Marjan grew up in the Netherlands, and after living on several continents, she settled in Northern California. “I am an artist who uses fabric and thread as my medium instead of paper and paint, and a sewing machine instead of a brush,” says Marjan. Her art quilts are organic fused fabric collages that are fun and fast to make. She teaches her techniques nationally and internationally.
Pat grew up surrounded by art. Her mother—a quilter, seamstress, painter, woodworker, and glass artist—encouraged Pat and her brothers to try their hand at many arts and crafts. Both of her brothers became skilled artists in different mediums, and Pat found her passion in fabric. “For any fabric lover, new fabrics are full of new possibilities,” she says of the recycled water bottle fabric.
Karen is known for her finely-detailed mixed media textile works that are influenced by her roots in traditional quiltmaking, couture construction, and her lifelong passion for vintage Japanese textiles and design. Born in Wisconsin but now living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Karen holds a degree in fashion design. Her works are shown in galleries, museums, and art exhibitions throughout North America.
Since beginning the study of katazome (Japanese stencil dyeing) in 1995 with the American master John Marshall, Karen has become an expert in this traditional Japanese dyeing technique. She produces art quilts, silk garment yardage, interior linens, and indigo-dyed cotton fabrics. This Corvallis, Oregon, resident has twice exhibited in Japan, and she teaches katazome in the United States and Europe.
An entrepreneur since 1973 when she started Quilt-In: Lessons•Supplies•Designs, Helen Squire has been an active participant in the growth of the quilt industry as a designer, lecturer, teacher, and television consultant.
Christine’s passion for color and quilts has evolved from early pursuits in textile arts and writing, combined with degrees in journalism and design. Her career has taken parallel paths, as a freelance writer of decorating and quiltmaking books, and teacher of color workshops. She is the author of Color: The Quilter’s Guide. “Don’t fear color,” says Christine. “Success with color is more about practice and experience than talent.”
This Castle Hill, Maine, resident comes from a family rich in quilting traditions. Although many of her cherished quilts were destroyed in a fire 27 years ago, Dana, who is also a porcelain painter, continues to make quilts and quilted items for family, friends, and fundraising. She has longtime knowledge of and appreciation for Oriental art.
Well known in Japanese magazines, books, television, and quilt exhibitions for her exquisite work, Akiko’s style usually incorporates bright color. Antique Japanese cotton and silks are her favorite quilting fabrics. She has recently focused on the flower motif, and she shares her bias-edge appliqué technique from this issue’s stunning cover quilt.
So there Ami was, a teenaged college junior from the suburbs of Detroit, minding her own business and on her way to an undergraduate degree in anthropology when she found herself following an Amish woman home in her buggy at seven miles per hour. Ami’s hands on the steering wheel were punctured by needle stabs, the natural result of refusing the offer of a thimble when she tried her hand at quilting with a group of Old Order Amish women earlier that afternoon. She thought that if she was agreeable and pleasant and smiled a lot, the Amish would like her, and maybe invite her to spend time with them, and that she could use what she learned for her thesis and that she could graduate and go on and maybe teach.