About the International Association of Professional Quilters
The mission of the International Association of Professional Quilters is to empower quilt and other fiber professionals to create business success from their passion. We do this through education, professional development and networking. Over the years we have helped thousands of quilters worldwide create successful businesses.
The IAPQ has its roots in The Professional Quilter magazine, founded by Jeannie Spears in 1983 and purchased by Morna McEver Golletz in 1994. Jeannie's goal was to create a physical resource library that would grow with you as you and your business grew. Creating an environment for networking was and still is key. We've seen vast changes in both the quilt world and in our personal worlds since 1983. We've gone from scissors to rotary cutters to die-cutting machines, from hand piecing to longarm machines, and from trips to the library for information to information at our fingertips on the Internet. Over the past few years we have really embraced the power of the Internet with our online store, our monthly teleclasses and our teleseminars. The best way to help you, the professional quilter, grow your business to the next level is to package all these resources into one product, the International Association of Professional Quilters.
About the IAPQ Founder and President, Morna McEver Golletz
From Quilter to Business Owner
Morna McEver Golletz has been where you are. She turned her passion for sewing and quilting into a business. She's had a needle in her hands since the age of three when she threaded needles for her great-great grandmothers. She made clothes, first for her dolls and then for herself. And, a sewing machine was her first major purchase when she was out on her own. She learned to quilt in January 1977, after watching a quilter at a local show in Charlotte, N.C. After the first class, she bought a book of block patterns, went through her sewing scraps, and was hooked. It wasn't long before she made quilting her profession. She began teaching locally, progressing to teaching on the national level. An award-winning quilter, she also sold her original design quilts and quilted clothing at juried and non-juried craft shows. She was the only quilter in The Creative Hand, a fine crafts cooperative, in a mall in Exton, Pa., where she further developed her business skills.
Many people ask Morna what led her to The Professional Quilter. Morna always loved writing and after a family move to Harrisburg, Pa., she went back to school, earned a masters of journalism and worked as a journalist. Of course, she wrote about quilts, quilters and quilting, but she also handled lots of free-lance assignments for a daily paper covering everything from food to health topics. When The Professional Quilter was for sale, Morna realized her dream to combine her avocation as a quilter with her vocation as a journalist.
Today in addition to managing the IAPQ, Morna teaches business-focused classes to quilters, fiber artists and other creative professionals. While Morna doesn't find as much time to quilt today as she used to, she loves working in the quilt industry. It combines her love of fabric and quilting, her training as a journalist and her skills at marketing and business development.
Morna lives in Montgomery County, Maryland, with her husband, Rand, and their crazy and curious cat, Persephone.