Make plans now for the 13th Annual A Mountain Quiltfest™ in Pigeon Forge , Tennessee ! Drawing more than 20,000 quilting enthusiasts each year to the Great Smoky Mountains, A Mountain Quiltfest welcomes the best quilters and crafters to Eastern Tennessee to compete in the multi-category quilt show. Learn from the world's top quilters teaching more than 60 instructional sessions and master classes for quilters of all levels, beginning March 14-18, 2007.
A Mountain Quiltfest is produced by the city of Pigeon Forge and hosted by the Piecemakers and Sevier Valley Quilters Guilds. Everyone is welcome at A Mountain Quiltfest 2007 – from beginning quilters to seasoned quilt masters! Experience the best in quilting along with the down-home hospitality of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee!
2007 Quilt Instructors & Biographies
Below is a complete list of Quiltfest quilt instructors and their biographies, listed in alphabetical order.
Karen Buckley: Carlisle, PA.
Since her first quilting class in 1982 she has taught over one thousand students how to quilt and many others on mastering different techniques. Karen has over 250 quilts to her credit, and her personal work has received numerous awards including seven Best of Show awards. She was voted teacher of the year by the Professional Quilter Magazine in 1997. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines and calendars. She has thirteen cover quilts to her name and considers herself very lucky. One of her quilts was chosen by Senator Wofford’s wife to be placed on display in the U. S. Capitol in 1992, and another was chosen for the same display in 1993. She has appeared on Simply Quilts and the new AQS show American Quilter.
Rachel Clark: Watsonville, CA.
Rachel D.K. Clark is a contemporary folk artist, teacher and lecturer who comes from a long line of sewers, beginning with her great-grandmother. She has been doing wearable art since 1973 and teaching on the national circuit since 1990. Eclectic fabric mixes, vibrant designs, and a keen sense of humor characterize Rachel’s work.
While her garments and quilts can be whimsical, political or a personal statement it always reflects her love of traditional quilt making. She has done many one-woman shows around the country and her work has been featured in various gallery shows, magazines such as Threads, and 'The Quilting Quarterly"on HGTV's Simply Quilts
Rachel has her own pattern line, RDKC Patterns.
Sharyn Craig: El Cajon, CA.
Sharyn has a BA in Home Economics from San Diego State University. She has been quilting since 1978 and teaching quilting since 1980. What began quietly in the adult education system in San Diego has spread out of home territory, throughout the United States and abroad.
In addition to teaching and lecturing, Sharyn is also an author. She's probably best known for her encouragement of students to be creative in their own quilts. She has authored a number of books, including The Ultimate Half Log Cabin Book, The Art of Classic Quiltmaking, Setting Solutions, and Great Sets.
In 1985 The Professional Quilter Magazinenamed her the Quilt Teacher of The Year.
Marsha Cline: Powell, TN.
Marsha Cline of Powell, Tennessee began sewing 39 years ago and developed a home-based sewing business. For several years Marsha made costumes for Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede. She found interest in quilting from her 81 year old mother-in-law who worked on hand-pieced quilts daily. Marsha has taught classes at Knoxville area shops and most recently at NCCAT in North Carolina. Her specialty items are photo quilts and pillows of children’s handprints called “Heartfelt Handprints” which preserve handprints of special loved ones.
Bonnie Goolsby: New Market, TN.
Bonnie Goolsby has been on the education staff and is a featured instructor at Best Sewing & Vacuum, Inc. in Knoxville, Tennessee since 2000. As an educator, Bonnie has taught several classes on various sewing techniques including quilting and confirmed her knowledge to students by demonstrating various sewing and embroidery machines. For the past several years, Bonnie had the privilege of teaching at the NCCAT located at Western Carolina University and will return in 2007 to teach again. Bonnie resides in New Market, Tennessee.
Klaudeen Hansen: Sun Prairie, WI.
Klaudeen Hansen’s experience reaches far beyond just quilting. Not only is she a certified judge by the National Quilting Association and judged competition quilts for a number of years, but Klaudeen also trains other people to be judges. Klaudeen, who resides in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, is an editor for Quilt Art and Address & Birthday Book as well as the author of many articles for various quilting magazines. Her quilts have been featured in numerous shows throughout the United States and Europe.
Harriet Hargrave: Arvada, CO.
Harriet comes from a family of quilters. Her grandmother, mother, and several of her 8 Aunts quilted in the 1930's and 1940's. Her mother tried to teach Harriet to hand quilt in the early '70s, but to no avail. Harriet mastered machine embroidery in the mid-1970's, and adapted machine quilting from there. She was machine quilting when the local quilt guilds thought machine piecing was not kosher, let alone machine quilting! She was teaching machine piecing, appliqué and quilting through the adult education system by 1978, and opened her store, Harriet's Treadle Arts, along side her mother in 1980. The store started out to be machine arts, but quickly was taken over by machine quilting and piecing classes and supplies. Martie Michelle asked Harriet to write a book on machine quilting for her publishing company, then known as Yours Truly. Her first book was published in 1987.
Harriet has also worked with Hobbs Bonded Fibers to develop an exceptional line of natural fiber battings to meet quilters' needs. P & B Textiles has printed four very successful lines of reproduction fabrics for Harriet.
In 1994 Harriet was chosen by a panel of her peers as one of the 88 Leaders of the Quilt World.
She has definitely spread the word that our quilts are not machine quilted by “hand quilted with and “electric needle.”
Billie Lauder: Sherman Oaks, CA.
Billie is proud to be a third generation quiltmaker. She has been teaching quilting since 1976. When asked what quiltmaking meant to her, Billie said, "It is the past, the present and the future." The past is her learning from her grandmother and mother. The present is her current teaching of her students. And the future is the people who will pass on the knowledge of what they have learned from her to others.
Billie has a knack for making quiltmaking easy for all levels of quilters. She loves to develop "Quick Trick" methods of quilt construction. She has developed her own special graph paper for the Rail Fence Quilt. She will always be willing to show you how the best ways to use your rotary cutter and sewing machine.
With 17 books published by Easymade Publication over the last several years, Billie has a vast library to draw upon for her workshops and lectures. The HGTV show Simply Quiltshelped Billie launch her lecture tour, which continues to take her all over the world.
Margaret Miller: Bremerton, WA.
Margaret J. Miller is a studio quiltmaker who travels widely giving lectures and workshops on color and design which encourage students to "reach for the unexpected" in their contemporary quiltmaking. Her full teaching schedule has taken her throughout the United States, as well as to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England and Denmark. Her presentations are known for their enthusiasm, humor, and sincere encouragement of quiltmakers of all levels of skill and experience.
Mary Sorensen: Longwood, FL.
Specializing in traditional fine hand appliqué done from original patterns, Mary’s distinctive design style is characterized by elegant, formal lines, complex layering of small pieces, and an emphasis on using a myriad of fabrics to create visual texture and excitement. Her flawless appliqué technique, and humorous, hands-on approach to teaching have motivated students to return to handwork with enthusiasm.
Mary has taught and lectured at guilds and conferences throughout the United States, and designs and markets a full line of appliqué patterns sold in quilt shops across the country. In addition to exhibiting at the AQS annual show in Paducah, KY, and Quilt Expo VI in Innsbruck, Austria, Mary’s appliqué was recognized with a blue ribbon at the IQA annual show in Houston, TX. Her work has also appeared in the AQS Quilt Art Engagement Calendar and numerous magazines.
Polly Taylor: Jonesborough, TN
Polly Taylor is the former owner of Tennessee Quilts and founder of Quiltfest in Jonesborough, TN. She currently teaches classes in Johnson City and Limestone, TN and in Asheville, NC. Polly conducts quaint quilting retreats at her log home on “Serenity Hill” located on the Nolichucky River. Her home-based and vending business, Polly’s Feedsack Prints, grew out of an early love and interest in feedsack prints. Polly, a retired elementary teacher, is a collector of feedsacks and is an instructor of traditional vintage quilt patterns. Polly is a certified Eleanor Burns teacher and teaches classes regularly in Johnson City, TN, and at Piece Gardens in Asheville, NC.
Merikay Waldvogel: Knoxville, TN.
Merikay Waldvogel lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. She’s a nationally known quilt authority who has written several books including Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression and Southern Quilts: Surviving Relics of the Civil War. She organized quilt exhibits for museums throughout the USA and writes for Quilters Newsletter Magazine. Her workshops on quilt dating, kit quilts, and pattern identification are always lively and informative. She brings quilts from her own collection, but also encourages students to bring in their own quilts. The more, the better.