By Author

Betty Alderman has been designing patterns for quilts since 1992. With a background in fine arts and a lifelong love of sewing, quilt designing seems to suit her perfectly. She markets her patterns under the name Betty Alderman Designs. In addition to teaching at guilds around the country, Betty is a quilt collector. She enjoys speaking about her antique quilts, imparting interseting facts and stories about her collection.

Alex Anderson is a prize-winning quiltmaker, teacher, and author of over a dozen current quilting books published by C&T. As host of HGTV's premiere quilt show Simply Quilts, she is a familiar face to quilters across the United States. Alex lives in Northern California.

Pam Archer fell in love with sewing as a child, and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in clothing and textiles.  She enjoys seeing fabric transformed by texture to take on its own form and life.  She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two sons.

Carol Armstrong has made a name for herself with her popular nature, floral, and animal appliqué designs. Carol lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Darcy Ashton is trained as a graphic designer. She has been designing original quilts for over 15 years and has written four best selling appliqué books. She has a unique easy style that is perfect for those of you who would love to learn the art of appliqué, most of her designs are sewn from just one piece of fabric.

Sue Astroth is a fiber artist and teacher who enjoys combining a variety of techniques to create fun new craft ideas. Sue lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Terry taught Home Ec for four years, adult quilting classes for 15 years, and even taught preschool! This teaching background is the reason her instructions are so easy to follow — they are written as if she is right there explaining it to you in class.

Mary Leman Austin has been involved with Quilter's Newsletter Magazine since its inception and currently serves as its Executive Director. Mary lives in Colorado.
Quilter's Newsletter Magazine was established in 1969 and is a favorite among quilters everywhere.

Barbara K. Baker is a professional quiltmaker and longarm quilter whose work has been published in books and magazines.  She loves to experiment with new techniques, colors, and designs.  Barbara lives in Bend, Oregon.
Jeri Boe dyes and hand-paints her own fabrics and threads. She is a professional quiltmaker, designer, and teacher, and her work has been published in books. Jeri lives in Bend, Oregon.

Home: Diever, The Netherlands; Maaike Bakker is a quilt-shop owner, teacher, and author of three books on paper piecing.

Principals: Barbara Finwall and Nancy Javier
Fallbrook, California

Rebecca Barker has always loved to paint, and she knew from an early age that she wanted to be an artist. She received her art training from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and has pursued a painting career ever since.

Peggy J. Barkle was born in Seattle, Washington, but grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.  She attended high school in San Francisco and studied interior design in college.  She began teaching in 1995 at a local quilt shop and area guilds.  Her favorite students are the beginners, wide-eyed and eager.  She has a room full of yardage and a brain full of ideas. She could not imagine doing anything else and considers being able to share what she loves an unbelievable blessing.

Hometown: Seabeck, Washington; First-time author Laurie Bevan was a major contributor to the That Patchwork Place® book Triangle Tricks. She works as a freelance technical editor for Martingale & Company®.

Deena Beverley is a stylist, writer, and designer. An author of many books on crafts and interior design, Deena has a passion for decorative finishes and embellishments of all kinds.

Jinny Beyer, one of the world's true master quilters, is a highly respected textile designer, teacher, and author. Her books have become the cornerstone for today's quilters and quilt designers.

Jean has been piecing traditional quilt patterns for more than 30 years and teaching machine piecing since 1984. Her quilts have received awards in national competitions and have been exhibited throughout the United States. She has been experimenting with traditional block designs and giving them a slightly different look for many years. Her teaching experience and math background help her clarify the things that can improve accurate piecing.

How many people get to work at something they have a passion for? Maggie Bonanomi feels very lucky that she does. She thinks she has made things forever. Fabric, color and texture are her three design passions.

Home: Elkhorn, Wisconsin (near Milwaukee); Designer Gayle Bong has been quilting for more than 20 years. She has authored several quiltmaking books and teaches her techniques at quilt shows and guilds throughout the country.

Shirley Botsford has been a professional designer and author in sewing, craft, home decorating, and fashion fields for over 20 years.  Her poplar wearables have been seen in the fairfield Fashion Show; and she teaches and lectures regularly at quilt events across the country.

 Cotton Pickin' Designs is the creative artistry of Debbie Foley and Valerie Bowman.  Debbie and Valerie first met while teaching at a quilt store in Phoenix.  While working together, Debbie and Valerie quickly discovered the similarity in their ideas and were convinced by local quilters to start a pattern business . . . Cotton Pickin Designs.

Barbara Brackman specializes in writing about American quilts and other folk arts. She is a contributing editor at Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and an honorary quilt curator for the Spencer Museum of Art. She has served as consultant to many state quilt projects. Barbara resides in Lawrence, Kansas.

Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana Janet Carija Brandt has published numerous how-to books and patterns for hooked rugs, quilts, and other crafts. She has written articles for Rug Hooking magazine and was named among the top 200 craftsmen by Early American Life magazine.

Karey Bresenhan is the president of Quilts, Inc., director of International Quilt Market, International Quilt Festival, Patchwork & Quilt Expo, and Embellishment(r). Karey is a fifth-generation Texas quilter and an acknowledged expert on quilt dating. She has served as a quilt appraiser and quilt contest judge.
Nancy O'Bryant Puentes and her cousin, Karey Patterson Bresenhan, are the driving force behind the quilts in the collection of the International Quilt Festival. Quilts from the collection are frequently exhibited in museums around the country.

Cindy Brick is an editor, designer, and writer who travels the world teaching about quilting and quilt history.  A former editor for Quilter's Newsletter, she is also an American Quilter's Society-certified textiles appraiser and professional quilt restorer.  She has written more than a hundred magazine articles and four books, including Hanky-Panky Crazy Quilts, The Stitcher's Language, of Flowers, and the Fabric Dating Kit.

Susan Briscoe writes and designs for patchwork and needlecraft magazines and teaches bag making and sashiko quilting.  She has exhibited at UK national quilting shows as well as in Japan.

Sonia Brown has been quilting for over 14 years. She has lectured at local quilt guilds and won ribbons at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Festival and the Indiana State Fair. Sonia has also been juried into several large quilt shows including Quilt America! and Houston International Quilt Festival.

Bonnie enjoys teaching others to quilt. Teaching has taken her to guilds and conferences across the United States, and to Austrailia, Turkey, and Japan. Bonnie's articles have appeared in "American Quilter" and "McCall's Quilting," and she has shared quilting techniques on Simply Quilts on HGTV.

Karen Kay Buckley has received numerous awards including eight Best of Show awards. She was voted teacher of the year by the PROFESSIONAL QUILTER MAGAZINE in 1997. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines and calendars. Karen has also appeared on Simply Quilts and the new AQS show American Quilter.  She currently stays very busy with teaching, judging, and designing.

Laurel Burch's Kindred Creatures are just a small part of the magical world she has enjoyed creating since she was a child living in southern California. But it wasn't until the early 1960s, after a move to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, that she began selling her hand-made jewelry in the streets and in small galleries. By the 1970s Laurel had a thriving business, and poured her passion for color and all living creatures into her art.

Hometown: Prosser, Washington, and Pasco, Washington (near Yakima) Terry Burkhart and Rozan Meacham have designed projects together for several years and have had their work featured in American Patchwork & Quilting.

Carol Burniston grew up in a home that abounded with creativty.  Sewing all of her own clothes by age thirteen and making her first quilt in college at nineteen led her to open a fabric store and to begin quilting in earnest.

Lynne Caldwell currently teaches in the Arts and Ideas Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She received her MFA in Fibers from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been published in American Craft, Fiberarts, and The Surface Design Journal. She has taught and exhibited around the country, including The Textile Museum, The Smithsonian Institution, and North Carolina State University.

Elsie M. Campbell's quilts have won first-place and best-of-show ribbons at many prestigious quilt shows.  She teaches hand quilting across the U.S. and is a former editor of QuiltWorks Today and Miniature Quilts magazines.  Elsie lives in Dodge City, Kansas.

Connie Chunn first began sewing at age 10, making clothes for her Barbie doll, and when she made her first quilt in 1975, she knew she'd found her niche. Classes with Doreen Speckmann taught her how to draft patterns, but it was her first class with Sharyn Craig that opened her eyes to all the amazing possibilities in the quilt world.

A dynamo in the quilting world, Pam is the owner of the Log Cabin Dry Goods quilt shop and Home Stitches, a professional longarm quilting business. Her work can be seen in numerous publications and her clients include professional quilters, designers, and fabric and pattern companies. To date, she has quilted over 7000 quilts! In addition, she's made hundreds of her own quilts. Her favorite kind of quilting is to mix appliqué with simple, scrappy-look piecing, a style that has won her numerous ribbons.

Sally Collins is an award-winning quiltmaker and a best-selling author. Widely admired for her precise workmanship, she shares her skills through a busy teaching and lecturing schedule. She loves the challenge of combining design, color, and intricate piecing in a traditional style. Sally lives in Walnut Creek, California.

Joan Colvin knows that finding your own artistic voice requires a balance between the passion to make something and the technical requirements for doing it. Joan Colvin lives on Samish Island in Washington State, where she finds subject matter for her quilts in the natural world of the island and her surroundings.

Pepper Cory started quilting in 1972. Pepper is also an antique quilt collector, teacher, and author of several books on quilting. Pepper lives in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Hometown: Jenks, Oklahoma; Three-time author Mary Covey's award-winning quilt designs have been featured in Miniature Quilts and Quilting Today magazines. She is the owner of The Good Life, a quilt-pattern company.

A foray into black-and-white fabrics helped Kay Capps Cross set her creativity free. These neutral values have been instrumental in developing her style. Kay started sewing at a young age, and her back-to-school shopping was a trip to the fabric store for yardage and patterns. A visit to a quilt shop in the late 1990s set the course for her career in quiltmaking, teaching, and pattern design. Residing in Minnesota, Kay markets her patterns internationally.

Mary Bywater Cross is a quilt historian with a specialized interest in Western women's history.  Her research is supported by on-site visits to the areas where these women traveled, lived, and worked.  She has pieced together the story of nineteenth-century women's lives through the cloth records they created before, during, and after their journeys over the western migration trails.

Melody Crust is a popular quilting instructor and lecturer who teaches quilting from coast to coast and at major national conventions, including Quilt Festival in Houston and Chicago. An award-winning quilter and successful author, her work has appeared in several specialty magazines for quilters.

Jane Dávila began her professional art career as a printmaker specializing in etchings and intaglios. Since switching to fiber, she has exhibited her art quilts in galleries around the country. She teaches art quilting,
surface design and mixed media art. Jane lives in Ridgefield, CT.
Elin Waterston has a background in costume design and works with mixed media such as painting, dyeing, and manipulating fabrics. Her quilts have been exhibited in galleries and museums, and she teaches drawing, painting, and art quilting. Elin lives in South Salem, NY.

Jodie Davis is a quilt designer extraordinaire!  She also writes books; and she hosts her own television show, "Friends in the Bee with Jodie Davis," a program that currently airs on PAX TV.  The show segments are taped in her home, rather than on a set.

Christina Slankard DeArmond also grew up in Eudora, Kansas. As a child, she loved to play ball, ride bicycles, roam around the creek with her brother catching ringneck snakes and basically, being a tomboy. After she married and moved to Minnesota, she took quilting classes with her friends to learn to make quilts and also to have a time of fellowship with them.
Eula Scranton Lang grew up in Illinois. She too had the heritage of a mother who sewed and quilted. Eula learned to embroider as a young girl and made her first quilt when she was in junior high school. Her mom always encouraged her to sew and allowed the freedom of trial and error, no fear (thanks, Mom!).
Kaye Lawson Spitzli grew up in Eudora, Kansas with a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who sewed and quilted. Her sewing education began early in her childhood and there were always plenty of quilts to "dream" under, whether it be on the bed, strung over the clothesline, or still-in the quilt frames in Grandma's front room. Golden was her grandmother.

Hometown: Pocatello, Idaho (near Boise)  Since becoming the grand-prize winner of American Patchwork & Quilting's "Pieces of the Past" Quilt Challenge in 1998, designer Kim Diehl has published numerous designs in the national magazine. Her work has also been featured in McCall's Quick Quilts and Quiltmaker.

Mimi Dietrich (Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland) is a nationally known teacher and the author of many bestselling That Patchwork Place® books, including the company's all-time bestseller, Happy Endings.

Mimi Dietrich (Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland) is a nationally known teacher and the author of many bestselling That Patchwork Place® books, including the company's all-time bestseller, Happy Endings.
Sally Schneider (Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico) is the author of seven topselling books and served as a panelist for the 20th Century's 100 Best American Quilts publication.

Carol Doak is a renowned quilter and a nationally recognized expert on paper-piecing techniques. She is the author of more than a dozen quilting books and has taught paper piecing worldwide for the last decade. Carol lives in Windham, New Hampshire.

Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty met at their local quilt group and were so inspired by each other's work that they went into business—first, designing, and making quilts on commission, and then opening a shop in 2004 in Sydney, Australia, called Material Obsession.  Known for their bold patterns and unusual color combinations, Doughty and Fielke encourage all of us to trust our instincts rather than follow rigid rules and to seek inspiration from both the fabric in front of us and the world around us.

Lynne Edwards is regarded as one of the finest patchwork and quilting designers in the world. Lynne lives near Ipswich.

Kathy Emmel is a retired public school teacher and award-winning quilter who shared her love of fabric, color, and design with more than 1,000 youngsters over 27 years of teaching. Her classroom quilts have been exhibited at the museum of the American Quilter's Society. Kathy lives in Arvada, Colorado.

Ann Fahl has been exploring and teaching about thread and free-motion embroidery since the 1990s.  Ann designs original quilts and is the author of numerous articles.  She has appeared on HGTV's Simply Quilts.  Ann lives in Racine, Wisconsin.

Lynne Farris taught art at the college level before entering the craft industry. She has designed for the McCall's and Simplicity pattern companies, as well as authoring several books on fiber crafts. Lynne has appeared on HGTV's The Carol Duvall Show, the Discovery Channel's Lynette Jennings Design, and PBS' Paint, Paint, Paint! Lynne lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Anna Faustino was born in Saint Petersburg, one of the most beautiful cities in Russia. Anna found her talent at a very young age. When she was only eight years old, she started to paint watercolor copies of classic reproductions.  Upon graduating from college, she worked for a couple of years as a stage and costumes decorator at the Kirov Theater of Opera and Ballet, and as a freelancer, knitting and designing sweaters.  Anna loves to work with textiles, threads, and other fiber media.  She has a passion for creating art quilts.

Lucy Fazely, a lifelong seamstress, started quilting in 1991. Since then she has made close to 300 quilts from miniature to bed size. Her quilt designs and patterns have been published in a number of magazines, including Quick & Easy Quilting and Quilt World, both published by House of White Birches.

Jill Finley began designing quilts almost as soon as she started making them. Her creative spirit and affinity for working with fabrics result in a fresh take on traditional quilt making. She has an eye for color and pattern and loves to soften her designs with the swirls and curves of applique. Jill loves to share her quilting knowledge with others and has been teaching classes for over 10 years. She launched her design business, Jillily Studio in 2008 and has been busy ever since. Her designs have been featured in several quilting publications, including: American Patchwork and Quilting, Quilter's Home, and Quilts. She recently developed an applique basting glue, Appli-Glue for the quilting industry.

Rita is a nationally known speaker and teacher, and president of Creations SewClever, Inc., in Chillicothe, Ohio. She's a native of Northeastern Ohio with a B.A. in clothing & textiles/business from the University of Akron. Rita, her husband, Ron, and their four children lived for many years in the Desert Southwest where she was a clothing designer and custom seamstress.

Cary discovered quilting in 1991 and pursued it as a hobby for a number of years while working as a social worker/counselor at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Manchester. After working for more than twenty years in Social Services, Cary left full time work to start her own business, Something Sew Fine Custom Quilts (now Something Sew Fine Quilt Design) in 2004. She began doing commission work, specializing in photo memory quilts. She also began teaching quilt making to adults and spent a year teaching crafts and sewing to children at the Concord (NH) Boys and Girls Club.

Dale Fleming designs innovative, award-winning quilts that explore the interaction of movement, light, and color.  Dale lives in Walnut Creek, California.

Linda Franz is an award winning Canadian quilter. You may recognize her from HGTV's Simply Quilts, or from her appearances on qnntv.com  In 2000, her first hand pieced bed quilt won a First Place ribbon at the AQS show in Paducah. She has a BA in English Literature and graduated from the University of Toronto Law School with an LLB.

Dilys Fronks writes with humor and grace about the art of appliqué. She uses a variety of techniques to create designs ranging from Jacobean appliqué to her popular wrought-iron quilts. An accomplished teacher, she enjoys sharing the many lessons, large and small, that she herself learned along the way. Dilys lives in Wales, UK.

A self-taught machine quilter, Diane makes traditional-style, everyday quilts with "Sunday best" quilting. Her style reflects her love of drab "mud" colors and simple elegant design inspired by antique quilts. Living in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with her husband and four cats, she finds the long, cold winters great for serious quiltmaking. An experienced teacher and lecturer, Diane loves to encourage beginners.

Jennifer Gilbert is the curator of the New England Quilt Museum. Jennifer participates on the Steering Committee of MASS Quilts, The Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project. She is also a member of American Quilt Study Group and American Association of Museums. Jennifer lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Piece O' Cake Designs is the creation of Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins. Together, Becky and Linda have been designing fun, fanciful quilts since 1994. They design fabric for P&B Textiles and have appeared on HGTV's Simply quilts. Linda lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Fran Iverson Gonzalez is a professional quilt designer and teacher who teaches Electric Quilt classes at Quilt University.com. She is also the creator of the Mystery Quilts on the Electric Quilt Company website. She has taught for 17 of the 30 years she has been quilting, including EQ classes at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas as well as other quilt symposia across the country.

Karen Griska is a passionate and prolific quilt artist who made her first quilt at age 13, a charming one-patch. A self-taught quilter, she has now made over 200 quilts, all original designs. Karen is inspired by antique quilts, particularly those pictured in the state quilt survey books, which she studies avidly. Her favorites are dynamic interpretations of traditional quilts. She loves quilts with quirky, improvisational elements of surprise in their design.

Cara Gulati has spent her life around fabric. She has sold fabric and clothes, designed them both and ended up with her own company as a designer and manufacturer of children's wear.  Currently, she designs fun and artistic quilts that are unique and has her own publishing company called Doodle Press through which her patterns and books are published.

Born during World War II in New England, Sue Hale began making quilts 18 years ago when she lived in Southern California. Soon, she was working at The Fabric Patch and teaching appliqué classes there and at other area shops. Sue has also taught her original designs at the Road to California Quilter's Conference and on a cruise to Alaska. Her appliqué work has appeared in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, two volumes of Elly Sienkiewicz's Baltimore Beauties series, and Elm Creek Quilts: Return to Elm Creek by Jennifer Chiaverini.

Louise Handley learned to quilt from her grandmother, and her first sewing machine was her mother's old treadle model. A decorative painter, teacher, photographer, and gardener, Louise enjoys combining her skills and interests to create innovative quilts. Louise lives in Bandon, Oregon.

Gloria Hansen's passion for digital design began in the late 1980s. With no instruction available for using a computer as a quilt design tool, she began using early programs to develop digital designs. She also experimented with various methods of printing on fabric using early InkJet printers, laser printers, and photocopy machines.

Sally Harding is an internationally known knitting and crochet designer, author, and editor in both the UK and the U.S.A.  Most recently, she has worked closely with designer Kaffe Fassett.  Sally lives in London, England.

Harriet Hargrave considers herself a "maverick traditionalist." She creates antique-style reproduction quilts using the most up-to-date products and techniques she can come up with - totally by machine. She began doing this before machine quilting was accepted or recognized as a valid form of quiltmaking.  Alex Anderson is a prize-winning quiltmaker, teacher, and author of over a dozen current quilting books published by C&T. As host of HGTV's premiere quilt show Simply Quilts, she is a familiar face to quilters across the United States. Alex lives in Northern California.

The Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of high-tech products, including computers, printers, and scanners.
Cyndy Lyle Rymer is a longtime quilter and editor at C&T Publishing. She was the creator of Quilts for Guys and has written or edited several other books for C&T. She has also appeared on HGTV's Simply Quilts. Cyndy lives in Danville, California.
Lynn Koolish is a longtime quilter and editor at C&T Publishing. Lynn lives in Berkeley, California.

Michele Hill began her quilting journey in 1986 and has been addicted ever since. She started designing her own quilts in 1996 with William Morris and architecture being her greatest inspirations.  Michele lives in South Australia with her husband Larry and their two adult daughters Emily and Sophie.

Wendy Hill has been thinking out of the box for a long time. In high school, Wendy created a raincoat made of bread wrappers, and a vinyl bikini. Later endeavors include magazine articles and three books about diverse fiber arts. Now, Wendy has turned her attention to new effects in contemporary quilting. Wendy lives in Sunriver, Oregon.

In her childhood, Laurie Aaron Hird loved reading books about the pioneers and has always wished that she had been born during those quieter days.  It has been a struggle at times, but she has learned to live in two worlds—one with her wood cookstove and clothesline, and the other, less cozy, world with her cell phone and a computer.  Laurie taught herself to quilt and especially enjoys working with reproduction fabrics and collecting photographs of antique quilts.  She is happily living with her family on six acres in rural southwest Wisconsin, where they homeschool, maintain a kitchen garden, and take care of their animals.

Pam Holland was catapulted to quilting fame when "1776" swept Best in Show at four major US quilt shows-an unprecedented achievement for a reproduction quilt. She immediately became one of the most sought-after teachers on the national scene, growing a successful teaching career in Australia, Europe, and Japan. A quilter, designer, quilt-show judge, and appraiser, Pam Holland is also the mother of fifteen biological and adopted children. The 1776 Quilt is her first book.

Nellie Holmes teaches and lectures across Canada.  She has a wide range of workshops for all skill levels.  In her classes she encourages her students to personalize their quilts and find their own creativity.
Christine Baker craved a creative outlet and began quilting in 1996 after years of scientific study. A few years and many classes later she is still in love with quilting and now publishes her own quilt designs.

Nancy was a board member of the Kansas Quilt Project and served as its quilt discovery day coordinator. She wrote a chapter on "19th Century Red and Green Applique Quilts" for Kansas Quilts and Quilters, published in 1993 by the University Press of Kansas. Nancy researches, lectures, curates quilt shows, and makes quilts.
Terry is a quilt artist, writer, historian, pattern designer and fabric designer for Moda. She served as one of the principal documenters for the Kansas Quilt Project and her chapter on conversation prints is included in the book, Kansas Quilts and Quilters, University Press of Kansas.

Judy Howard developed a love of quilts while taking a class from nationally renowned fiber artist Terrie Mangat.  Judy became a charter member of the Oklahoma Quilt Guild, and antique quilts became her specialty.

Linda Johansen is an award-winning quilt artist and teacher whose hand-dyed fabrics are available at quilt shops in the Northwest. She has uncovered a whole new "dimension" with her fused, 3-D fabric bowl and box creations. Linda lives in Corvallis, Oregon.

Nancy Johnson-Srebro is a popular designer, author, teacher, lecturer, and quilt show judge. She is president of Silver Star Publishing, a member of the advisory board for the Virginia Quilt Museum, spokeswoman for Prym-Dritz/Omnigrid, and a consultant for Benartex, Inc. and Warm Products. Nancy lives in Pennsylvania.

Jeana Kimball ( Hometown: St. George, Utah) is a bestselling author and well-known teacher who enjoys sharing her three favorite quiltmaking topics—hand quilting, appliqué, and the stories of pioneer quiltmakers and their quilts—with her national and international audiences.

Nori Koenig especially loves restoring and collecting long-lost embroidery patterns.  She researches, restores, and collects vintage patterns - all while making good use of her degree in history and library science.

Franki Kohler made her first quilt in 1982. Currently fascinated by art quilts and all the newest techniques and products used to create them, Franki's love of creating journal pages led to her current passion for making fabric postcards. Franki lives in Oakland, CA.

As a quiltmaker, teacher and author, Mary Ellen Kranz shares her knowledge of how to combine quilting, digital photography, and computer software with quiltmakers across the country. Her quilts appear in shows and galleries and reflect a broad range of quiltmaking skills and techniques.

Jan Krentz is an award-winning quilter and designer. She has taught quiltmaking for over 20 years. In 1998, The Professional Quilter named her Teacher of the Year. Jan lives near San Diego, California.

Marcia L. Layton resides in Tampa, Florida, with her husband, Steve, their youngest daughter, Carrie, and three cats.  Marcia has been a pre-K teacher and the assistant director of Play Haven Preschool in Tampa for the past 23 years.  Inheriting a love of sewing from her grandmother and mother, Marcia has always enjoyed experimenting with all kinds of arts and crafts, from painting to smocking to embroidery, and most recently, to quilting.

Libby Lehman is an internationally renowned maker of art quilts whose work is in many private, corporate, and museum collections. She has taught extensively in the United States as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland. She and her husband, Lester, live in Houston, Texas. They have a son, Les, Jr., who is an acclaimed fly fisherman.

Judith Lester learned to embroider tea towels at age 3. Years later, as a retired teacher, she combined her classroom skills of creating bulletin boards and fun things for children with her love and appreciation of quilts.
Betsy Chutchian learned to love fabric and sewing from her grandmothers. She began quilting while expecting her first child. When not quilting Betsy can be found designing and creating whimsical and beautiful embroidery projects.
Betty Edgell's first memory of stitching was at 5 years of age when she would buy embroidery blocks from the local 10 cent store. Since she learned to quilt, she hasn't stopped. Betty teaches classes for Lone Star House of Quilts and at local guilds.

Pam Lintott opened The Quilt Room in 1981, which she still runs today along with her daughter, Nicky Lintott.  Nicky began working at The Quilt Room three years ago and is now in charge of producing their mail order catalogue and running their internet site. She also has taken on the long arm quilting side of the business which is taking up more and more of her time.

Gloria Loughman studied a variety of art techniques in 1996. She has received awards for her landscape quilts depicting the Australian bush and has curated and judged many quilt exhibitions. Gloria lives in Kerang, Australia.

Debbie Maddy has always loved fabric and fiber and starting sewing when she was nine years old.  She started quilting in 1982 and has taken classes from numerous nationally known teachers since 1990.  She started teaching quilting in 1993.  In 2002, she started Calico Carriage Quilt Designs and Patterns and began presenting lectures and workshops for quilt guilds and quilt shops.  She has had quilts in the Houston International Quilt Festival and a quilt in the Hoffman Challenge.  She has also appeared on Simply Quilts.  She and her husband live in Graham, Texas and have two grown sons.

Hometown: Palm Coast, Florida Nancy Mahoney's award-winning quilts have been published in numerous books, as well as in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and on the cover of Quilting Today. She has written four books fromThat Patchwork Place.

Cheryl Malkowski is a popular teacher and designer with her own pattern line, Cheryl Rose Creations. A life-long machine sewer with a background in floral design, Cheryl developed her chenille stick technique to re-create the beautiful chenille blossoms of yesteryear. Cheryl lives in Roseburg, Oregon.

Pam Manning has always loved sewing and creating things. She was born in the Adirondack Mountains of New York state and grew up in a family of eight children. Her grandmother taught her to use a treadle sewing machine. Her family moved to Bedford, Indiana, a small midwestern town, in 1988 for her husband's job at GM. She enjoys volunteer work at church, playing with her three grandsons, gourd painting, and taking trips on their Harley.

Hometown: New Zealand; In addition to teaching both in and out of New Zealand and online, Helen Marshall curates exhibits of New Zealand quilts that travel to the United States. Helen's designs have been featured in Inspirations magazine.

Gwen Marston is a nationally known quilt maker, teacher, and author. She is the author of more than fifteen books on quilting, including Liberated String Quilts, 70 Classic Quilting Patterns, and Amish Quilting Patterns.

Home: Seattle, Washington; Nancy J. Martin is the author of more than 40 books on quiltmaking. As founder and president of Martingale & Company, Nancy has been an innovator in the quiltmaking industry for nearly 30 years. Her books have sold more than a million copies to date.

Katie Pasquini Masopust is well-known for her mandalas, dimensional quilts, and fractured landscapes. Her work has won many awards, and one quilt, "Rio Hondo," was named to the "20th Century's 100 Best Quilts" list in 1999. Katie lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Mariner's Compass expert Judy Mathieson is a certified quilt judge and lectures and conducts workshops throughout the U.S. and internationally. She has appeared twice on HGTV's Simply Quilts. Judy lives in Sebastopol, California.

Marsha McCloskey has written or co-authored twenty quilt books, including Feathered Star Quilts and Marsha McCloskey's Block Party.  She is a highly regarded quilt instructor, having taught all over the United States and in eight foreign countries.  She designs fabric for Clothworks, and runs her own business, Feathered Star Productions, in Seattle, Washington.

Marsha McCloskey has written or co-authored twenty quilt books, including Feathered Star Quilts and Marsha McCloskey's Block Party.  She is a highly regarded quilt instructor, having taught all over the United States and in eight foreign countries.  She designs fabric for Clothworks, and runs her own business, Feathered Star Productions, in Seattle, Washington.
Sharon Evans Yenter is the owner of In The Beginning Fabrics in Seattle, Washington.  She is the author of Floral Bouquet Quilts From In The Beginning, has designed quilt patterns, and currently designs fabric for her own textile company.

Ruth B. McDowell creates intricately pieced quilts that amaze her fans. Her quilts are exhibited worldwide and have been featured in many magazines and books. Ruth lives in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Edie McGinnis has been quilting for almost 30 years.  She is a member of the American Quilter's Society and the Quilters Guild of Greater Kansas City.  This is the sixth quilt book she has written about The Kansas City Star quilt patterns.  She teaches quilting classes and gives lectures about The Star quilt patterns.

Suzanne McNeill shares her creativity and enthusiasm in books by Design Originals.  Her mission is to publish books that help others learn about the newest techniques, the best projects, and popular products.

Longarm machine quilting allows Karen to combine her two passions: Wholecloth and Trapunto. Karen specializes in crafting award-winning quilts using techniques which allow machine quilters to replicate traditional "hand-quilted" effects.

Marti is internationally recognized as an author, teacher, and innovator of strip techniques and rotary cutting methods.  She can cut nearly any straight-sided geometric shape with a good acrylic ruler and a rotary cutter.  That did not prevent her from falling in love with the concept of actual-size acrylic templates for rotary cutting. From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates were introduced in 1995.

Marsha Michler is an accomplished researcher, designer, and writer.  She has authored a number of books about crazy quilting (Crazy Quilted Heirlooms and Gifts, Motifs for Crazy Quilting, Crazy Quilts by Machine) and has won several quilt awards throughout the country.  Marsha has published projects in a variety of magazines.  Marsha, a skilled gardener and photographer, resides in Maine.

Jane Hardy Miller practiced law before turning her attention to quilting. She puts her thirty years of quilting experience to good use working and teaching in a local quilt shop. She enjoys creating new techniques and effects in her work. Jane lives in Miami, FL.

Jane Hardy Miller practiced law before turning her attention to quilting. She puts her thirty years of quilting experience to good use working and teaching in a local quilt shop. She enjoys creating new techniques and effects in her work. Jane lives in Miami, FL.
Arlene Netten immediately fell in love with quilting when she began in 1994 and her Plumples Quilt Patterns business soon followed.

Margaret J. Miller is a studio quiltmaker who travels widely, giving lectures and workshops on color and design, and encouraging students to "reach for the unexpected" in contemporary quiltmaking. Margaret lives near Seattle, Washington.

Having grown up on a small farm, Susan Miller sewed gathered skirts and matching hair bows from feed sacks when she was thirteen years old. She is a retired buyer from a Fortune 300 Printer who lives in Indiana with her husband, Robert.

Crystal Mills lives in Blaine, Washington, which is at the northern end of Interstate 5, almost in Canada. She is a retired mathematics teacher and textbook editor. She loves to quilt and design wearable art. She became interested in origami when she was teaching high school mathematics. In her job as an editor, she edited an origami book, and after she retired, she co-authored Unfolding the Mathematics of Origami Boxes with Arnold Tubis.

Arnold Tubis received B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from MIT. He was a member of the faculty of Purdue University from 1960 to 2000 (including nine years as a department head) and is the author or co-author of over a hundred research papers. He now lives in Carlsbad, California, where he is a visiting fellow at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla and a consultant in the areas of auditory biophysics and the use of origami in K-12 mathematics education.

Hometown: St. Simons Island, Georgia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Polly Minick is a contributing editor to Country Home and Coastal Living magazines.  Her work has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, and Colonial Homes.  Designs from Polly and her sister Laurie Simpson, a quiltmaker for more than 20 years, have been featured in Victoria and Better Homes and Gardens.

Judith Baker Montano is a world-renowned author, designer, fiber artist, teacher, and lecturer. Judith resides in Colorado.

At the early age of six, Fran Morgan began sewing and exploring needlework. By the time she was a teenager, she had mastered many needlecraft techniques, including sewing, needlepoint, crochet, cross-stitch, and knitting. As a result of this early exposure, Fran developed extensive knowledge, experience, and a genuine love for needlecraft and sewing.

Jo Morton is a designer, author, teacher, and an avid student of our quilting ancestors. She brings the legacy of carefully pieced history quilts into her own beautiful work. Jo lives in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

Jan Mullen has been making quilts since 1991, and publishing her own patterns for a decade, which she markets through her pattern company, Stargazey Quilts. A sought-after teacher and designer, Jan travels the world to share her unique style and techniques and creates fabrics for Marcus Brothers. Jan lives in Western Australia.

Shannon Mullen teamed up with industry leaders to create the Make It You® phenomenon. Along with RJR Fashion Fabrics, Pfaff, Primedia, Husqvarna Viking, and C&T Publishing, Shannon is bringing the excitement and fun of sewing to the newest generation. Shannon lives in Ohio.

Claudia Clark Myers comes to the quilting world from a sewing and theater background. For 27 years, she was a costume designer for the Baltimore Opera Company, the Minnesota Ballet, A. T. Jones Costumers in Baltimore, and Malabar Costume House in Toronto. Her Victorian pillow business, Confections, supplied 165 stores throughout the Midwest from 1974 to 1984. For five years, she was an instructor in the theater department at the College of St. Scholastica, teaching costume design and construction. For the past seventeen years, quilting has been Claudia’s passion. In 2006, she was honored to be chosen Minnesota Quilter of the Year.  Snowshoeing, gardening, and mystery novels keep Claudia and her husband Tom busy when they are not in their workshops at opposite ends of the basement.

Paula Nadelstern is an award-winning designer, teacher, and author whose unique work echoes the brilliant effects of a kaleidoscope. Honored by inclusion in the Twentieth Century's 100 Best American Quilts, Paula creates popular fabric lines for Benartex, Inc. Paula lives in New York City.

Betty mastered the treadle sewing machine by age 6, thanks to her mother. Love of fabrics, doll clothes, and crayons consumed her early years. She didn't make her first quilts, however, until 1976, when she needed something to cover a plaster crack in her living room. Many years and many quilts later she is inspiring others to stretch beyond their creative limits. The interplay of fabric and color consume her thoughts and work.

Just in case you don't already know this about Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, Rosie is Carrie Nelson's golden retriever. Carrie lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sue Nickels has taught machine quilting and applique techniques for ten years. She has made quilts for over 20 years, starting with hand techniques and gradually focusing on machine work.

Sue Nickels has been sewing much of her life and was an art major in college at Eastern Michigan University. She has pursued a professional career in quilting for the past 15 years.
Pat Holly also has been sewing almost her whole life, beginning with sewing clothes as a young girl. She is a graphic artist and attended the University of Michigan School of Art & Design.

Kay is known for her enthusiastic teaching methods and for incorporating exotic fabrics into her quilts in unique ways. She is a self-described “shopaholic” and loves to collect fabrics from around the world for the ultimate stash. Kay thrives on being able to teach others the joys of designing one-of-a-kind quilts with one fabric.

Claudia Olson has taught quiltmaking for the past 10 years and enjoys the process of creating new quilt patterns and settings.

Brenda Papadakis, who has been making quilts since 1975, especially enjoys drafting and designing. She saw a photo of Jane Stickle's 1863 quilt and became so enamored that she spent the next five years researching the life and times in which Jane lived.

 Hometown: Eagle River, Alaska (near Anchorage) Dina Pappas is an award-winning designer and bestselling author who shares her designs through her business, Cozy Cabin Crafts.  She has written three That Patchwork Place® books.

Sue Patten began piecing quilts and hand quilting in 1991. As her quilting style evolved, she plunged into machine quilting in 2000. Sue now works out of her own longarm training studio in Hagersville, Ontario, Canada, where she teaches a wide range of classes to quilters on every level from beginners to more advanced. She frequently travels throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe to educate others in the art of longarm machine quilting. As time allows, she also designs and teaches at her local quilt shop, Quilter’s Dream.

Always ready for a new challenge, Linda Pool has created some of the most recognizable quilts in the world. The Bride, The Greatest Moments of a Girl’s Life, and Linda’s Lace have won prestigious awards and are all totally different in technique. At the moment, Linda is specializing in cutwork appliqué and is the owner of the pattern company Very Victorian, LLC.

Jeanne Poore describes herself as an old-fashioned, traditional quilt maker whose personal history includes grandmothers and a great-grandmother who quilted and shared their knowledge and love of the craft with her.  Although she has worked in tax offices, accounting firms, and insurance companies and has coordinated training seminars for a computer software company—what her husband calls "real jobs"—she never gave up her quilting.  She has been active in local, state, and national quilting organizations since the mid-1980s, written books, and lecturered and taught internationally.

Linda Potter shares her Needle Magic techniques with students and guilds around the country. Her love of hand quilting inspired her to develop techniques that deliver high design impact in less time. Linda lives in Overland Park, Kansas.

Heidi Pridemore grew up in Rochester, New York and is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design. But when Heidi realized quilting had a more personal feel than designing products and packaging, she traded her profession for her hobby.

Susan Purney-Mark took her first quilting class over 20 years ago, and since then, quilting has been a very important part of her life. Susan's studies have included intensive design courses in England and Canada, as well as quilting techniques, history, fiber and dyeing workshops.

Marsha grew up in Anne Arunclel County, Maryland, and started sewing when she was a child, receiving much inspiration from her grandmother who could do anything with a needle and thread.  As a young mother, Marsha made the family's clothes and home decorating items. She taught beginner through tailoring classes via her local homemakers' group.  After working as an operations manager for several years, she and her husband retired to Tennessee in 1993, where she began quilting.

Jan Rapacz is a dedicated needleworker who loves to experiment with new techniques. She has taught smocking, tatting, and silk ribbon embroidery, and her patterns have been published in national needlework magazines. Jan lives in New Brighton, Minnesota.

Sue Reich began her interest in the study of quilt history with the Connecticut quilt documentation project in 1991.  A quiltmaker since childhood, she lectures widely on many aspects of quilt history, co-authored "Quilts and Quiltmakers Covering Connecticut," and is a certified AQS quilt appraiser.

Sharon Rexroad's award-winning quilts have stolen the show at major events for a decade. The author of numerous books and patterns, Sharon loves to create innovative designs.  Sharon lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Home: Canberra, Australia; Margaret Rolfe is a renowned designer and author who has written several books, including the bestseller A Quilter's Ark.
Jenny Bowker is an award-winning designer whose work has been featured in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.

Maxine Rosenthal came to quilting via a path that included writing software and refinishing furniture. Fascinated by kaleidoscopes, she explores the patterns that develop when fabric is cut and re-joined to create new designs. Maxine lives in Woodbury, MN.

Deb Rowden is a quilt book author and editor.  Her first Kansas City Star quilt book, Quilting a Poem, was created with Frances Kite in 2003.  Her own Quilter's Stories: Collecting History in the Heart of America, followed in 2005. She has edited a number of quilt books, following earlier work for newspapers and with a local publisher.  She lives in Lawrence, Kansas.

Cyndy Lyle Rymer is a longtime quilter and editor at C&T Publishing. She was the creator of Quilts for Guys and has written or edited several other books for C&T. She has also appeared on HGTV's Simply Quilts. Cyndy lives in Danville, California.

Kathy Sandbach has been machine quilting for nearly 20 years, and quilting for others for over a decade. A popular teacher, Kathy shares her free-form approach with quilters across the country. Kathy lives in Bandon, Oregon.

Sharon Schamber has a long history in textiles. She was a designer the master patternmaker for Deja Vu/Time & Eternity Fashions in Scottsdale, Arizona for over 20 years. After retiring from the business in 1994, she devotes her energies to design and making beautiful award-winning quilts.

Sharon Schamber has a long history in textiles. She was a designer the master patternmaker for Deja Vu/Time & Eternity Fashions in Scottsdale, Arizona for over 20 years. After retiring from the business in 1994, she devotes her energies to design and making beautiful award-winning quilts.

Cristy Fincher grew up watching her mom Sharon Schamber sew. It was deliriously fun to watch those beautiful fabrics turn into “princess dresses” from her special perch atop the sewing table. It would be easy to say that all that early “fabric” exposure has lead to her lifelong love and admiration for sewing and design but one does have to wonder if some of it isn’t genetic.

Sally Schneider has been quilting for more than half of her life, and has lost count of the number of quilts she has made. Suffice it to say that neither she, nor her children or grandchildren will ever be cold at night! She started by making applique baby quilts for friends. She began teaching in 1980, and in 1990 wrote her first book. She has been teaching nationally since 1991.

Elizabeth Scott made her first quilt in 1980 and has loved playing with fabric ever since. She also designs patterns under the name Late Bloomer Quilts. Elizabeth lives with her husband, Larry, and three teenage sons Eric, Nick, and Jeff in a very noisy Northern California home.

Joan Segna and Jayme Crow (Homes: Richland, Washington and Kennewick, Washington) are co-owners of Bella Nonna LLC, a successful quilt-pattern business and design studio.  They have written a couple of books.

Sew News is the magazine of choice for home-sewing enthusiasts across the country.
Creative Machine Embroidery features advice and ideas for fans of machine embroidery.

Elly Sienkiewicz is a world-renowned expert on the Baltimore Album quilt. An award-winning quilter, teacher, and author of nineteen books, Elly's enthusiasm and willingness to share her knowledge have contributed greatly to the Baltimore Album revival. Elly lives in Washington, D.C.

Judy Sisnero's first memory of sewing was making doll clothes as a child. Her first sewing lessons began with the birth of her first daughter in 1964.  After a move to California's far north coast, she began making landscape quilts.  Judy has been teaching since 1993 and feels fortunate to be making a living doing something she loves.

Edyta's love for fabric began at a very young age - when she used her mother's newly hung drapes to create her first fabric project! Fortunately for all of us, her mother recognized her passion for fabric and thus began her journey with fabric and sewing.

Jan Bode Smiley made her first quilt as a teenager. Her work has been exhibited nationally, and she teaches and lectures. She now focuses her attention on both fabric and paper crafts. Jan lives in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

Dolores Smith and Sarah Maxwell opened Homestead Hearth in September 2OO2. For many years prior to that, they traveled to quilt shows around the country and visited shops along the way. Always, they talked about having their own shop and all of the exciting things they would do if they owned a shop. The reality of owning the shop and its related experiences has far exceeded their dreams.

Louisa L. Smith was born in Indonesia and educated in the Netherlands. Louisa began her quilting career by learning traditional methods, but she soon ventured into innovative techniques and designs, learning to “paint” with fabrics. Louisa lives in Loveland, CO.

Sieglinde Schoen Smith is an award-winning quilter, an expert embroiderer, and a gifted artist. After winning America's top award for her whimsical quilt, Mother Earth and Her Children, she became an overnight sensation in the quilting industry.

Hometown: Eugene, Oregon; Known for her fine long-arm machine quilting, Sheila Sinclair Snyder also teaches classes on machine quilting, quilt construction, and ergonomics for quilters. This is her first book.

Pam Stallebrass dyes and prints fabrics in her hometown and sells them in England and at the International Quilt Market. She writes articles on quiltmaking for Patchwork and Quilting, UK and has published three books as of 2007. Pam lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

Shirley Stutz began teaching patchwork in 1990 and now is a full-time traveling teacher.  Her goal is to inspire students with innovative, faster methods, without sacrificing accuracy.  Shirley lives on a farm in rural Ohio.

Mary Sue Suit (Hometown: Alliance, Nebraska) is a self-taught quiltmaker who is best known for her simplification of difficult-to-piece quilt designs.  She has written several books.

Susan Terry creates award-winning original designs that feature needleturn appliqué and hand quilting. She discovered Christmas stockings during one of her many attempts to use up fabric scraps. Susan lives in Oakland, California.

Patsy Thompson was a hand quilter for her first 25-plus years in quilting and struggled to learn the art of free motion machine quilting. It wasn’t easy! Once mastered, free motion machine quilting became a wonderful creative outlet and Patsy now travels to teach and pass along her free motion mastery to others. The overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from her students has prompted her to create these series of instructional DVD’s on free motion machine quilting.

Terry is a quilt artist, writer, historian, pattern designer and fabric designer for Moda. She served as one of the principal documenters for the Kansas Quilt Project and her chapter on conversation prints is included in the book, Kansas Quilts and Quilters, University Press of Kansas.

Ricky Tims successfully blends two diverse passions into one very unique and interesting career. Thousands who have heard his music affirm his skills as a pianist, composer, and producer. His success as a quilter is equally significant.

Cynthia Treen is a Rhode Island-based artist/designer with a background in fashion, product development, and television. While working for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she designed products for catalog sale and appeared on the Martha Stewart Living TV show. Her business includes commissions for wedding dresses, interior
textiles, and fine-art fabric sculptures.
Karen Philippi is a photographer specializing in fine art and assignment photography, including products, architectural interiors, and environmental portraiture. Her work has been featured in Anthony Quinn's Eye and Inquire Within: A Social History of the Providence Athenaeum since 1753. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Sibylle von Olfers is the author of the original German folk tale, "Etwas von den Wurzelkindern," which sold more than 800,000 copies when it was first published in 1906. Exactly a century later, Sieglinde Schoen Smith's quilted interpretation, Mother Earth and Her Children, won the top prize at America's most prestigious quilt show, inspiring this new translation. Jack Zipes (University of Minnesota) is the foremost expert on folklore in the United States. His works include the definitive English-language translation of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Home: Eindhoven, The Netherlands; First-time author Wendy Vosters has been designing paper-pieced quilts for nearly ten years.

Marilyn I. Walker is a charter member of the Niagara Heritage Quilters' Association and a working fiber artist. She is a recognized authority on Canadian Quilts and has lectured widely in the United States and Canada.

Peggy Waltman continues to design new quilts and has made some of her latest availalbe as quilt patterns. She remains busy with four of her eight children still living at home. Her delight continues to be her children, 6 grandchildren, and her love of color. She is ever amused with it in nature, fabric, or wherever it may be found.

Hometown: House Springs, MO; Inspired by her father, a talented artist, Janet Wecker-Frisch has been drawing and painting since childhood. She translated her irresistible watercolor illustrations into her own line of ceramic ornaments. Their success led to licenses for wallpaper and border décor, and fabrics.

Jean Wells has written or co-authored over 24 quilting books. Jean combines her everyday life with her passion, whether it is putting on the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show near her Oregon home or planting a quilt block pattern in her garden.

Colleen Wise is fascinated by shadows and loves creating the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface. Colleen teaches, lectures, and exhibits her award-winning work throughout the U.S. and internationally. She lives in Puyallup, Washington.

Joen began quiltmaking in 1974, after she left her career in the education field to become a homemaker and a stay-at-home mom. Her interest in color and design surfaced in the early 1980s. She has taught and lectured in the quilting field, both nationally and internationally since 1984. Her guest international work has included engagements in England, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Germany, Holland, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Jason Yenter has grown up in the quilting world ever since his mother, Sharon, opened In The Beginning Fabrics in 1977.  Starting as a part-time stock boy in his early teens, he worked his way up through the company, and is now president and one of the company's designers.

Sharon Evans Yenter is the owner of In The Beginning Fabrics in Seattle, Washington.  She is the author of Floral Bouquet Quilts From In The Beginning, has designed quilt patterns, and currently designs fabric for her own textile company.

Rosemary Youngs is an award-winning quilter who enjoys designing quilts that tell stories.  She is the author of The Amish Circle Quilt (KP Books 2004) and her work has also been published in several books and magazines.  She resides in Walker, Michigan with her family.

Nancy Zieman is the executive producer and host of Sewing With Nancy, the longest-running sewing and quilting program on television. She is the founder of the mail order catalog, Nancy's Notions and has authored more than 30 books.
Natalie Sewell is an award-winning art quilter who specializes in landscape quilts. She has created collection of landscape fabric designs produced by Marcus Brothers. The Art of Landscape Quilting is the third book on landscape quilting she has co-authored with Nancy Zieman.

Darlene Zimmerman is a quilt historian with a speciality in the 1930s era. She lives in Minnesota with her husband.