grow up to be the center of a quilt, or just changing the size of a motif to adapt it to your needs.
45 minute to 1 hour ZOOM lectures start at $250 (March 2021). Please see Joy’s website for information on classes and lectures. Website: www.JoyousAppliqueDesigns.com Contact Joy at JoyousAppliqueDesigns @ cox.net [take out the spaces]
Please let Joy know that you found her on The Quilters Calendar!
Alethea Ballard
Home: Walnut Creek, California
Alethea Ballard creates vibrant and exciting quilts using clear colors and cheerful images. Bouncing between making pieced quilts using large-scale prints to creating interesting collages and commissioned pieces, Alethea fills her working life with beautiful fabrics and eclectic imagery.
A veteran teacher, Alethea is always eager to share her working style and approach to quilting with students of all ages. Alethea’s enthusiasm for her subjects is contagious to her students and her expertise and easy working style makes them feel inspired.
Alethea Ballard approaches the design of her quilts with a cheerful feeling in her spirit. She looks for something a fabric which makes her heart skip a beat when she sees it, like a fabulous face; a beloved character; or a beautiful animal. Combine these images with flowers and trees and she’s off and running. Then, she sets about finding way to use these creative sparks in a quilt which tells a story to delight a viewer. She is especially drawn to a sardonic sense of juxtaposition and loves to imagine her characters doing things which they ought not or might not get the chance to do.
Alethea offers a virtual guild lecture called Exuberant Applique – Inspirations and Explorations. She shares everyday objects like wreaths and vases which inform the shapes she uses, the talk delves into the unusually-shaped quilted textiles which are her signature work. The talk includes her small pieces and amazing wall hangings and ends with her line of people and her larger selfie quilts.
Alethea can accompany the guild lecture with a workshop to create delightful collages using her raw-edge style. Focus on sourcing images from fabrics and extracting them for collage, she will share her cutting tips and tricks. Then students will have the opportunity to create a unique art piece in a subject of their choosing. Alethea can also create kits for the classes if a guild would request that. Information about tools, materials and discussions and examples of design, scale and layout will round out the lessons.
Alethea Ballard was the guest on The Quilt Show Number 2602 where she shared her wonderful collages and even played the accordion! She is also an author and contributor with C & T Publishing, including Maverick Quilts, Using Large-Scale Prints, Novelty Fabrics and Panels with Panache and Dream Chair Quilts, 7 Blocks for Whimsical Wallhangings.
Join Alethea and create the unexpected! In addition to her guild offerings, Alethea has an online workshop that is designed for individual at-home learning. Her Exuberant Appliqué Basics is fun online offered through her website. Students from all over the globe or right across the street can explore the world of raw edge collage from the comfort of their own sewing space.
See more of Alethea’s work on her website https://aletheaballard.com/ and on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe5UOK0kZ15xZBuwaYiYFCQ
Be sure to tell Alethea that you found her on The Quilters Calendar!
Carla Klop
Home: Fort Denaud, Florida
Carla first learned to quilt in 1976 and for the next 30 years completed 1 quilt per year, entirely by hand. She raised a family, ran a business – a closet quilter, never joining a guild or meeting other quilters. It wasn’t until meeting her new husband and moving to Vermont (kids grown and business sold) that she discovered the rotary cutter.
She developed a number of unique products: – Magic 3D Block (a toy for kids of all ages), – Piece-by-Number, (placemats and snackmats quilt-as-you-go on pre-printed interfacing)-Talking Points (paper piecing block and border – endless quilt possibilities).
With her new rotary cutter skills, she developed a series of shortcut methods. Although first for her own use to speed up her quilt construction time, these methods are now published as Shortcut Sheets in a binder along with patterns, tips and worksheets. Using only a 24″ quilting ruler, Carla has discovered how to make a ‘sheet’ of units such as HSTs or QSTs. There are 8 different methods, each with 5 size calculations.
Carla has created 100+ patterns, many which use her techniques. She has been published four times in the American Quilter magazine and has featured patterns with some of Northcott’s fabric collections. She is developing unique patterns for virtual classes, one for each technique. At the time of writing this bio, the HST class is available and the Hunter’s Star class is almost done. The others will follow regularly.
It is with great surprise that I find myself a quilt designer. I am not an artist, can’t draw a straight line, can’t create something from a meaningful idea and therefore never considered I was a designer. But after publishing my own ideas (Shortcut Sheets), creating a unique block (Talking Points), producing 60+ patterns and having been published in a magazine 4 times – I can now humbly admit that I am. Let me show you the path that took me from quilter to designer – and maybe find your inner designer. COVID19 currently does not allow for in-person presentations. However, Zoom is a wonderful way to still share ideas and show quilts.
Carla
In my one hour presentation, ‘From Quilter to Designer‘, I share images of the quilts I normally bring to my trunk show. The cost is $150. Each attendee will receive a coupon which can be applied to online purchases.
For more about Carla, please visit her website: kitsbycarla.com.
Please let Carla know that you found her on The Quilters Calendar!