Authors: Author List
Cristy Fincher
Cristy grew up watching her mom Sharon Schamber sew. It was deliriously fun to watch those beautiful fabrics turn into “princess dresses” from her special perch atop the sewing table. It would be easy to say that all that early “fabric” exposure has lead to her lifelong love and admiration for sewing and design but one does have to wonder if some of it isn’t genetic.
As an adult it was easy for Cristy to fall in love with quilting. She began piecing by hand but her impatience of wanting to see the design come together soon lead her to use the machine for piecing and appliqué.
As an elementary school teacher, she enjoys teaching her students about quilting and helping them put together blocks for special projects. But Cristy hasn’t been able to stop there, she truly enjoys teaching adults as well. It’s pure satisfaction to see quilters’ faces light up as they learn new techniques.
Website: http://www.purpledaisiesllc.com
Books by Cristy Fincher
Rita Fishel
Rita Fishel is a nationally known author, speaker, and teacher. She is Goddess and Queen Mother of Creations SewClever in Chillicothe, Ohio, and national Demo-Goddess, designer, and consultant for Creative Grids USA. A native of northeastern Ohio with a B.A. in clothing and textiles/business from the University of Akron, Rita purchased a small clothing and fabric business in 1992 and hasn’t looked back. Now located in a beautiful 1800s Georgian home, Creations SewClever is a full-line quilt shop with three longarm quilting machines, a friendly staff of 16 quilters, and an amusing resident ghost. When she’s not there, Rita is on the road in the Stitch Mobile, sharing her passion for all-things-quilt with guilds and groups nationwide. Visit Creations SewClever online at www.creationssewclever.com.
Website: http://www.creationssewclever.com
Books by Rita Fishel
Karen G. Fisher
Like many women, Karen made a quilt for her granddaughter, fell in love with the medium, and let it grow from there. Before quilting, her main medium was ceramics, and Karen feels some of her quiltmaking style has grown out of her ceramics work in terms of building a surface with color, pattern, and texture. Karen also loves to use commercial tone-on-tone fabrics for the visual sparkle they give a piece, and always enjoys the hunt to find the groups of colors she wants for a new quilt.
Karen’s work has been published in American Quilter, the 2007 Quilt Art Engagement Calendar, Quilting Arts, and The Quilting Quarterly. Rose of Sharon: New Quilts from an Old Favorite includes her quilt MY FATHER’S ROSE GARDEN. Karen’s quilts have been shown in Paducah, Cincinnati, California, and exhibited at both the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and The National Quilt Museum. As an active quilter, she is always adding to her skills—taking workshops with Carol Taylor, Katie Pasquini-Masopust, Paula Nadelstern, and others.
Karen’s formal art training includes a BFA in sculpture from the University of Arizona, plus a BFA in art education, and an earth science teaching endorsement. She has taught both art and science at the high school and middle school levels, and has included quilting in the art curriculum. Karen has been active with the Tucson Quilters Guild for the last six years, where she served as program co-chair and had the opportunity to work with the amazing group of nationally recognized speakers the guild brings to Tucson each year.
Books by Karen G. Fisher
Vicky Fleming
On Vicky’s first trip to Hawaii in 1980, she fell in love with the moist, fragrant islands. She had enjoyed needlework all her life, so, after she returned to Colorado, taking up Hawaiian quilting was a natural. It gave Vicky a way to stay connected to the tropics. She joined the Ha’ole Connection quilt group to quilt and share stories and information on Hawaiian topics once a month. In 1993, Vicky moved to Florida. Because there are so many parallels between life in Hawaii and Florida, Vicky feels she is more aware than ever of how the kama’aina (locals) of Hawaii live, and how the modern way of life encroaches upon the natural world. Vicky still enjoys Hawaiian quilting as well as pursuing art quilt ideas. She is a member of Peace River Quilt Guild. Vicky and her husband own a 35-foot sailboat, which takes up whatever time isn’t spent quilting.
Books by Vicky Fleming
Quilted Frog
Carla Scott & Leanne Smith are sisters who work together in their company “Quilted Frog.” Both sisters have been sewing from the age of ten. They studied sewing in junior high, high school, and college. In 2000, Carla caught the quilting bug and has been busy designing, making, and teaching quilting ever since. Leanne began quilting over 30 years ago while still in high school. In 2003, Carla and Leanne decided to work together designing quilting patterns. They both love the idea of creative art and have fun with whimsical quilt subjects and bright colors, which are just their cup of tea.
Carla and Leanne have designed and produced many quilt patterns and have been vendors at the Houston Quilt Market since 2003. As Quilted Frog has expanded, Carla has become an expert longarm machine quilter. They have won several awards for their designs and longarm quilting as well as having several designs published in magazines.
Books by Quilted Frog
Dilys Fronks
“Dilys the Quilt,” as she is known in Wales, may have come to quilting as a non-sewer but she’s been at it non-stop since 1983. Quilting opened up a world of creativity where Dilys found she had a talent for color and design. A sympathetic teacher who brings out the best in her students, this accomplished author shares her clever two-for-one appliqué technique in this, her eighth book.
Website: http://www.dilysfronks.com/index.htm
Books by Dilys Fronks
Gail Garber
Gail began quilting in 1980, little knowing what a major impact on her life her first class would have. Now she lectures and teaches workshops for quilt guilds and shops throughout the United States and abroad. She has written numerous magazine articles in the U.S. as well as Japan, New Zealand, France, and the United Kingdom. When she is not quilting, Gail is working as the executive director of Hawks Aloft, Inc., a New Mexico nonprofit organization that specializes in bird research and environmental education. Gail can often be found in the back country of New Mexico, studying hawks and conducting surveys of small songbirds. Hawks Aloft naturalists, accompanied by non-releasable raptors, visit New Mexico classrooms teaching young people about the importance of preserving the habitat for wildlife. Several of the birds in the program reside in large flight cages behind Gail’s home. Gail feels fortunate to be able to pursue her favorite activities in life, creating quilt designs, working with birds, and exploring the little-known and seldom-seen parts of her home state.
Website: http://www.gailgarberdesigns.com
Books by Gail Garber
Diane Gaudynski
Having slept under her grandmother's hand-quilted scrap quilts when she was a child, author Diane Gaudynski has loved quilts her entire life. However, she didn't learn how to do hand quilting until 1978. Then in 1988, she began machine quilting. A self-taught machine quilter, Diane makes traditional-style, everyday quilts with "Sunday best" quilting. Her style reflects her love of drab "mud" colors and simple elegant design inspired by antique quilts. Living in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with her husband and four cats, she finds the long, cold winters great for serious quiltmaking. An experienced teacher and lecturer, Diane loves to encourage beginners so they too can sleep under beautiful quilts. Diane has had nine quilts juried into the American Quilter's Society show in Paducah, Kentucky. Four of them won the Bernina Award for Machine Workmanship, and they are now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of the American Quilter's Society. She also received the Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry in 2001. She has written several magazine articles and has appeared on the PBS documentary "America Quilts" and "Quilt Central." In 2002, Diane's work was included in an international exhibit in Tokyo, Japan, called Thirty Distinguilshed Quilt Artists of the World. Her quilt THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY: AN AMERICAN MEMORY was judged a Masterpiece Quilt by NQA in 2002.
Website: http://www.dianegaudynski.net
Books by Diane Gaudynski
Karen Gibbs
Karen Gibbs is the owner/designer of The Quilt Studio, a multi-faceted design studio in Ballston Lake, New York, which includes a longarm quilting and design service and a pattern design division. Karen has a background in textile design, previously working in the River Art division of Eagle's Eye, a clothing manufacturer in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Eagle's Eye was mainly known for their sweaters depicting holiday scenes with coordinating turtlenecks. Each sweater was graphed out, with designs broken down into little rectangles, each rectangle representing a stitch. During this time, Karen began teaching herself quilting, learning quickly what a rotary cutter was. Combining quilting with endless rectangles brought her to bargello. Karen’s family is a continual source of inspiration, looking at the world through her children's eyes. She is an active member of Wings Falls Quilters Guild, which according to her husband meets for the entire day on the second Saturday of every month!
Website: http://www.thequiltstudio.com
Books by Karen Gibbs
Linda S. Glantz
Linda Glantz has enjoyed quilting since 1977. Her involvement is universal. She is the founder of the International Sister Guild Partnership Program connecting quilt guilds throughout the world, coordinates a three-chapter guild called Country Neighbors, and co-chairs the Western New York Quilt Conference. Linda resides in Holley, New York, with her husband, Eric, and their two children. The entire family participates in her quilting business, Apple Country Quilt Shop, located just west of Rochester in Upper New York State.
Books by Linda S. Glantz