2008 Quilt Instructors & Biographies
Below is a complete list of Quiltfest quilt instructors and their biographies, listed in alphabetical order.
Click here to learn which quilt classes are taught by which quilt instructors.
JoAnn Belling: Des Moines, IA
JoAnn has enjoyed the sewing machine since she began producing her own clothes at age 12. Her quilting endeavors began in 1965 and since then she has taught a variety of classes in the United States and Japan. She has received Best of Show and other ribbons at various competitions. Art quilts have hung in galleries. A total of 8 quilts have hung at Paducah as well as other national quilt shows. Her most recent published article was in Fons & Porter’s “Love of Quilting”. Concepts of color and composition play an important role in her photographic art and are applied to the designing of quilts, borders and quilt backart for her art pieces and for her own quilt patterns. Enthusiastic, educational and entertaining are three words describing JoAnn’s lectures and workshops.
Marsha Cline: Powell, TN.
Marsha Cline of Powell, Tennessee began sewing 39 years ago and developed a home-based sewing business. For several years Marsha made costumes for Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede. She found interest in quilting from her 81 year old mother-in-law who worked on hand-pieced quilts daily. Marsha has taught classes at Knoxville area shops and most recently at NCCAT in North Carolina. Her specialty items are photo quilts and pillows of children’s handprints called “Heartfelt Handprints” which preserve handprints of special loved ones.
Carol Doak : Windham, NH
As a best-selling author, celebrated teacher, lecturer, and award-winning quiltmaker, Carol Doak has greatly influenced the art and craft of quiltmaking for more than a decade, both in the U.S. and internationally. It is no secret that Carol has helped to raise the popularity of paper piecing, her trademark technique, to heights never before seen in the world of quiltmaking. Since taking her first quilt class in 1979, Carol has made over 150 quilts, several of which have been shown in national shows and competitions. Carol’s quilts have bee featured on the covers of most national quilting magazines.
Carol’s books, approaching a million in print, include: Easy Machine Paper Piecing, Easy Paper Pieced Miniatures, 300 Paper-Pieced Blocks, and Carol Doak’s Simply Sensational 9-Patch Stars.
Bonnie Goolsby: Gatlinburg, TN.
Bonnie Goolsby started sewing when she was 12 years old making pillows, aprons, and other wearable items. By the time she was in high school she was making most of her own clothes. She sewed for many years before she began quilting and then a whole new world of sewing opened up. By the year 2000 she was on the education staff and was a featured instructor at Best Sewing & Vacuum, Inc. in Knoxville, Tennessee until the business closed in 2007. For the past several years, Bonnie had the privilege of teaching at the NCCAT located at Western Carolina University.
Klaudeen Hansen: Sun Prairie, WI.
Klaudeen Hansen’s experience reaches far beyond just quilting. Not only is she a certified judge for the National Quilting Association and has judged competition quilts for a number of years, but Klaudeen also trains other people to be judges. Klaudeen, who resides in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, is an editor for Quilt Art and Address & Birthday Book, as well as the author of many articles for various quilting magazines. Her quilts have been featured in numerous shows throughout the United States and Europe. She is an accomplished teacher.
Sharon Kennedy: Louisa, VA
Sharon was a quilt shop owner for 13 years as well as a teacher, and designer of appliqué quilt and wall hanging patterns. Sharon enjoys designing beautiful quilts and also teaching quilters how easy and fun appliqué really is.
Teaching has given her greatest moments of personal satisfaction. She teaches appliqué for beginners to advanced students using the spray starch method to turn back the edges.
She has been featured on many national quilt shows, and has taught for many quilt guilds, local quilt sops in Pennsylvania and Ohio and at many quilt shows.
Sue Nickels: Ann Arbor, MI
Sue has been quilting for 28 years, starting by hand and gradually focusing on machine work. Sue has been teaching machine techniques for the past 18 years. Sue has taught and lectured nationally for shops, guilds and major conferences, including AQS, IQA and NQA. She has also taught internationally in England, Norway and Spain. Sue’s major awards include 1998 AQS Best of Show for “The Beatles Quilt” made by Sue and her sister, Pat Holly. Their quilt, “The Space Quilt” won the 2003 IQA Master of Machine Artistry Award and the 2004 AQS Machine Workmanship Award. Sue’s books include “Machine Appliqué: A Sampler of Techniques” and “Machine Quilting: A Primer of Techniques”. Her new book “Stitched Raw Edge Appliqué” is co-authored with Pat and was released in February 2006. Sue’s priority in the workshops she teaches is to provide a relaxed environment for students to learn machine techniques that are timesaving. Sue emphasizes the best quality workmanship, never compromising quality for speed
Nancy Odom : Westfield, IN.
Quilt designer, author, and teacher Nancy Odom has several books and numerous
patterns in publication, with more pattern and book ideas always in the works. Also
among her creations are Quilter’s Gloves for the machine quilter. Her company, Timid
Thimble Creations, markets her line of products. Nancy co-authored Elm Creek Quilts for
C&T Publications and her quilts have been featured in several other C&T books. Nancy
has also designed two popular fabric collections for P&B Textiles, Azalea Trail and
Gather Sunshine.
Nancy has appeared on three episodes of Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson and on
America Sews with Sue Hausmann. She is a featured teacher and lecturer at quilt shows,
quilt guilds, and quilt shops. Nancy’s designs have also been featured in McCall’s
Quilting Magazine and For The Love of Quilting magazines. Nancy designed and quilted
A Mother’s Legacy, the 2005 International Quilt Association donation quilt. She has also
created quilts for P&B Textiles, Hoffman Fabrics, Benartex Fabrics, Bernina Sewing
Machines, and Viking Sewing Machines.
Having completed her first quilt at the age of 17, Nancy credits her grandmother’s love of quilting for inspiring her at such a young age. She has vivid memories of sneaking
downstairs after “bedtime” as a child to watch her grandmother appliqué a quilt top.
Nancy was amazed and fascinated by every stitch. Today, the very quilt that inspired that little girl has a proud place among Nancy’s own quilted creations.
Vikki Pignatelli : Reynoldsburg, OH
A painter and sculptor, with more than 30 years experience in several art forms, Vikki became a quilter in 1991 and quickly turned her passion for intense colors and flowing design into national award winning quilts.
A full-time quilt artist, author, teacher and lecturer, she has developed a layering technique for piecing curves. She and her quilts have been featured in national publications and the 1998 American Quilter's Society Art Engagement Calendar. She has won eighteen awards from national/international quilt shows including a first place award in Art Large for Portrait of my Soul at the International Quilt Festival at Houston and Best Color and Design in the 2002 NQA annual show. Now she is enjoying the release of her new book, "Quilting Curves" (May, 2001 published by Quilt Digest Press).
Vikki is also founder and chairwoman of the Sacred Threads Quilt Exhibition. The national exhibit, held biennially, displays work from all over the United States and Canada and features themes of spirituality, inspiration, healing and grief.
In her workshops, Vikki teaches her new technique with emphasis on self-confidence, a sense of adventure, persistence and inspirational motivation
Joan Shay: Cape Cod, Ma
Joan Shay is an award winning quilter from Cape Cod, Mass. She has developed a new appliqué technique Appli-bond©. If you want to create realistic 3-D flowers, birds and fish easily and simply, then this is the technique for you.
Appli-bond is the fusing together of two layers of fabric, thus eliminating the need to turn under allowances or finish the edges. Once you have fused the fabric you cut out the motifs and then appliqué these to your background with decorative embroidery stitches. Surprisingly these quilts are washable! In addition to patterns her company Petal Play offers Appli-bond needles, templates, complete kits, books and notions that aid this technique.
Joan is the author of Petal by Petal, Petal Play the Traditional Way and 3 Quilters Celebrate the 4 Seasons published by AQS. She has appeared on Quilting From the Heartland with Shar Jorgensen and Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson. Joan has published articles in The American Quilter, Miniature Quilts, Quilting is Hot, Quilting Today and Patchwork & Quilting in the United Kingdom. She travels nationally and internationally teaching at guilds, conferences and shops.
Her classes and lectures are hands on, exciting and FUN!!
Polly Taylor: Jonesborough, TN
Polly Taylor is the former owner of Tennessee Quilts and founder of Quiltfest in Jonesborough, TN. She currently teaches classes in Johnson City and Limestone, TN and in Asheville, NC. Polly conducts quaint quilting retreats at her log home on “Serenity Hill” located on the Nolichucky River. Her home-based and vending business, Polly’s Feedsack Prints, grew out of an early love and interest in feedsack prints. Polly, a retired elementary teacher, is a collector of feedsacks and is an instructor of traditional vintage quilt patterns. Polly is a certified Eleanor Burns teacher and teaches classes regularly at Somewhere Sewing in Johnson City, TN., and at Piece Garden in Asheville, NC.
