Teachers

Teachers

Charlotte Angotti
www.charlotteangotti.com

While shopping with her mother in 1978 Charlotte wandered into a quilt shop and everything changed from there. Educated in fine arts, speech and drama she brings a variety of talents to class in a most humorous way. She has been teaching quilt making since 1979 because someone asked her to teach them. Her first quilt was sold right after making it and she has sold her quilts ever since. She owned her own quilt shop in Virginia Beach, Va from 1981-1999. She began teaching nationally in 1991 and has taught for many large shows as well as small groups. Along with her kit business, Quilt Maker’s Studio, she now teaches and lectures full time and lives in Harbor Springs, Michigan. Known for her humor, her way with fabric/color and her pre-cut kits Charlotte believes her hobby is quilt making and her job is teaching others to enjoy it as much as she does.

Darlene Christopherson
www.darlenechristopherson.com

Darlene C. Christopherson has been an accomplished quiltmaker since 1979 and has had her work published in the books; "More Vertical Set Quilts with Style" [AQS] by Bobbie Aug & Sharon Newman. Sensational Scrap Quilts by Darra Duffy Williamson, Patchwork Portfolio by Jinny Beyer, Soft-Edge Piecing by Jinny Beyer, Great American Quilts Book 5 and Scrap Quilts fast and fun by Oxmoor House. Darlene taught on the staff of the Jinny Beyer Hilton Head Seminar for 5 years prior to moving from northern Virginia to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1992 and has been teaching and lecturing for guilds and large events since about 1990. In 1997 she and her husband moved to China Spring, Texas near Waco.
Darlene teaches hand appliqué piecing and quilting as well as design classes. Fabric selection is discussed in every class as the result of her beautiful quilts. Attention and patient guidance is given to all students. Years of experience have developed time honored techniques and an understanding of the elements of design and their importance to quilt making.

Debra Danko
www.debradanko.com

Debra M. Danko is an internationally recognized contemporary fabric artist, lecturer and workshop teacher from southern Michigan. Her wall quilts have won many prestigious awards in juried national and international shows. They are also featured in gallery and museum exhibits and in many publications.
She is well known for the large-scale realistic images in her floral art quilts. The lifelike three-dimensional appearance, fabulous use of colors, and attention to detail easily recognize her work. Debra’s techniques are primarily fused, machine applique with machine embroidery and fabric paint used to emphasize highlights and shadows.

Kim Diehl
www.kimdiehl.com

     After chancing upon a sampler quilt pattern at a sidewalk sale in 1997, Kim Diehl set about making her first quilt without the benefit of any quiltmaking knowledge or experience, and soon discovered that she had found a new passion.      With just her third quilt, Kim entered and won American Patchwork & Quilting magazine's "Pieces of the Past" quilt challenge in 1998. This win took her life down a new and unexpected path, and Kim began designing quilts professionally soon after.
     In the years since her win, Kim has seen many of her original patterns published in national magazines, and she remains a frequent contributor to American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. Kim recently was invited to be a guest designer for Australian-based Homespun magazine, and her work will be featured in their February, 2008, issue.
     Kim has authored two best-selling books with Martingale & Company, "Simple Blessings" and "Simple Traditions." Her third book, "Simple Seasons," will be released in November of 2007, bringing together her passion for quiltmaking with her love of cooking and creating recipes. Kim is currently at work on her fourth book of quilt designs, "Simple Comforts," due out in 2009.
     When she's not designing patterns, sewing quilts, and working in her country-style gardens, Kim enjoys traveling to quilting groups and events around the country, sharing her designs and teaching her easy invisible machine appliqué methods.

Harriet Hargrave
www.harriethargrave.com

Harriet Hargrave mastered machine embroidery in the mid-1970’s and adapted machine quilting from there. She was machine quilting when local quilt guilds thought machine piecing was not kosher. She introduced nylon thread and free motion quilting to the quilt world through her machine quilted antique reproduction quilts that appeared to be hand quilted. Encouraged by Marti Michell, she wrote her first edition of Heirloom Machine Quilting in 1984. Harriet helped develop an exceptional line of natural fiber battings for quilters. Author, fabric designer, shop owner and international teacher, she has spread the word that machine quilting is okay, and that our quilts are “hand quilted with an electric needle.”

Judy Niemeyer
www.quiltworx.com

      As a child, quilting and sewing were everyday occurrences around her home, just as were milking cows, changing sprinkler pipes, and stacking hay. Helping tie mother's quilts was just another job the children were expected to do, whether they wanted to or not. The problem was, Judy didn't particularly want to, she'd have rather been out milking the cows.
     That all changed when she got married and started having children. Judy and her husband Del decided she should stay home and raise the children, so quilt making became the means to do so. Judy started doing custom quilt work and hand quilting until finally quilting was a second income for the family. In 1990, her children were all old enough to tend to matters on their own, so she began working and teaching classes at the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, Montana. It was because of teaching that Judy began to design patterns. Now, hardly a day goes by when she isn't thinking about how to design a new pattern or quilting process so that it will make it easier for her students.
     Quilt making began as a way for Judy to have more free time in her life, but the plan has backfired. It has now become her life. At any point in the day you will either find her sewing, creating new ideas, designing new patterns, or answering emails to her students. If she ever has free time or goes on vacation she will usually find a way to bring her quilting with her.

Mary Sorenson
www.maryappliques.com

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, Traditional Quiltworks magazine, American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, Better Homes and Gardens Quilt-Lovers' Favorites and in the Fairfield Processing Corporation ads.