Virginia Walton

Virginia is teaching class 5011

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Virginia: I have been quilting over 25 years and I started after a surgery that corrected a misdiagnosed back problem that had kept me in bed for close to 7 years. I had always wanted to quilt but knew I didn’t have the patience to do everything by hand. However, this was about 1976 and the sewing machine had just started to become a popular way to both piece and quilt and that approach the quilting fit in my short attention span. As a result, using the sewing machine began a lifelong addiction, avocation and a business that includes teaching, lecturing, developing quilting tools and writing quilting books.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

V: Yes, I actually have two work areas. One is a studio where I design, cut and sew and the other is a business office and additional work ant storage space. Both are additions to our home, I do most of my sewing in our ‘studio/family room’ and do most of the paperwork and store fabric for Fabric Kits in the upstairs addition. (My husband says if I try to add any more additions for my fabric – he’ll move both me and the fabric outside, sigh!)

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

V: I am known for my easy sewing machine piecing techniques especially a ‘No Pins’ circular and oval curve sewing method. In addition, my ability to combine Fabric and Color in a Quilt, in other words, ‘how to’ combine fabric to create the effect desired in a quilt.

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

V: It is easier to list my least favorite color combinations, which would be pastel quilts. I basically love fabric (which is tough on my bank balance), however I do have a slight preference for fabric combinations of blue, turquoise, green purple, fuchsia and black.

M: What books or articles have you written?

V:I have just finished my 10^th book and write numerous articles for both national and international magazines. In the US, my most recent articles were in the May/June ’09 issue of “Love of Quilting: and the Sept. 09 issue of “The Quilter Magazine.”

M: What do you do while you quilt?

V: I usually either watch TV or listen to the radio.

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

V: Almost anything inspires me from traditional patterns to graphics of everything, especially Roman Mosaics. (My children accuse me of never taking pictures of them, but if there is an interesting ceiling or tile work in a bathroom, it will be in my camera.)

M: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

V: While teaching in France I used a common word in the US to describe damaging a rotary cutter blade. While I didn’t know what I had said wrong, the gasps and hands covering faces were a big clue that I had said something very wrong. Once I convinced someone to whisper what I had done or said that caused the embarrassment, I rephrased the statement. However, I have never used that particular word again.

M: What was the best class you have ever taken?

V: The best class I even took was taught by one of Jenny Beyer’s first students. She was teaching Sampler Classes that covered both traditional patterns as well as drafting. She was not only a great teacher, but opened my eyes to the creative potential of essentially ‘painting’ with fabric and also the delight of designing my own original quilts.

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Terry Waldron

Terry is teaching 3010, 4009, 5010, 6013, 7017

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Terry: I’ve been quilting since 1995. I played tennis then, and one day my partner told me that she was not going to be playing with us for 6 weeks. When I asked why, she said she was going to take quilt lessons. I said, “What’s a quilt!” I really did say that! Then I walked into the quilt shop she told me about, fell instantly in love with all the cloth, and signed up for a class with the wonderful Blanche Young. I made my first quilt in the next 6 days while teaching high school English in the daytime! It was a queen-sized quilt, and I was hooked! I even liked ironing the fabric!

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

T: Yes, if you consider a guest room to be a studio! It has a full bathroom, though, and a perfect place to iron, AND my sewing machine is right by an upstairs window so I can see the trees and the hills, listen to the neighbor kids play in the cul de sac, and watch a Cary Grant movie as I create! The only thing I wish I had is a maid to help me keep it neat and straightened!

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

T: Well, I have a degree in art education, and I taught high school art classes for many years before changing to English so I really love teaching composition and design. I love two things: working completely by hand WITHOUT patterns from beginning to end, AND I love to do landscapes with my own cutting technique that I wrote about called “Rough Cut.” It makes a landscape or a seascape look REAL!

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

T: I don’t have “color schemes,” actually. I use the colors that each piece calls for. BUT I have a secret about color that all artists know – you MUST know each color’s complement! You probably know that without darkness, we wouldn’t know what light is. Well, for instance, if you don’t add purple in some form to a predominately yellow composition, then the yellow isn’t as yellow! Remember that your elementary teacher probably taught you the color wheel a long time ago. What is most important about that color wheel is to know what each color’s opposite is. They attract!

M: What books or articles have you written?

T: I’ve written an article for the AQS magazine “American Quilter” called “Rough Cut.”

I’ve also written two chapters in Jamie Fingal’s book Embellished Mini-Quilts: Creative Little Works of Art. BUT, my next endeavor is to write my own book!

M: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

T: When I am working on a piece, I am usually listening to an old movie on TV, or I’m listening to jazz, or sometimes just listening to nature right outside my window. But when there is a Cary Grant movie on… I’m inspired and do my very BEST work!

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

T: My inspiration is certainly nature. It’s important to me to look as closely as I can at EVERYTHING! Nearly every morning when I go outside, I see Mount Baldy, and it’s almost like seeing an old friend. Then there are egrets that often fly over my car when I drive near home. But the person who inspired me most is the work of the great Japanese artist Ayako Miyawaki. I bought her book from Kogi Wada at my first quilt show. It’s written in Japanese so I can’t read a word of it, but I still look to her book to inspire me.

M: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

T: Well, I don’t want to say it in writing… BUT, I might just tell it in my classes! Stay tuned…

M: What was the best class you have ever taken?

Hands down, that would be the two classes I took with Joan Colvin. Both classes were 4-day classes, and I will never forget them. Joan, just by her wonderful peacefulness, created a magic that filled the room as she spoke. It was almost like being in a trance! After she finished, everyone in the class would sort of float over to their design wall, and amazingly beautiful work would just seem to create itself for each student in the room. I miss Joan Colvin, and I’m sure that everyone who was lucky enough to learn from her feels the same way.

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Sue Patten

Sue is teaching classes 1004, 1010, 2004, 2010, 3013, 4012, 6010, 7016, and 8501

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Sue: I have been quilting for 20 years, the first ten by hand, the second ten by longarm machine.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

Sue: I have a studio that houses my 3 longarms, all my supplies and a comfy design area.

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

Sue: My threadart and unique designs.

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

Sue: Jet black fabric and bright colored thread.

M: What books or articles have you written?

Sue: Adaptable Quilting Designs, Quilting Possibilities, and Freehand Filler-patterns.

M: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

Sue: I listen to my ipod while I dance and sing loud and off key.

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

Sue: I see designs everywhere, first I doodle, then I quilt.

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Sharyn Craig

Sharyn is teaching class 7013

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Sharyn: I started taking my first quilting class through the local adult education program in 1978. At the time it was just a natural progression … the next step, for someone who had sewn and crafted forever. My youngest child started kindergarten and I started quilting.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

S: My sewing room is about 12 x 20 … I’ve just never been able to think of it as a studio. I am fortunate enough to have enough wall space that I have the luxury of 2 large flannel walls, each about 8 feet by 8 feet. A very important goal for me in this space is that it be very organized so that when I have time to sew I can put my fingers on everything I need immediately. I like my fabric hidden from sight, with most of it being stored in file cabinet drawers, up on end, so I can see every piece of whatever color I want just by opening that drawer.

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

S: Definitely Setting blocks is my favorite part. I love taking problem blocks, such as size issues, or color problems, and figuring out ways to fix those problems. I like to think that when it comes to setting my blocks together I take what our grandmothers did and move it to the next step. I’m definitely a traditional quilter, but I do march to my own drummer!

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

S: Definitely the reds, greens, blacks, and warm beiges or even yellow tones.

M: What books or articles have you written?

S: Yikes, book number 17 came out in the Spring of 2010. My titles include: The Art of Classic Quiltmaking, Drafting Plus, Setting Solutions, Great Sets, Twist ‘n Turn, Quilt Challenges, Half Log Cabin Quilts, and Layer ’em Up (volumes 1, 2, and 3) There have been lots of magazine articles over the 30 plus years as well.

M: What do you do while you quilt? Listen to music?

S: I will only have music or tv on if I’m doing repetitive work that doesn’t require any thinking. I do like music (country to classical, and lots in between), but if I need to concentrate or create Ijust can’t handle any distractions.

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

S: In the beginning it was antique quilts. Old quilts are probably a source of inspiration today, although I don’t actively study old quilts any more, except when looking for a different sort of color scheme, or perhaps a new block. It was never for the exact quilt, but more often for the emotional feel I got from that antique quilt. That’s the sort of thing I wanted for my quilts … for people to have a positive emotional response.

M: What is the funniest moment you have had while you were teaching?

S: I’m not sure this counts, and at the time I sure didn’t think it was so funny … but here goes, I was part of a 3 person teacher panel at Houston Quilt Market. We were sitting on bar stool type chairs on a stage as the moderator asked us questions, then the audience got to ask questions. At a very inopportune moment a giant sneeze came out of me … causing my front fastening bra to come undone. If there hadn’t been a few men in the audience I would have immediately fixed the problem. Instead I had to sit there with my arms crossed for the rest of the questions, hoping everyone wasn’t thinking I was mad!

Another time … at another conference … when we left for lunch and I locked up the classroom, someone from maintenance came and changed the locks to my classroom, without telling anyone. The students thought it was hysterical … me? I was worried about how to fix this problem and retrieve all the quilts inside?

M: What was the best class you have ever taken?

S: I’d probably have to say it was that initial adult ed class … although the teacher wasn’t one of the best, and in 1978 there was still so very much to learn, but she empowered me to be able to do stuff on my own. She didn’t always have answers, but she gave me the tools I needed to find them myself. She helped me believe in my own abilities … as a student, a quilter, and as a quilting teacher. Within a year after I started taking this class I was working as her assistant. Within 2 years I was actually teaching the class on my own. Her encouragement was a critical part of that equation.

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Penny Haren

Penny is teaching classes 3005, 4005, 5005, 6007, 7006.

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Penny: I have quilted for 30 years. My grandmother was a quilter.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

P: I am now an empty nester so I have turned the master bedroom into my sewing room.

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world.

P: I am a math brain, so I incorporate that aspect into all my books, notions and fabric designs.

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

P: Anything that can be fussy cut.

M: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

P: I enjoy to Talk and listen to T.V.

M: What books or articles have your written?

P: I authored: Penny Haren’s Pieced Appliqué, More Pieced Applique, Intricate Blocks Made Easy, and Week-end Projects, along with many articles.

M: Who is your quilting inspiration?

P: I would have to say Eleanor Burns.

M: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

P: I recently said that scissors that had handles that were spore and organism resistant were “Sperm and Orgasm” resistant!

M: What was the best class you have ever taken?

P: I’m usually teaching – and haven’t had time to take classes in years!

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Pat Yamin

Pat is teaching class 5013

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Pat: I have been quilting for over 40 years. Moving from the Midwest to NY, it was very relaxing for me living in dowtown Brooklyn without knowing anyone.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

P: I live in a 14 room Victorian house and tend to use all of the rooms. Each one has a different purpose. My home based office is in the Maids Room. When I first started the business in 1981 I taught classes in this room. Now it is filled with office work, computers and files.

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

P: I design and manufacture templates to make the quilter’s lives easier.

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

P: I truly love the colors of the 1880’s or lots of bright colors.

M: What books or articles have you written?

P: I am working on my 4^th book to be published by AQS, Two-Patched Quilts.

M: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

P: When I am sewing or quilting I like it to be quiet. My creativity comes from this absolutely quiet time.

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

P: I get a lot of my inspiration from History. Old newspaper patterns, old textile, orphan blocks and quilt tops.

M: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

P: The funniest moment I had was demonstrating rotary cutting to a group of beginning quilter’s . Taking a moment to talk between the demo I was flipping the 28mm rotary in my hand like a baton. Without realizing it, I was shredding the front of my blue and white seersucker pants@!

M: What was the best class you have taken?

P: I have taken so many classes and lectures there in not one that stands out, it’s the cumulative experiences that have driven me and the business.

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Pam Clarke

Pam will be teaching classes 1002, 1008, 2002, 2008, 4014

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin to quilting?

Pam: I have been quilting 40 years. I enjoy making quilts to hand down to my

family.

M: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique that you keep in your studio?

P: My quilting studio is 1500 square feet. I have many vintage quilts, toy sewing machines and vintage sewing notions.

M: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

P: Longarm quilting make it look like it was done by hand.

M: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

P: I love scrap quilts, so the more colors the better.

M: What books or articles have you written?

P: I have self-published over 25 sketch books – “Quilting Inside the Lines”

M: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

P: I love country music – the older the better.

M: What is your quilting inspiration?

P: I love life and everything around me.

M: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

P: I can’t think of one at this moment but I am sure there have been many.

M: What was the best class you ever took?

P: Ricky Tims

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Maria Tamaoka

Maria is teaching class 6036

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Maria: I made my first quilt in 1985. I visited an old classmate of mine, saw she made a quilt and thought, hmm, I like sewing, I’ll give it a try. I was hooked!

Matt: Do you have a quilting studio?

Maria: My “studio” is my store, Pinwheels, living room, bedroom, kitchen-wherever I find a free table and ironing board.

Matt: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

Maria: My husband and I brought Daiwabo Taupe Fabric to the US in 2001. Since then, I’ve been called the Taupe lady. I love making “monochromatic” traditional quilts using Daiwabo Taupe Fabric.

Matt: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

Maria: Hmmmm…Taupe????

Matt: What books or articles have you written?

Maria: My first book was called Inspirations from Japan. I have also been published in Quilter’s Newsletter magazine, Quilt Mania and Patchwork Tsushin Japan.

Matt: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

Maria: I love listening to Books on Tape.

Matt: What is your quilting inspiration?

Maria: The fabric inspires me.

Matt: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

Maria: I’m sure there are many things, as we usually have a good time in class, just can’t think of anything right now.

Matt: What was the best class you have ever taken?

Maria: Hard to say the best class, but I remember my first class as it really started me quilting.

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Mary Lou Wiedman

Mary Lou is teaching classes 3011, 4502, 6702 and 8401

Matt: How long have you been quilting? What made you begin quilting?

Mary Lou: My grandmothers taught me 35 years ago.

Matt: Do you have a quilting studio? How big and is there anything unique tht you keep in your studio?

Mary Lou: My daylight basement is my studio. I have too much stuff.

Matt: What do you consider your quilting “specialty” or what makes you unique in the quilting world?

Mary Lou: Stories and “out of the box” techniques – I like teaching at principles to quilters who only know techniques.

Matt: What is your favorite color schemes to work with?

Mary Lou: Cheddar, Black and Red.

Matt: What books or articles have you written?

Mary Lou: “Quilted Memories”, “Whimsies and Whatnots”, “Out of the Box”, “Everyday Angels” and lots of book lets.

Matt: What do you do while you quilt? Do you listen to music?

Mary Lou: I listen to golden oldies, the blues and “Happy” music.

Matt: What is your quilting inspiration?

Mary Lou: Life and memories.

Matt: What is the funniest moment you have had happen while you were teaching?

Mary Lou: A lady choked on a mint and a good looking fireman came and everyone took photos.

Matt: What was the best class you have ever take?

Mary Lou: A class from a nun from Gonzaga about color and design.

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