Meet Our 2007 Teacher of the Year Rosemary Eichorn

Known for her contemporary quilting, collage and wearable art, Rosemary Eichorn began teaching quiltmaking 15 years ago. Her inspiration is fueled by a commitment to nurture each being’s inherent creativity. Rosemary is active with the California Fiber Artists, a group seeking to educate, through gallery shows, the value of textiles as a fine art medium. Through CFA she is currently facilitating a gallery show and will be lecturing and teaching a workshop in Finland for a European Quilt Symposium. Additionally, she is a member of her local quilt guild, the Central Coast Textile Artists group, the Peninsula Wearable Art Guild and a professional member of the Studio Art Quilt Associates.
In addition to teaching, Rosemary is the author of The Art of Fabric Collage (Taunton Press, 2000) and a contributor to Threads and Quilting Art magazines. When she wrote her book, Rosemary says she attempted to include everything she knew about sewing in general and fabric collage in particular, as well as to introduce art principles that would help readers with composition. As a judge of wearable art, Rosemary finds that so many factors are involved in the creative process that can’t all be assessed in a judging process. She wishes a “judging/teaching team” approach could be utilized that would make evaluations in the presence of participants, so they could get a variety of viewpoints about their work and get direct feedback that could help improve their work. To learn more about Rosemary, you can visit her Web site at www.sewjourn.com. You can also contact her at 166 Timber View Rd., Soquel, CA 95073.

Meet Our 2007 Teacher of the Year Nominees

Marilyn Belford began teaching quiltmaking in 2001 when she brought a portrait quilt with her to find fabric at her local quilt shop. Her specialty is the art quilt, and she is best known for her realism, though she considers her theme to be more expressionism. Today most of her quilt teaching is done online through Quilt University. The author of Time and Space Concepts in Art and Portraits for Fabric Lovers, Marilyn worked in the fine art field prior to turning to quiltmaking. She is active in local and national quilt guilds. 543 South St., Chenango Forks, NY 13746; www.marilynbelford.com.
Specializing in teaching imagery on fabrics and embellishment, Rita Blocksom began teaching quiltmaking off and on informally in the 1980s. She has been teaching at local quilt shops for the past five years and has been part of the Traveling Teacher Program of the Arizona Quilters Guild since 2002. She has been active in local quilt guilds and served as president of the Arizona Quilters Guild. Within the framework of the AQG, Rita developed the Copyright Compliance Policy, which mandates that all members who volunteer for the Traveling Teacher Program are required to fully follow all current and existing copyright laws and principles. Teachers are required to obtain written permission to utilize copyrighted designs, patterns or books in their classrooms and a copy of the permission is maintained in the guild office. In addition to teaching, Rita is currently enrolled as a candidate in the NQA Quilt Judge Certification Program. 14626 S. 44th St., Phoenix, AZ 85044; www.ritablocksom.com.
Longarm quilter Kim Brunner specializes in over-the-top, very elaborate feather quilting designs in her in-studio classes. When she teaches at shows, which she began doing in 2005 at Machine Quilters Exposition, she specializes in working with new longarm quilters so they can learn how to do great work on customers’ (or their own) quilts. In addition to teaching, Kimmy writes “The Last Word,” a humor column, in Unlimited Possibilities and is working on the first of a series of DVDs for quilters who would like to take her classes but find it out of their budget. She also plans to write a book after the spring show season ends. 19826 Burlington Path, Farmington, MN 55024; Kimmyquilt@aol.com.
Karen Kay Buckley has been teaching quiltmaking for 22 years and was selected as our 1997 Teacher of the Year. She specializes in appliqué and design classes. She is the author of six books, the last two self-published, and also markets patterns of some of her quilts through her Web site. Thirteen of Karen’s quilts have been featured on the covers of quilt magazines, her quilts have won numerous major awards and one, “Great Balls of Fire,” was a finalist in the $100,000 Quilt Challenge. In addition to teaching, Karen is active in both local and national quilt groups, having served as president both on the local level and with the International Quilt Association, and completed the NQA Teacher Certification Program. A former shop owner, Karen also judges on the local and national level. 1237 Holly Pike, Carlisle, PA 17013; www.karenkaybuckley.com.
Longarm quilter Mindy Casperson began teaching three years ago after becoming a Nolting dealer. She specializes in teaching beginners and teaches both in her own studio and at shows. The teaching led to the creation of four DVDs to supplement the classroom experience. In addition to teaching, Mindy is active in her local guild. She also started a local machine quilter’s guild and is the owner of three Yahoo! chat groups, one of which has more than 1,000 members. Mindy is thrilled that her three children are quilting, though her youngest, at five, doesn’t seem to understand that not everyone has a few quilting machines sitting around their family room. 24555 Cotswold Dr., Hollywood, MD 20636; www.angelthreadsquilting.com.
Ginny Eckley has been teaching since the late 1990s and specializes in free-motion embroidery, fabric painting and silk-screening. Creating original work and developing new techniques is most important to Ginny, and she writes often and occasionally judges. She finds that writing helps her to communicate and focus, resulting in better class handouts. The author of two books, Ginny currently has one CD on Silk Screening and is working on one on Fabric Painting. The CDs include printable pages and videos to demonstrate techniques. 2423 Kings Forest Dr., Kingwood, TX 77339; www.fabricpainting.com.

Cindi Edgerton has been teaching quilting since the late 1980s, beginning at Needlecraft Corner, the local quilt shop where she was working. Cindy specializes in hand-piecing techniques, including English piecing, traditional hand piecing and freezer-paper curves, and foundation piecing using tissue-paper foundations. In addition to teaching, Cindi designs patterns for her company, A Very Special Collection. PO Box 2243, Yorktown, VA 23692; www.averyspecialcollection.com.
Longarm quilter Myrna Ficken began teaching informally after she started longarm quilting seven years ago. She has been teaching in a structured classroom setting for the past three years. She specializes in using tools, such as the Hartley Fence, templates, rulers and guides, to create spaces as a different approach and/or to add to freehand quilting, which is her passion. In addition to teaching, Myrna wrote a workbook for the Hartley Fence and recently judged the European Quilt Championships in the Netherlands. An award-winning quilter, Myrna is also an APQS dealer and educator. 2332 W. Ridge View Dr., Hurricane, UT 84737; www.aquilterschoice.com.
Myrna Giesbrecht started her quilting business in 1992 by teaching locally and then designed a line of patterns, wrote five books and a column, “The Quilter’s Web,” for Quilters’ Newsletter Magazine. This led to traveling to teach, though today most of Myrna’s classes are conducted online through Quilt University. She finds the online instruction method meaningful and rewarding, either teaching a specific technique or a process for creating independent art. She recently started offering creativity coaching workshops. Myrna is also a member of the Fibre Art Network, a group of professional quilt artists in Western Canada, the Canadian Quilter’s Association and the Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters, all of which allow her to support quilting in her region and be involved in art quilting on a personal rather than professional basis. She will also have her first solo exhibit at an art gallery in her hometown from April 1 through May 13. 1849 Whistler Court, Kamloops, BC Canada V2E 1Y6; www.myrnagiesbrecht.com.

Originally a hand quilter, Renae Haddadin began longarm quilting in 2001 and started teaching in 2004. She has created a series of tools that assist in marking quilts and drafting radiating lines and circles. She recently released an instructional DVD to maximize the use of her tools, Renae’s Amazing Rays, Renae’s Mini Rays and Renae’s Amazing Arcs. Renae also writes “Tips and Techniques,” a regular column in Unlimited Possibilities. 2440 Vail Circle, Sandy, UT 84093; www.renaequilts.com.

While she has worked in a variety of media, Rose Hahn chose fabric in 1977 and began teaching professionally in 1990. Today she favors appliqué, whether by hand or machine, and teaches 25 different techniques. In 2003, she self-published a step-by-step appliqué book and in 2006 made it available as a DVD. An award-winning quilter, Rose has also judged at local and regional shows. In 2001 David Textile commissioned Rose to create a quilt for its “Wizard of Oz” fabric line; today the quilt hangs on permanent display at the Frederick County (Md.) Public Library. Rose also creates for her pattern line Hahn Enterprises. PO Box 3468, Frederick, MD 21704; www.rosemhahn.net

DeLoa Jones has been teaching quiltmaking for 24 years. She mostly teaches machine piecing and longarm classes on a national level. Her first book, Scraps, Organized to Perfection, focused on piecing, and she is currently working on a series of books geared to longarm quilters to complement her classes. DeLoa is also an APQS rep and maintains her own longarm business, having completed more than 2,600 customers’ quilts over the past eight years. 15804 M140, South Haven, MI 49090; www.deloasquiltshop.com.

Peggy Martin has been teaching quiltmaking for 22 years and emphasizes faster, easier methods. Since 2003 she has specialized in a strip, assembly-line technique of paper piecing called “Quick-Strip Paper Piecing.” She has written two books focusing on paper piecing and contributed a chapter to The Expert’s Guide to Foundation Piecing. She is active in local guilds and recently designed the opportunity quilt for one. 13415 Sawtooth Rd., San Diego, CA 92129; www.peggymartinquilts.com.

Sharon Schamber has been teaching in the United States and Canada for the past six years. She specializes in her own piecing technique known as “Piece-lique,” which is a faster, more precise way of piecing, and in fabric painting. Sharon has also written two books on her techniques, created three DVDs and markets a line of patterns on her Web site. She is also well-known for her exquisite longarm machine quilting. 1304 W. Stirrup Way, Payson, AZ 85541; www.sharonschamber.com.

Sally Schneider has been teaching quiltmaking since 1980 and specializes in scrap quilts, built-in borders and settings. She is particularly proud of the built-in borders concept, complex pieced borders that are made as simply pieced blocks. Sally also developed an easy technique known as Mary’s Triangles for making shaded four-patch blocks quickly. Sally is currently working on her ninth book and now self-publishes some of her books and a pattern line. She also worked as a quilt book editor in the 1990s. 10408 Calle, Albuquerque, NM 87114; www.sallyschneider.com.

Previously nominated for this award in 2003, George Siciliano specializes in miniature quilting with an emphasis on foundation piecing. He began teaching in 2002 and considers that this nomination is for both himself and his wife Virginia, as the development of the workshops and presentations are a collaborative effort for this couple who have known each other for 55 years. George only makes log cabin quilts and currently has more than 150 variations catalogued. 420 Little Pond Lane, Lebanon, PA 17042; www.georgesiciliano.com.

Bev Sievers has been teaching quiltmaking for more than six years and specializes in longarm quilting. Her classes are taught in her home studio, at the Nolting facility in Iowa or at quilt shows. She enjoys teaching one-on-one and finds that students gain confidence once they learn to quilt their names. In addition to teaching, Bev has had several articles published, has had a whole cloth quilt published in a book and also maintains her business quilting for customers. 184 Gray St., Elk Run Heights, IA 50707; www.dancingthreads.com.

 Pam Ventgen has been teaching quilting for 14 years and teaches beginning classes, advanced technique classes, appliqué, foundation paper piecing and machine quilting. It is her enjoyment of fabric, color and quiltmaking that she likes to share with others and finds that helping others quilt is as enjoyable as making her own quilts. Pam is a member of several local guilds and has helped organize various quilting retreats. 7130 Scalero Circle, Anchorage, AK 99507; afpkv@uaa.alaska.edu.

Longarm quilter Nichole Webb has been teaching free-motion machine quilting on the longarm and shortarm machine since 2002. In addition to teaching, she has written and self-published seven books, designed five pantograph patterns, produced two instructional DVDs and has developed and marketed a muscle memory development tool for all types of machine quilters called “Practice Slicks.” Nik was also a guest on PBS “Quilt Central” in January of 2004 and is an active member in local and regional guilds. 910 Montague Ave., Darrington, WA 98241; www.nicholewebb.com.