Jeanne Raffer Beck is a full-time textile artist, teacher, and writer from Canandaigua, New York, in the beautiful Finger Lakes region. She has been creating layered, richly-textural wallhangings using dyes, paints, and threads on fabric for over a decade. Her work has been juried into many exhibitions and published in numerous books and magazines. Jeanne teaches surface design and textural stitching techniques nationally.
For quilters, Jeana’s name has long been synonymous with beautiful appliqué design. Her quiltmaking career began over twenty years ago when she drew her first Baltimore album-inspired appliqué designs because no patterns were available. She has since published dozens of books and patterns showcasing her skills. Jeana was introduced to back-basting appliqué by a quilt shop owner in California over ten years ago, and she has expanded, improved, and popularized the technique throughout the country.
This clever 44″ x 60″ panel quilt pattern by Nancy Smith and Lynda Milligan shows some great ways to get creative with any panel.
Iris, who lives in Santa Cruz, California, began quilting when she retired in 2000.
New York is also a mecca for quilters and fiber artists. Take a look at Nina Edelman’s recommendations for the best places to find fabric in New York City.
Linda, the former editor of Sew News magazine, loves writing and designing for the textile craft industries. Living outside of Portland, Oregon, she is also an avid machine embroiderer. In fact, she’s written two books on the topic, plus others on fabric printing and needle felting.
Helen has been an active participant in the growth of the quilt industry as a designer, lecturer, and teacher, best known for her Dear Helen quilting pattern books.
Learn from the best! Award-winning quilter, master appliqué artist, world traveler—these only begin to describe Suzanne. Her recent AQS book, Adventure & Appliqué, was inspired by textile designs from cultures around the globe. Suzanne shows you how to make perfect bias stems for appliqué without any gadgets. Suzanne makes her home in St. Louis.
Sheryl is an award-winning quilt artist who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her two children. Her academic degrees have nothing to do with art, though she does work at an art gallery! She began quilting 14 years ago, focusing her attention most recently on creating original art quilts.