2012 Quilt Instructors & Biographies

Annie Smith began sewing at the age of 8 and was quilter by the time her first child was born.

Annie lectures and teaches quilting internationally. In 2005, she began “Quilting Stash, the First Podcast for Quilters” where she talks about all things related to quilting and interviews her quilting heroes. Annie dreams about quilts at night, in-color, and thinks she will never have the time to make all of the quilts she dreams about.

Annie’s technical expertise takes many forms, although fabric selection and fine machine appliqué are her specialties. Annie develops a quick rapport with the audience and immediately immerses herself in tales every quilter can relate to and provides valuable insight along the way.

A native Californian, Annie lives with her husband and two of their three children, who all quilt and contribute to her podcast and to her quilting obsession.

Annie’s lecture style is light-hearted, full of laughter and warmth. Every audience member will relate to the things of which Annie speaks. In her lectures and workshops, Annie crosses boundaries of age and experience and displays the love she has for this craft as few others can.

http://simplearts.com/blogs/lectures/index.html 

Hi.  My name is Brenda and I quilt.  I've been known to sneak fabric into my purse in case I need a fix while away from home.  I take a calculator to bed with me to compute quilt yardage and block piecing in the middle of the night.  I disguise fabric purchases in the checkbook register, titling the check as a grocery purchase.  I even lift my favorite sewing machine into airline overhead storage bins rather than leave her home alone.  I live in Alaska.  Our winters are 6 months long, who really wants to go outside and get cold anyway? I am a quilter...  and I am addicted! My husband considered an intervention to discuss my problem...  But soon realized that if a group of my friends were to meet together, we would just QUILT!!

Brenda Henning is a compulsive quiltmaker with a fondness for traditional design and a desire to incorporate today's speed-piecing techniques with yesterday's well-loved patterns.  Brenda's machine sewing experience began at the early age of 10 on her grandmother's treadle sewing machine with the first quilt following at age 14.  Brenda became a compulsive quilter in the mid-80s, and began teaching quiltmaking in 1988, when her third child was an infant.  Writing and self-publishing that work have been byproducts of teaching quilting.  Brenda is the author of numerous books and individual patterns available under the label Bear Paw Productions.  Stained glass quilts were first introduced to Brenda in a workshop.  All steps of the process - basting, bias tape placement, quilting - were completed by hand.  With three young children, and a busy schedule, Brenda knew that she could not complete a second stained glass quilt in the time available.  She set out to devise a method to reduce the time necessary to make a stained glass quilt without compromising the results.  The introduction of fusible bias tape has really streamlined her approach to stained glass quilts.  Brenda lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her husband, Richard, and their three children, Beth, Christi and Joshua.  Two Rottweilers, Kaia and Jade,  share copious quantities of black dog hair with every quilt that leaves the premises.  The addition of a cleaning lady to her life has greatly reduced the stifling effect of housework!  Brenda teaches shops and guilds throughout Alaska and the United States.

http://www.bearpawproductions.com/about.php 

Debbie Caffrey is a self-published author of thirteen books and dozens of patterns. In addition, she has designed and published over one hundred fifty patterns in an ever-changing line of mysteries. Debbie has taught many energy-filled workshops nationwide for guilds and shops, and some international venues. These include International Quilt Festival (Houston, Rosemont, and Long Beach), Minnesota Quilters Conference, Festival of Classes in Bend, Oregon, The Road to California and many, many more. Debbie has contributed many articles to Traditional Quiltworks magazine and has made two guest appearance on HGTV's television program, Simply Quilts, and two episodes of QNNTV.com's Quilter's Coffee .  

Debbie and her husband Dan lived in Anchorage, Alaska from 1979 to August 2000. They raised three children, Monica, Erin, and Mark. Sadly Dan died suddenly on June 29, 2008. Besides being "President of Everything Debbie Doesn't Want to Do" and a big part of her successful business, Dan was the love of her life for thirty-eight years.

Outside of quilting, Debbie enjoys her family (Grandkids are the greatest!), cooking, her herb garden, and going on long walks and drives, experiencing new places.

http://debbiescreativemoments.com/debbie-caffrey-biography.html  

Lenore Crawford's fabric art combine her love of France, their architecture, and flower gardens along with her passion for color and realism.  Their texture and warmth achieved from the fabric itself along with fabric painting give the art an impressionistic feeling that only this medium can produce.  She has won several prizes for her art and continues to develop and grow her medium and style in new and beautiful ways

http://www.lenorecrawford.com/ 

Kaye began quilt making and fabric collecting in earnest in the early 1980’s, but was influenced early on by a family of needle workers. She now designs fabrics for Wilmington Prints and heads her own publishing company, Kaye England Publications. Kaye travels the world conducting sell-out lectures and workshops showcasing her wonderful and infectious fabrics, patterns and quilts, as well as her unique and honest outlook on life. Kaye can also be seen on several episodes of HGTV’s Simply Quilts.  

Kaye has been described as a colorful individual generating enthusiasm and excitement in her work and having great fun in the process. Despite a hectic teaching schedule, Kaye always finds time to quilt. She has written 13 books and recently produced 3 feature length instructional DVD using her Nifty Notions® “Cut for the Cure™” rulers called More.. Smart Piecing Techniques &  Plates-A-Plenty  

Kaye was born and raised on a farm in Glasgow, Kentucky. She now resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has two children and six grandchildren.

http://www.kayeengland.com/ 

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 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

Klaudeen’s classes will teach you fast, easy, and time saving techniques for machine piecing, cutting, and machine appliqué and much more!

Cindy lives in Maryville, Tennessee with her husband Bob. She began quiltmaking in 1974 when her two sons were young. After a move to south Florida in 1977 she began to teach quilting. In the last 30 years Cindy's teaching skills have earned her a loyal following across the United States.

In 1993 Cindy won the International Quilt Festival's "Jewel Pearce Patterson Award" for teaching excellence. In 1995 she was nominated for Professional Quilter's "Teacher of the Year." She has taught in Canada, Australia, Mexico, and throughout the United States.

Her work is based on traditional American patchwork blocks. She uses many fabrics to create unique scrap quilts. Her love of quilt history has lead to her own pattern line, Vintage Collections, and her first self published book, Vintage One Patch Scrap Quilts.

Her second book, Tiny Stitches, features the fine hand quilting Cindy is known for and teaches nationally.

Cindy's fine hand piecing skills have been featured in Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting issue 55, Chitra's Traditional Quiltworks issue 81, and Rodale's Favorite Techniques from the Experts. In 2003, she was featured on the cover of Designers and Their Quilts.

Her quilts have won various awards and have hung in major exhibits in Florida, across the United States, and overseas.

http://www.cindyblackberg.com  

Suzanne Marshall taught herself to quilt from a library book about 30 years ago because her four children needed covers on their beds. As you can tell from her quilts, Suzanne has a fascination with nature and a special affinity for folk art. Suzanne has chosen to make almost all of her quilts by hand, a process that she finds meditative using her own techniques. For example, she quilts without a frame or a hoop.

Suzanne still has not taken any quilting classes and is amazed that she finds herself teaching and lecturing all over the country and abroad.

http://www.suzannequilts.com  

Author, teacher, fabric designer and award-winning quilt maker, Nancy Mahoney has enjoyed making quilts for over 20 years, during which time an impressive range of her beautiful quilts have been featured in many books and in over 80 national and international quilt magazines, with more books and patterns in the works.  She has, also, created over 75 quilt patterns for a number of fabric manufacturers.  Nancy has designed six fabric collections for P&B Textiles and is working on her next fabric collection which will be available soon.

She has authored 11 books, all published by Martingale & Company.  Her bestselling books include Treasures from the 30s (2010), Appliqué Quilt Revival (2008), Ribbon Star Quilts (2008), and Quilt Revival (2006).  Nancy’s newest book Fast, Fusible Flower Quilts (2011) is now available.

Nancy enjoys exploring new ways to combine traditional blocks and updated techniques to create quilts that are fun and easy to make.  Nancy believes quilt making should be fun.  Her goal in her workshops is for students to enjoy the process of making a quilt as much as they expect to enjoy the project.  

http://www.nancymahoney.com/ 

I started my sewing career at a very young age making pillows and crafts which evolved into making clothing for myself and my children. I started a home based business making clothing for others. Years later I was invited to the Piecemakers Quilt Guild by a friend but during my first year as a quilter I again was making clothing, jackets and vest. That all ended when I began my first quilt. I wanted to learn more and more which in time turned into teaching quilting. That was about 14 years ago. I  have taught quilting in North Carolina at a yearly seminar at  NCCAT and also "A Mountain Quiltfest" for several years. I enjoy  teaching locally and at MidSouth Sewing in Knoxville,TN.