Designers

Karla Alexander has written several books for Martingale including Dynamic Quilts with Easy Curves and Stack, Shuffle and Slide. She also designs patterns under the name Saginaw Street Quilt Company. Karla travels and teaches her unique quilting style all over the country.

Atkinson Designs is a family-run quilt pattern business known for having simple, clean designs and easy to follow instructions. Terry designs the quilts and writes all of the pattern instructions, and her husband Kirk is the business manager. Terry taught Home Ec for four years, adult quilting classes for 20 years, and even taught preschool! This teaching background is the reason her instructions are so easy to follow, they are written as if she is right there explaining it to you in class. Terry's attention span is pretty short (according to Kirk) so you know the quilts will be quick and easy. Terry always has new projects in the works, and her favorite quilt is always the one she is just starting. In addition to the business and her hobbies of quilting and knitting, Terry enjoys traveling with Kirk in her retro Shasta camper.

Known world-wide for her primitive style in quilting, Lisa Bongean calls Menasha, Wisconsin home. This is where it all happens for Primitive Gatherings and the customers that have grown to love the primitive and folk art designs featuring her hand-dyed wools, homespun, reproduction and designer fabrics. In addition to their Menasha retail shop, Primitive Gatherings has a West coast location in Murrieta, California.

Sheila is crazy about quilting and loves problem solving. She has developed an easy grid-based way to work with equilateral triangles and other sixty degree shapes using Creative Gridsÿ® rulers. Her books Quilts with an Angle and the Quick and Easy Triangle Block Tool include details of her techniques. She loves sharing her knowledge by teaching in her shop in Masterton, New Zealand, and also at guilds and symposia. Sheila was born and brought up in England and is married to Carl, a Las Vegas native. Between them they have 6 adult children and 13 grandchildren. Sheila''''''''s website is at www.mysteryquilter.com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mysteryquilter Instagram: @mysteryquilter

Sheila, mother to Rachel Cross, established Creative Grids in the UK in 1989. These unique rulers included black and white lines for enhanced visibility and opaque, non-slip gripper dots. Business really took off when Rachel took over as lead designer and developed the next generation of rulers, with help from her husband Matthew, that included the patented Turn-a-Round feature found on the rectangular and square rulers. This revolutionary design assists all quilters to accurately cut fabric with seam allowance. Throughout, the whole team concentrated on improving and perfecting the rulers.

Mariana is a graphic designer who uses her skills to create easy-to-follow modern quilt patterns. Featured in many magazines over the years, her patterns stand out for their clean look and illustrated instructions. Mariana is based in Georgia and enjoys traveling with family, perfecting her photography, cycling (though she’d rather spend a day with a seam ripper than drag herself to the gym), and staying in on a Sunday with a piping hot cup of coffee. As a self-taught quilter and visual learner, Mariana has made it her mission to make quilting as fun and as painless as possible for as many people as she can! To that end, Mariana hunkered down in her Atlanta studio and designed the 4-in-1 Hexie template. It's sure to become a staple in every quilter's collection. Her template focuses on the most commonly used shapes for making hexagons, and her technique is both fun and easy to follow. Ever the perfectionist, Mariana has made several new quilt patterns that make the most of the ruler, and plans to keep on making new ones in the future. She is constantly collaborating with her favorite creators in the industry, and working with her daughter Sabrina, who is a writer and the content manager for Sew Mariana. This is a quilter with a mom’s heart and experience, who designed a tool she knew would make her own life easier, and decided to share!

Lynne Edwards is an internationally-known quilt designer, teacher and author. She presents exhibits, classes and lectures all over the world. Lynne has written several books and writes regularly for UK quilt magazines. She has won numerous honors including the International Quilt Association Jewel Pearce Patterson Scholarship, an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award by The Quilters Guild of the British Isles and, the prestigious Amy Emms Memorial Trophy at the annual British National Quilt Show, Quilts UK. She was awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours list in 2008 for services to Arts and Crafts.

Gudrun Erla of GE Designs was born and raised in Iceland. She owned and ran quilt shops in her home country as well as designing until a career move brought her family to Minnesota in 2003. Since then Gudrun has been designing full time, publishing patterns and books under GE Designs. Many of her designs have been published in books and magazines from the top publishers in the industry. Gudrun travels all over the world to lecture and teach. She often offers trunk shows as well.

Rita Fishel is the owner of Creations Sew Clever, a full-line quilt shop housed in an old 1863 Georgian-style funeral home in Chillicothe, OH. She is an AQS author and distributes patterns through her pattern company, Creations Sew Clever. Rita loves to travel, teach and demonstrate at shows and guilds all over the world.

Penny Haren is a former quilt shop owner who has published several books through Landauer Publishing based on her trade marked Pieced Applique method. This technique makes it possible for anyone to create heirloom quality projects. She consults with Checker Distributors, writing their blog and developing notions for them. She also writes a bi-monthly column for FabShop News. She loves to travel and teach.

Deb Heatherly is a former freelance writer and designer for Quilt magazine and now lives in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Her love of reproduction fabrics and primitives is reflected in many of her patterns. She loves to develop techniques and tools that make complicated patterns easy and possible, even for beginners. Deb loves to travel and teach.

Brenda Henning started sewing at the age of 10 on her grandmother's treadle sewing machine, and made her first quilt at the age of 13. That was the beginning of a passion for fabric, color and quilting. She has been teaching quilting since 1988 for shops and guilds throughout the United States. Brenda is the author of numerous books and individual patterns under the name Bear Paw Productions. In addition to quilting, Brenda enjoys her hobbies of knitting and soapmaking.

The Its Sew Emma pattern company was founded by Kimberly Jolly as a creative publishing outlet for the types of books and patterns she felt was missing in the quilting community. Made up of a team of designers with diverse aesthetics, Its Sew Emma''s quilts have a widespread appeal and are inclusive of all styles. They have also teamed up with popular designers to produce top-selling books such as Farm Girl Vintage and Spelling Bee. Their work continues to evolve and adapt with new trends, but creating quilts that quilters love is always their passion.

Susan Knapp loves to create patterns for quilted items that start from traditional blocks and then add a twist. Designing under the name The Quilt Branch, she is best known for her Six Halves Make a Whole series. Susan loves to teach and get beginners hooked on quilting. She shares her quilts through trunk shows and lectures.

Karen Montgomery is the owner of The Quilt Company, a full service quilt shop in Allison Park, PA that has been featured twice in Quilt Sampler Magazine. Karen also publishes The Quilt Company line of books and patterns. Her designs have been featured in Quilts and More magazine as well as other books and catalogs. She enjoys traveling and teaching her popular techniques all across the country.

Krista Moser is a quilting and fiber arts enthusiast. She has been teaching and designing for more than twenty years in the Pacific Northwest and anywhere they will have her. Her aesthetic can be described as fresh modern and approachable with clean lines and surprising simplicity. Her work has been published by Martingale Press, numerous quilting magazines and now she has an ever-expanding line of independent patterns. She doesn''t get much done without chocolate and rarely leaves home without fabric swatches for matching, just in case there''s a quilt shop along the way. She loves to travel and teach. You can find her patterns, tutorials, and other great distractions at kristamoser.com.

Susan has loved sewing since childhood, earned her Bachelors degree in Textiles & Clothing, and has been quilting for 25+ years. In 2003 she created Fun&Done! Quilting, a quilt-as-you-go technique, and started her pattern business, Prairie Sky Quilting, to market her designs. Many classic patchwork patterns and quilting tools have been added to her product line. She is an award winning quilter known for her intricate piecing and challenging designs, winning numerous ribbons at national quilt shows.

Judy Niemeyer is an internationally renowned paper-piecing designer and instructor. Through her company, Quiltworx, she has designed hundreds of quilting patterns and offers workshops and training programs at a private retreat center in Montana. Technique workshops are offered by Judy as well as her Certified Instructors and Shops world-wide.

Cheryl Phillips designs innovative tools for the creative quilter. She has written a large assortment of books and patterns, many with a circular theme. Cheryl has owned Phillips Fiber Art since 1992. She works with with her husband, Gary and daughter, Brooke, in Grand Junction, Colorado. Over the years, she has developed and manufactured a number of acrylic tools. Cheryl is now excited about producing her creations with Creative Grids non-slip backing and easy to read markings.

Janice Pope is the original creative mind behind her pattern company, Anything But Boring. Her bag and quilt patterns are quick and easy to make and ideal for those with a limited amount of time to sew. She resides in Raleigh, NC and loves to travel and teach throughout the country.

Edyta Sitar is an internationally renowned Traditional-Piecing designer and instructor. Through her company, Laundry Basket Quilts, she has designed hundreds of quilting patterns, offers workshops and holds an annual quilting retreat in California. Edyta’s focus is on sharing her passion and knowledge for quilting through educational videos and live shows on her YouTube channel. For more information, contact her at: www.laundrybasketquilts.com

Erin started as a professional Long-arm quilter and branched into pattern design, teaching and lecturing. Her patterns are available through her company, Erin Underwood Quilts. She focuses on creating techniques that enable quilters to create complicated quilts using simple methods. Erin loves to travel and teach.

Christine, is an engineer who brings that design expertise to the quilting world. In 2008 she teamed with Susan Emory to form Swirly Girls Design, designing quilt patterns, the Michael Miller Clubhouse program, and projects for a variety of quilt publications. Her engineering background then led her to the development of some tools with Creative Grids®. In 2014, Christine sold her interest in Swirly Girls Design. She continues to teach, and design original quilt patterns, most recently under the "Christine Quilts" brand and for Checker Distributor''s Cut Loose Press.

I love all things related to quilting! I started my quilting career over 10 years ago at the side of my husbands grandpa. He patiently taught me the art of quilting by helping me make my first quilt, a nine patch quilt that is still on my bed today. I can''t believe how much has changed since that first quilt! I am still a quilter, of course, but now I can add Author, Quilting Teacher, and Fabric Designer to my resume. I am still so amazed by that! I have written several books, including "Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters", "In the Studio with Angela Walters" and the "Free-motion Quilting Workbook". If there is one thing that I love as much as quilting, its talking about quilting. I love to give lectures and teach quilting classes (check out my events page to see if I am coming to a town near you!). I also have classes online with Craftsy with the most recent being "Dot to Dot Quilting". But, no matter what accomplishments I list on my bio, it pales in comparison to the titles I hold in my personal life: Mother to three adorable children, Wife to my awesome husband for over 13 years, and confirmed coffee addict. And of course, Grandpa''''s Girl.

A retired editor-in chief of QUILT magazine, Jean Ann has written several books for Landauer Publishing and designed quilts for major fabric manufacturers as well as popular quilting magazines. She also writes patterns for Cut Loose Press that focus on strip piecing techniques featuring her Creative Grids Trim Tools. She teaches all over the country and encourages her students to avoid safe choices and step out of their comfort zone.