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January 16, 2024 • Alex Byrne

You’ve made a Quilt – Now What?

After time at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (now “University for the Creative Arts” in the UK) Alex’s career took her into science, not-for-profits, and big-tech, while she continued to create and teach classes in sewing, embroidery, knitting and crochet. In 2023 she launched her company “Lixie Makes It” and organized the QUILT2024 event happening in January 2024. She has used her extensive e-commerce experience to help artists increase their visibility online and to develop new and additional income streams related to their art. At the same time she continues to create and exhibit her quilts and teach craft workshops. You can read more about her at lixiemakesit.com.

For more information visit Alex’s lecture page here.

February 12, 2024 • Kestrel Michaud

Design for Realism.

In this lecture, Kestrel focuses on incorporating principles of good design into art quilt layouts with the intent of creating a realistic piece of art using fabric as a medium. You can read more about Kestrel here.

For more information visit Kestrel’s lecture page here.

March 19, 2024 • Pati Fried

Modern Traditionalism.

In this lecture, Pati explores the principles of modern quilt design and how a traditional quilter might use these to challenge their design skills. By looking at fundamental design elements individually, it is easy to understand how to create original designs with a modern aesthetic. You can read more about Pati here.

For more information visit Pati’s lecture page here.

April 16, 2024 • Jane Sassaman

Quilting Against the Odds.

This visual lecture is about accomplishing your work in spite of obstacles – family life, space limitations, etc. It is a pep talk and slide show which covers my inspirations and my obstacles. I encourage people to do “what you have to do” by using myself and other artists as examples. You can read more about Jane here.

For more information visit Jane’s lecture page here.

May 21, 2024 • Sandra Bruce

Material Matrix.

Sandra’s technique was inspired by painter Chuck Close. It involves using a gridded photograph and interpreting each 2-inch square into fabric, using piecing to achieve the effect. She will present an overview of the evolution of Material Matrix and how it works, along with her colorful visual journey that brought her to this technique. You can read more about Sandra here.

For more information visit Sandra’s lecture page here.

January 12, 2023 • Rachaeldaisy

Whizz Bang Quilts!

The name Rachaeldaisy has become synonymous with bold, colorful, eye popping quilts. and it’s no wonder after 20 years of being a florist experimenting and mastering color and form. Whilst honoring the tradition of quilting she continues to find fresh ways and new techniques to interpret conventional designs. Her use of 3D elements such as folded and gathered fabric techniques, yoyo puffs, prairie points, wool felt, appliqued and piece denim create beautifully unique textured work. Her fresh interpretation of the art of quilting has seen her quilts awarded numerous prizes both nationally and internationally. Rachaeldaisy lives with her husband, ‘Mr Daisy’, in the Blue Mountains, an hour west of Sydney, Australia. Take a look at Rachaeldaisy’s work on Instagram at @bluemountaindaisy and on her website.

February 21, 2023 • Sandi DaRoza

Creative Stitching: Endless Possibilities to add Pop to your Textile Art

Reveling in the rich medium of fabric, from bold hues and patterns to the interplay of textures and stitches, Sandi transforms those elements into playful and whimsical textile collages. You can see dozens of her quilts, pillows, bags and other items at her website, Rogers Lane Studio and on Instagram, @rogerslane. Sandi learned to sew at a very young age with her mother, whose creative hands were never still. And her actual family, along with friends and nature, serve as inspirations for her work.

March 21, 2023 • Ben Millett

Learning to Quilt (and Live) in Full Color

If you had checked in on both Ben Millett the Person and Ben Millett the Quilter since 2013, you’d have seen how the Quilter exists as he does now only because the Person finally learned to exist. Ben will share how his art practice developed over the last decade, leading to quilts with different uses (fundraisers) and forms (quilted jackets!) that he wouldn’t have considered possible at the start. Take a look at Ben’s work on Instagram at @benmillett and on his website.

April 18, 2023 • Pattie Klimek

Century of Progress Quilt Contest, a Depression Era Mystery

In 1933, in the middle of the Great Depression, Sears Roebuck launched a nationwide quilt contest. The winning quilts would hang at the Chicago Worlds Fair and the top prize was $1,000. Over 27,000 quilts were entered and were designed and made by the quilter. All except the top winner. How did this happen? And, what happened to the winning quilt? Come see these beautiful quilts and learn how this fraud transpired. Pattie Klimek is not a quilt historian but loves quilts from the 1920’s and 30’s. Based in San Francisco, she is one of the few Traditional hand piecers and hand quilters in a sea of Art and Contemporary quilters located in the Bay Area. She found some like minded quilters amongst the Dorcas Hand Quilters of San Francisco. She blesses these ladies everyday for teaching her these time honored skills and is now traveling around the Bay Area lecturing and teaching so quilters can rediscover the joys of handwork.

May 17, 2023 • Catherine Sherman

Color & Pattern Across Period & Place

Catherine describes quilts as narrative vessels connecting past to present while giving us something to hold in the future. She’ll unpack her journey as an artist/maker and share her recent work and ongoing projects designed to engage the social imagination. Instead of focusing on “how,” we’re invited to slow down and consider “why?”
Catherine has been a member of SFQG since 2006. She joined the guild with big dreams, a fabric stash, and little experience – she found instruction, inspiration, and lifelong friendships. Catherine has led workshops at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, BAMPFA, the Randall Museum, and many school & community settings.
Visit Catherine’s website and find her on Instagram @the_official_piece_movement.

June 20, 2023 • Julie Silber

A Trunk Show of Antique Quilts

Julie Silber is a nationally known lecturer, author, consultant, and curator. For more than thirty-five years, she has been speaking on quilts as a way of exploring the rich world of our female past.
She has been selling antique quilts to museums, businesses, and individuals since 1968. Julie was the curator of the world renowned Esprit Quilt Collection in San Francisco and is the co-author of the critically acclaimed books, Hearts and Hands and Amish: The Art of the Quilt. She has curated two of the most respected quilt exhibitions of modern times — those at The Oakland Museumand the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

July 18, 2023 • Karen Maple

Creativity Takes Courage

Courage is required when standing up to injustice or experimenting with different quilting techniques. Karen, a modern quilter, begins with a fuzzy idea. The idea can transform into a statement quilt or an abstract composition of an elemental concept. She is a member of the Modern Quilt Guild and has shown her work at seven Quiltcons along with four museums. Visit Karen’s website and find her on Instagram @karenmaple .

August 15, 2023 • Meri Henriques Vahl

A Quilter’s Journey

Meri’s will share with us a trunk and slide show where she will talk about how she became an art quilter, and the techniques she uses to create people and places. Because photographs can’t really capture what the quilts are like in person, she will bring some of the actual quilts (to display on quilt stands), her quilt book (which will be for sale), free postcards, and copies of her memoir, ‘Hoosier Hysteria’. Visit Meri’s website.

September 19, 2023 • Karen Bolan

Engineer your Quilts

Free yourself from the need to use someone else’s pattern and appoint yourself head of your own design empire. View a gallery of original quilts and learn how to apply the engineering design process to your quilts. Learn to find and use sources of inspiration, harness nifty software and manual tools, and get inspired by approachable improvisational techniques. Visit Karen’s website here.

October 18, 2023 • Allie McCathren

Exhausted Octopus Raw Edge Appliqué

One of the most delightful things about working with fabric and thread is the element of texture. Raw edge appliqué can be an overlooked and sometimes misunderstood technique in quilting. Allie loves to play with raw edge appliqué in her art quilts because of the incredible textural elements involved in it. Sometimes in quilting, there is a tendency to ask what the ‘correct’ way to do something is, but Allie likes to explore beyond that area of “what is correct” into “what is possible.” Visit Allie’s website and find her on Instagram @exhaustedoctopus.

January 18, 2022 • Zak Foster

Memory & Burial Quilts

For our first meeting of 2022 we welcome Zak Foster, a Brooklyn-based artist who made cultural headlines with a quilt that was worn at last fall’s Met Gala. Zak is a self-taught artist with an intuitive style that he uses to make memory and burial quilts. His focus is on repurposing materials with an eye to sustainability. His work has been featured in several magazines and galleries. You can learn more about Zak at his website and follow him on Instagram at zakfoster.quilts.

February 15, 2022 • Kena Tangi Dorsey

Using African Wax Prints in Quilts

Bold and beautiful prints—we love them but they can sometimes seem daunting or even intimidating to use. In this program, Kena shares inspiration and ideas for incorporating vivacious African wax prints into your quilt projects. Using samples from modern, appliqué and traditional patterns, she points out how the fabrics were used to makes quilt shout with joy. Her talk includes a brief description of different types of African fabrics, and she shares recommendations for which might work best for the kinds of quilts you are creating. Learn more about Kena at her website.

March 15, 2022 • Allie McCathren

“Painting” With Fabric: A Focus on Using Scraps

Allie is an artist with a background in marine biology who has recently found her creativity in the quilting world. She will share her journey of learning to use scraps in different ways, out of necessity and exploration. Allie looks at her scraps as if they were paints, seeing fabric for color and value. When scraps are broken down small enough and combined in just the right way, there are endless possibilities for the effects they can have in an art quilt. Learn more about Allie at her website.

April 19, 2022 • Sam Hunter

A Studio Tour, and How to Set Up Your Space Ergonomically

Sam Hunter is a fiber artist and quilt pattern designer, and she is the Chief Everything Officer at Hunter’s Design Studio. She started sewing when she was 7 and hasn’t really stopped since. She spent a lot of time in her teens sewing with her nana on her trusty Singer treadle machine, and embroidering while she knitted. She started quilting in her 20’s, and teaching quilting shortly thereafter. Sam will show you all the nooks and crannies of her studio (and all her creative storage solutions), and discuss how her studio fits her body, her habits, and her process. We talk about the ergonomics of setting up your space so you can continue to enjoy quilting while keeping your body healthy! Learn more about Sam at her website.

May 17, 2022 • Lorraine Woodruff-Long

Commentary Quilts: Evolution and Explanation

Lorraine Woodruff-Long is a self-taught quilter with a primary focus on color, improvisation, and recycled/repurposed fabrics. Most recently she has been developing “Commentary Quilts” that serve as a creative outlet for issues that matter most to her. Lorraine will share her evolution as a quilter, and discuss how she is using traditional quilting techniques and patterns to explore and develop “commentary” quilts to communicate and share issues and ideas that matter most to her. Raised and educated in Texas, Lorraine served in Peace Corps Kenya and afterwards moved to California as a bucket list dream to temporarily experience living in a progressive urban city. She fell in love with San Francisco and never left. She and her husband raised two kids, now “launched” young adults, in San Francisco. Lorraine learned to sew from her mother as a child. She has received numerous awards for her quilts at local, national and international quilt shows. She is a member of the Modern Quilt Guild, San Francisco Quilt Guild, Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), East Bay Heritage Quilters, ArtSpanSF and an active volunteer with the Social Justice Sewing Academy Remembrance Project. Her work has been included in the de Young Museum Open Exhibition, California Heritage Museum Art 2 Quilts,, Sanchez Art Center Left Coast Juried Art Exhibition, the Drawing Room SF Women Rising, and the O’Hanlan Art Center Monochrome Exhibit. Learn more about Lorraine at her website.

June 21, 2022 • Dana Jones

Indigo, Taupe & More: Japanese Fabric from Vintage to Contemporary

In a whirlwind of interviews with multiple generations of Japanese quiltmakers, Dana Jones learned a lot about working with Japanese fabrics, from indigo to taupe and beyond. She talked with master quilters Kuroha Shizuko, Yoko Seito, Reiko Kato and Keiko Goke. In this slide show, we’ll learn how each of these women selects and designs fabric. You’ll see images of quilts by each quiltmaker plus a variety of Japanese fabrics. Dana Jones is a writer and editor who has worked as an editor for Quilters Newsletter Magazine and The SAQA Journal. She lives in Colorado. Learn more about Dana at her website.

July 19, 2022 • Becky Goldsmith

It’s Not a Quilt ’til It’s Quilted

Becky Goldsmith is an award-winning quilter, designer, and instructor with Piece O’ Cake, which she started in 1994 with Linda Jenkins with a focus on hand sewing. Before Linda retired they published more than thirty books and hundreds of patterns, including seven blocks of the month. You may even have some of their books in your collection. Becky still has the pedal to the metal writing more books—including Hand Sewing that was published in March 2021, and teaching—in addition to her online and in-person classes, she will be leading an independent-study workshop at Empty Spools next year called Declare Your Independence. She has also been a returning guest on The Quilt Show. Becky will deliver her lecture where she will share the many lessons she’s learned—the good and the bad—figuring out how to quilt her own quilts over the years. Learn more about Becky at her website.

August 16, 2022 • Carolina Oneto

Befriending Colors

Carolina’s talk will cover many different aspects of color so you can better choose color palettes for your next quilt creations. She’ll discuss the chromatic circle and the three variables of color, and explore five different color schemes that you can use in designing your color palette. By understanding these and a few other considerations, you’ll be ready for the focus of Carolina’s talk: four simple steps, explained in detail, for creating your color palette. Learn more about Carolina at her website.

September 20, 2022 • Fern Royce

One Thing Leads to Another

Improvisational quilting is an intuitive way of creating quilts. Fern often starts her quilts by playing with scraps or an idea, drawing a rough sketch or wondering: What if? In this lecture, Fern describes her quilting process and how each decision informs the next, keeping her engaged, focused, and often unsure of what happens next. Learn more about Fern at her website.

October 18, 2022 • Brandon Wulff

Trunk Show to Biscotti

In this virtual trunk show, Canadian quilter Brandon Wulff talks about his quilting journey, his business ventures, his autism, and his unique “Biscotti” process quilt. He will show images from his quilting art business, his collaborations with interior designers and decorators, and his personal works. Learn more at Brandon’s website and Instagram, where he posts as @justanotherautisticguy.

January 19, 2021 • Sandra Johnson

Sandra Johnson’s Wearable Art

Sandra’s wearables reflect creative ways to upcycle favorite clothing, especially denim, as well as hand stitching that makes her projects unique. She’ll present techniques for improving and reimagining clothing to create personal, unique art—comfy to wear and to treasure. You’ll find yourself thinking in new ways about clothing and using and reusing fabric. Learn more on her website here.

February 16, 2021 • Trudy Cleveland

Photographing Quilts with your Phone

Smartphone cameras now rival the best digital cameras on the market, and this Zoom presentation by SoCal photographer and long-arm quilter Trudy Cleveland will serve up a wealth of tips for taking quality photos of your quilts.

Trudy’s advice will help you do more with your smartphone, take great photos to share with family and friends, participate in virtual Sew & Tell events, meet the requirements of online quilt-show applications, and more. You may find yourself using these tricks for all your photography. Learn more about Trudy at her website. NOTE: This lecture was not recorded.

March 16, 2021 • Lisa Walton

Leap and the Net Will Appear

Australian textile artist Lisa Walton takes us through her creative journey, showing her development over the years and highlighting the milestones and “leaps” she has taken. A teacher of quiltmaking and surface design for more than 15 years, Lisa has also published many patterns and books on quilting techniques, surface design and beading on fabric. She is a past president of Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA). Learn more about Lisa at her website.

April 20, 2021 • Blair Stocker

Finding Value in Your Scraps

Did your grandmother make quilts using scraps left over from the clothes she made for your family? While today we buy many of the fabrics we use in our quilts, we’re also excited to use found and recycled textiles, from a thrift store, garage sale, or Free Table. Blair is most inspired when using fabric that has meaning or memories. She began her career designing textiles and made her first quilt for her daughter using many of her lovely baby clothes. Blair calls her style “Modern Traditional” and her esthetic appeals to all types of quilters. Her most recent book is Wise Craft Quilts: A Guide to Turning Beloved Fabrics into Meaningful Patchwork. Learn more about Blair Stocker at her web site.

May 18, 2021 • David Owen Hastings

David Owen Hastings on Minimal Design, Maximal Impact

David will show us two techniques for designing whole quilts (or quilt blocks): making stitched paper models, called maquettes, or starting off with an architectural photograph. He will also discuss how to design the quilting itself, using the walking foot, so that sewing lines emerge as key design elements. Lastly, we’ll see his many sample mini quilts that combine pared down, graphic design with purposeful quilting. Learn more about David at his web site.

June 15, 2021 • Valerie Goodwin

A Dialogue Between Quilting and Architecture

On Tuesday June 15th we welcomed Valerie Goodwin’s presentation, A Dialogue Between Quilting and Architecture. As a practicing architect, a professor at Florida A & M University’s School of Architecture, and a renowned fiber artist, Valerie explores elements common to both practices, including shape, composition, ordering systems, color, texture, and pattern. Her quilts are inspired by aerial views of landscapes and cities and use intricate lines and shapes to create complex fiber art maps with both real and imagined features. Learn more about Valerie here.

July 20, 2021 • Mel Beach

Free Motion CREA-TV and Reality

Tune in as Mel Beach shares her love of free-motion quilting and her guilty pleasure of watching reality television! She’ll share her real-life adventures of learning to free-motion quilt, plus her fear factors, extreme makeover story, and myth busting tips and tricks for quilting on a domestic sewing machine. She’ll also show some of her favorite tools and notions. Learn more about Mel here.

August 17, 2021 • Giucy Giuce

A Peek into the World of Fabric Design

Giuseppe Ribaudo of Giucy Giuce regales us from Portland, Maine, with the story of his journey from quilter to fabric designer. With a modern-traditional aesthetic drawn from his childhood learning to sew in his grandmother’s home to his love of sci-fi, he’ll discuss his unique approach to design, tell stories about his years working professionally in the quilting industry, and more. You can see his work on Instagram at @giucy_giuce and find his fabrics online or at your favorite quilt shops.

September 21, 2021 • Lisa Thorpe

Photo to Fabric: Design in the Palm of Your Hand

Learn how to take a photo from your smart phone or tablet, manipulate it in an app and print the image onto fabric on a home printer. Lisa Thorpe shows art quilts she’s created with simple images as a central theme, as well as quilts that “tile” multiple images for a collaged effect. She has an easy way to create a repeat printed fabric in four steps using a smart phone or tablet. And she demonstrates the process of creating and uploading your own repeat fabric design for commercial printing. She provides handouts detailing apps, printer info and fabric printing sources.

Learn more about Lisa here, and visit her Facebook page, Lisa Thorpe – Artist.

October 19, 2021 • Marty Ornish

Controversies in the World of Quilting

Marty Ornish takes on the sometimes contentious question “How can you cut up a vintage quilt?” in a lively talk that explores controversies in the world of quilting. Marty-O, as she’s known, delves into past and current debates, ranging from social justice to politics, sexual identity to censorship. Learn more about Marty on the web and on social media.

Instagram: MartyO_FiberArtist
FB: Marty-O

November 9, 2021 • Cassandra Ireland Beaver

The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of its Parts

Inspiration abounds in Cassandra Ireland Beaver’s journey through quilts that combine modern, traditional, and art aesthetics. Hear the stories behind the creation of her many award-winning quilts, and leave inspired to try something new! Cassandra looks for inspiration in her surroundings, and her life as a theatrical scenic and costume designer strongly influences her quilt designs. She is also a pattern designer, teacher and blogger. Visit her on the web here; follow her on Instagram @cassandra.beaver.

January 21, 2020 • Maria Shell

Notes from the Field

Maria Shell started out as a traditional quilter, but soon found herself making abstract pieced art quilts that look surprisingly modern. Maria will share her personal journey in and about the traditional, art, and modern quilt movements. Can you be all three? Come to the lecture and find out. Learn more about Maria here.

February 18, 2020 • Silk & Salvage

Exquisite Quilts, Unexpected Materials

Before easy access to the local quilt shop, before internet shopping, how and where did one obtain materials for quilt making? And once a quiltmaker had a collection of available materials, how did those materials inform design and construction? What can we learn from quilts made with a restricted supply or unusual types or sizes of materials? Sue Fox and Julia McLeod—aka Silk & Salvage—will take a wide-ranging look at quilts made from silk, linen, wool and other fabrics, such as clothing and manufacturing scraps … as well as quilts made during times of privation and necessity. Their talk showcases both historical and contemporary makers, and highlights some pretty awesome quilts. The trunk show includes both vintage pieces and some of their own work. Learn more about Silk & Salvage here.

May 19, 2020 • Jane Haworth

Living a Creative Life

Jane learned to sew from her grandmother, studied textile design at college in England, and landed her first real job at a Laura Ashley factory. After setting up a small textile business and working in interior design in England, Jane moved to Auburn in 1998. A trip to Kauai inspired her to transfer the colorful images she saw to fabric. In 2012 she opened an Etsy shop, Happy Quilt Designs, where she sells personalized quilts using her customers’ own t-shirts and other textiles they send to her. In addition to describing her creative journey, Jane will also talk about setting up her Etsy shop and some of the challenges her clients present to her. Her goal: “to inspire quilters to go out of their comfort zone and just have fun creating.” To learn more, visit her website at www.janehaworth.com.

June 16, 2020 • Youngmin Lee

Bojagi, The Art of Korean Wrapping Cloths

Pieced together from small scraps of cloth, Bojagi occupies a prominent place in the daily lives of Koreans. They are used to wrap or carry everything from precious ritual objects to everyday clothes and common household goods and also to cover food. They can also be strikingly contemporary, with designs and colors reminiscent of modern abstract art. Youngmin Lee will talk about bojagi during this virtual lecture and show her own bojagi from her studio. Learn more about Youngmin here.

July 21, 2020 • Julie Silber

Keeping ‘Em in Stitches

A quilt collector for more than 40 years, Julie will dive into her fabulous quilt collection—early Album quilt, pre-Civil War quilts, museum-quality Amish quilts, quilts with thousands of pieces, trapunto’d quilts, and rare pictorial quilts—to spotlight quilts with a great sense of humor, Read more about Julie here.

September 15, 2020 • Sara Trail

Introducing the Social Justice Academy

Learn about the innovative and inter-generational work of the Social Justice Sewing Academy from founder Sara Trail. She’ll share the history of activist quiltmaking and the inspiration that led to the development of the organization. The SJSA is on the web here.

October 20, 2020 • Jody Alexander

The Boro Aesthetic

Jody’s talk will include an introduction to Japanese Boro textiles as well as a look at mending and reuse traditions in other parts of the world. She’ll explore contemporary artists working within the realm of the “art of mending.” Finally, she’ll present her own work, which is greatly inspired by mending and reuse traditions. Check out her web site.

November 10, 2020 • Kathy Anso & Linda Rae

2 Kiwi Quilters, 10 Years of Nancy Crow

Kathy Anso and Linda Rae, longtime fans and students of quilt artist Nancy Crow, join us all the way from New Zealand, via Zoom. The duo will share their quilting journeys and show us how Nancy’s influence helped them develop their artistic voices. Don’t miss this opportunity to see state-of-the-art quilting in the land of the Kiwis.

January 15, 2019 • Tara Faughnan

From Cardboard to Instagram

Since Tara began quilting in 2001—using a reprint of the 1931 edition of 101 Patchwork Patterns—she has rocketed to fame in the modern quilting world, exhibiting her work and teaching at QuiltCon and doing textile design for such clients as Michael Miller Fabric and Pottery Barn Kids. She will share stories and quilts of her journey from traditional to modern quilter, with stop-offs in contemporary and art quilting along the way. Her philosophy is about embracing all aspects of quilting to create in the present time. You can read more about Tara here.

February 19, 2019 • Rosalie Dace

Reflections of an Itinerant Quilter

“We are all products of our history and my quilts come directly from my life,” says Rosalie Dace. Her lecture traces views and thoughts of people, places, ideas and objects that have inspired her from her childhood in rural South Africa to the crazy traveling she’s done over the past 30 years. Images of her homes and quilts, the people and places that influenced them, works in progress and more offer insights into her endeavors as a working artist and teacher. Learn more about Rosalie here.

March 19, 2019 • Jen Landau

Wooly Wanderings

Art quilts made with handspun wool? Colorful locks of goat fleece as foliage? Free-standing art quilts without a front or back? Discover Jennifer Landau’s wooly adventure creating art quilts and 3D fiber art out of her spinning and felting. See how “knit felt,” machine felting, and even thrift store sweaters become the foundation layer for piecing, quilting, surface design and embellishment. Whether it is a landscape, Victorian houses, or geometric abstraction, all of Jen’s work includes wool that has been felted in one manner or another. Examples and photos of completed and in-progress works will be shared … as well as wooly fibers to be fondled!

April 16, 2019 • Special Appearance

Alex Anderson

A rock star of the quilting world, Alex is perhaps best know as co-host and co-founder of The Quilt Show.com (with Ricky Tims). The 12-year-old program now boasts 27/7 access to more than 220 shows, classes, tips and techniques, patterns and projects for 140,000+ members. Alex and Ricky were also co-founders of The Quilt Life Magazine (2009 – 2014). Author of 30 books, Alex is also a designer of fabrics with RJR Fabrics and co-creater with RNK Distributing (Floriani) of the Quilters Select brand. Alex has been creating more modern-oriented quilts lately and her trunk show for the SFQG will present work that runs the gamut from traditional to modern, with something of interest for every quilter.

May 21, 2019 • Martha Wolfe

Creative Journeys

Becoming a fiber artist has been an exciting journey for Martha. In this lecture she shares the story of her personal creative path, interwoven with experiences from international travels that have inspired her work. She’ll also discuss how you can transform your photographs into artworks as she shares her process and representative quilts from her work. Learn more about Martha here.

June 18, 2019 • Material Girlfriends

Quilter’s Color Therapy: The Psychology of Color

Color plays an important role in our lives. The colors we choose when creating a quilt say more about our state of mind than we realize. A quilter’s stash can represent years of color therapy! Enjoy twin sisters Lora Zmak and Lisa Norton of MaterialGirlfriends.com as they explain color psychology, share the meanings of the most popular colors, and explore different fabric genres in quilting. Be delighted with their trunk show as the sisters share color therapy examples.

July 16, 2019 • Cathie Hoover

A Moo-ving Evening with Cathie Hoover

Utilizing Holstein cows in her designs was a natural for Cathie even before moving to Moo-desto. The graphic black-and-white patterns on these cows and their gentle nature appeal to her. During a presentation covering 21+ years of original work, Cathie shows her quilts and garments, offering humorous commentary about each piece. She welcomes questions about techniques, materials used, even trade secrets! Learn more about Cathie here.

August 20, 2019 • Laurel Anderson

June 19, 2018 • Teresa Duryea Wong

Quilts, Cotton & Indigo from Japan

A passionate speaker and author of three books on Japan’s quilts and textiles, Teresa Duryea Wong will talk about two enduring plants—cotton and indigo—and their dramatic impact on Japan’s culture and textiles. She’ll showcase quilts made with both very old and very new Japanese textiles; explore stories behind traditional folk textiles such as boro and sashiko; offer a behind-the-scenes look inside the world’s finest quilting cotton printing mills; and discuss the making of indigo dye, cotton katazome and kasuri textiles, yukata kimonos and more. You can discover more about Teresa here.

July 17, 2018 • Kathy Doughty

Accidental Designer

The SFQG is lucky to snag Kathy Doughty—the Australia-based quilter, fabric designer, blogger and owner of the renowned Material Obsession shop—during her current swing through the United States. Also a prolific author and international teacher, Kathy has been involved in the industry since 2003 and has contributed to the changing influences in the patchwork and quilting community. In the lecture she shares the story of how all these influences have shaped her experience.

August 21, 2018 • Alice Beasley

The Art of Illusion

The name Alice Beasley is synonymous in the Bay Area with portraits in fabric of people and things—dancers, take-out food, water, soldiers, flowers, race horses, children, swimmers, family members, and more.  Her quilts have a painterly quality, but she works her magic without paints, dyes or surface treatments. Starting with ordinary fabrics, translucent silks and organzas, Alice layers and fuses snippets to create a collaged composition. She’ll describe this process—from inspirations to techniques to completed images—in her talk, The Art of Illusion.  You can read more about Alice here.

September 18, 2018 • Studio Art Quilt Associates

Up Close & Personal: Selecting Quilts for Exhibition

Get up close and personal with a trunk show of small quilts from the Northern California region of the Studio Art Quilt Associates in this hands-on activity led by SAQA fiber artists. The event begins with an introduction to guidelines for critiquing and selecting quilts for exhibition. Then participants break into groups for an up-close look at groups of pieces from the trunk show. Next each group will discuss which piece(s) to propose for inclusion in a show. And then someone in each group pitches their choice to everyone in the room. It’s a fun and lively activity that’ll give guild members a new way of looking at quilts.

October 16, 2018 • Stacey Sharman

Modern Improvisation/Traditional Inspiration

Stacey Sharman is a founding member of the East Bay Modern Quilters and one of the owners of Hello Stitch Studio, a sewing and quilting community makerspace in Berkeley. Always fascinated by the secret stories of old objects, Stacey is drawn to the mystery and individual expression of vintage quilts. She will examine how the works of mostly unknown women have influenced her craft and how her craft has changed her life. She will also talk about the process of finding and forming a vibrant community around cloth, needle and thread.