OUR CURRENT EDUCATORS
Unsurpassed artistry.
MJ Kinman
MJ Kinman’s passion is creating quilts inspired by beautiful gems. The key is freezer paper and MJ is delighted to share her technique with students via in-person and virtual classes.
MJ’s work has been exhibited at the National Quilt Museum, the International Quilt Museum, the New England Quilt Museum, Quilt Festival (Houston, TX), Quilt Week (Paducah, KY), and Festival of Quilts (Birmingham, UK). Her work is included in collections as varied as Maker’s Mark Distillery, the National Quilt Museum (Paducah, KY) and the International Quilt Museum (Lincoln, NE), plus many private collections around the United States.
MJ’s popular Birthstone Series patterns feature traditional birthstone gems, and her Diamond Divas Series offer large, artistic quilts easily customizable by makers. Her first book, Gemstone Quilts, was released by C&T Publishing in 2020.
Shereece Nicole
Hello there! I’m Shereece Nicole of Sew Hooked on Treasures. My quilting journey began in 2010 out of boredom. I was living in a new, small town and I was looking to meet new people. Thanks to a local program, I started to learn to crochet. Then I was reintroduced to quilting (the “correct” way). My travels and everyday life began to inspire patterns I wanted to create. And now, I’m sharing those designs with you and teaching skills I’ve learned along the way.
Gudrun Erla
Gudrun Erla, the designer and owner of GE Designs was born and raised in Iceland. She started quilting at the age of 23. After owning and running quilt shops in her home country and designing patterns along the way, quilting brought her to Minnesota in 2003. Since then Gudrun has been designing full time, publishing patterns and books as well as designing groundbreaking tools for quilting for years, including the best selling Stripology rulers. Gudrun loves to take traditional ideas and put a little bit of a modern spin on them. All her patterns and books are geared toward today’s quilt makers, easy and innovative with a modern touch.
Jaymi Horne
Jaymi Horne is a seasoned production seamstress with over two decades of experience under her belt. Beyond her impressive sewing career, she’s a nationwide quilt instructor on a mission to share her passion for quilting, especially her love for Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP). With a knack for simplifying this technique, Jaymi has designed over 50 captivating quilt patterns, earning her the title of “FPP Queen” among her Instagram followers.
Her dedication to spreading the FPP joy goes beyond social media; Jaymi hosts engaging sewing tips and tricks videos on YouTube, aiming to show everyone just how effortless and enjoyable this technique can truly be. You can explore her vibrant world of quilts and patterns on crankykangaroo.com, where creativity and color collide!
Carla Klop
For almost 30 years Carla made all her quilts by hand – and only discovered the rotary cutter in 2005! Recognizing how much faster making quilts would become, her ideas just went wild. There wasn’t enough time to make all these quilts without finding ways to go faster. So this resulted in 8 Shortcut Sheets – accidently discovered by breaking the rules.All 8 methods have been published in a binder format along with practice patterns for each technique, quilt patterns, tips and worksheets. Five of her designs were published in AQ Magazine. Carla also works with Northcott todesign many patterns using their fabrics.
Sarah Maxwell
Sarah Maxwell, owner of Designs by Sarah J, began her early experiments with fabric at a summer sewing class at age 13. Undeterred by the teacher’s recommendations, Sarah chose to start her sewing journey with a pattern for pleated, fitted pants. After that disastrous attempt, Sarah was convinced she hated sewing until she unearthed a treasured family quilt as she was packing for college. The 1930s Dogwood Kit Quilt served as a bed cover throughout college and inspired Sarah to learn to quilt. Armed with a “Teach Yourself to Quilt” book, scissors and cardboard templates, Sarah cut out pieces and hand stitched a baby quilt to welcome her first daughter.
Fast forward to today, and Sarah is now an Andover Fabrics designer, a prolific pattern designer and author. With more than 200 original designs published over the last 20 years, Sarah’s quilts have been juried into QuiltCon and various AQS and IAQ shows. Inspired by the color combinations seen in nature, Sarah’s passion is
design that melds tradition with a contemporary feel. With a family farm in Missouri and daughters living on opposite coasts, she finds inspiration and design ideas across the United States.
Follow Sarah on Instagram at: @sjmax105
Find her patterns, thread and yarn collections and template sets at: https://www.designsbysarahj.com
Belle Brunner
Belle began quilting in in her mid-40’s and quickly fell in love with the craft. After taking an intensive pattern writing course, she began designing and publishing quilt patterns. She focuses on confident beginner patterns and techniques that even advanced quilters love to make and believes that all people, of any age, can learn to quilt. Her patterns are sold by major distributors and The Fat Quarter Shop. Belle is a brand ambassador for Havels Sewing, The Daylight Company, and Oliso. She is a former 2022 Maywood Studio Maker and is a 2023 Instructor for the American Quilters Society. She and her father own an AIRBNB in a national forest where she hosts small quilting retreats.
Having spent years helping non-profits and boards of directors, Belle expanded her Seams Sew Me business to also specialize in providing leadership, governance, consulting and education for quilt guilds’ boards of directors. She believes that strong inclusive guilds contribute to strong communities. She leads and teaches with her two leading values: of compassion and understanding.
Learn more about Belle at https://www.seamssewme.com/
Rebecca Lidstrom
Rebecca Lidstrom is the founder and creative force behind Studio R Quilts. She is an enthusiastic quilter, designer, and instructor.
Rebecca made her first quilt in 2004 and immediately fell in love with all things quilting. She incorporates simple design changes to create dynamic quilts that are easy to make. Her quilts and patterns have been featured in various quilting magazines and she is a 2023 Maywood Maker.
In addition to quilt pattern design, Rebecca presents lectures and trunk shows to quilt guilds. She also teaches workshops and classes to guilds and quilt shops. She creates from her studio in Madison, WI.
You can find Rebecca online at www.studiorquilts.com. She is also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube @studiorquilts.
Jennie Lamb
Sewing has always been an influential part of my life. Growing up, there isn’t a time I can remember that my grandmother, mother, and aunt weren’t sewing or creating their next masterpiece. Naturally, I began with handwork; that evolved into garment sewing. Not long thereafter, I began quilting and the rest was history! In the last twenty years quilting has become my passion. Now, designing beautiful patterns is also a huge part of that passion.
I wake up everyday feeling blessed to watch my family grow in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Aside from quilting, I thrive on spending time with those I love.
I am a quilt pattern designer from the Pacific Northwest. Quilting is my passion and it seems that it has naturally evolved into quilt pattern writing. I started sewing at about 5 years old and have been sewing or quilting ever since. Writing patterns gives me an avenue to share my love of this art with others!
Joan Ford
On February 8, 2003, Joan Ford took her first quilting class and was hooked! Since then, Joan has completed countless quilts – hundreds and hundreds. But who’s counting?!
In 2006, Joan established her company, Hummingbird Highway. She has taught workshops, featuring the popular ScrapTherapy book and pattern series which helps quilters relieve the guilt of a growing scrap fabric stash.
A thorough overview of the process is detailed in the book ScrapTherapy®, Cut the Scraps! published by The Taunton Press. Her second and third book in the Scrap Therapy series ScrapTherapy®, Scraps Plus One! patterns and ScrapTherapy, The Verstaile Nine Patch, were released by The Taunton Press in 2013 and 2017.
As an avid bird lover, Joan developed a monthly pieced pattern series called The FLOCK. A new patchwork bird kit is shipped to member quilters each month. She is currently developing new techniques and online classes to combine quilting and charted stitchery.
As owner of Hummingbird Highway, LLC, Joan designs in her home studio and office. Joan, her husband, Dave, and their three pet birds live in Syracuse, New York.
Peggy Gelbrich
Peggy is returning for her 3rd cruise with Quilting Adventures. She’s a patient, caring and very informative educator. We can’t wait to cruise with her again.
Peggy has been quilting and helping others learn the joy of quilt making for over 40 years. As a quilt teacher, sharing the art of quilt making is her passion. She has taught quilt making across the United States and in Canada teaching at large guild classes, quilting retreats and small private groups in her home. Her teaching style won her a nomination for Quilt Teacher of the Year sponsored by the Professional Quilter.
Peggy loves making traditional quilt patterns look new again with modern fabrics and techniques. She enjoys trying and learning different techniques in the quilt making process, always looking for an easier way to conquer those seemingly intricate patterns.
Originally from Oregon, Peggy spent 22 years in Ketchikan, Alaska with her husband, Ron, raising their three children. With the children grown she and her husband have come back home to Oregon.
To see more of Peggy’s work, visit her website: https://yellowhousequilter.com/