Class Instructors & Speakers

Eleanor Burns
Quilt In A Day

Over thirty years ago Eleanor Burns introduced her first Quilt in a Day book, beginning a quilt making revolution. She invited all types of sewers to participate in an age-old tradition using her unique style; a diverse combination of cutting and sewing applications which replaced scissors and templates with rips and strips, bringing rotary speed to patchwork. She also introduced an incredibly rapid stitching system, applying the method of assembly line sewing to piecework. Her concise, step-by-step directions were easy to grasp, allowing anyone to be successful at making a quilt. Eleanor Burns gave quilt makers techniques that compacted months into merely a day, a quilt in a day. Today, as she continues to passionately devote herself to nurturing and motivating thousands of want-to be quilters with needed self-confidence, her name and techniques have become synonymous with quiltmaking.

Since 1978, when Eleanor self-published that first book "Make a Quilt in a Day: Log Cabin Pattern," she has become a prolific author, revered teacher trainer, popular television personality, and celebrated industry role model. She has published over 120 additional books and patterns that sell at a rate of well over 6,500 per week. She has also designed a variety of specialty rulers produced to aid the quilter in successfully completing their quilt.

Eleanor has trained thousands of instructors throughout the world who teach her quiltmaking methods. In 1987, Eleanor pioneered the way people view quiltmaking with television. Her Quilt in a Day TV series began airing on PBS and is still broadcasting nationwide and abroad, even teaching in Japan. RFDTV, the Quilt channel and the Quilt in a Day’s Media Theater are other venues where the shows are viewed. Adding to all of that, she has developed her own "Signature” fabric lines with Benartex, several special edition sewing machines, and received numerous awards and recognition for her lifetime of achievements.

Nancy Zieman
Sewing With Nancy

Nancy Zieman is host and executive producer of Sewing With Nancy and founder of Nancy’s Notions, a direct mail business. She’s an author and a designer for The McCall Pattern Company and Clover Needlecraft.

About Sewing with Nancy

The first Sewing With Nancy program aired on cable TV in 1982. Initially, the programs were videotaped in Nancy’s living room with a camera crew of one person and 13-hour taping days! In the early years, Nancy Zieman ran a one-woman show, deloping the scripts, making the samples, and taping the programs.

Today, Nancy still writes the scripts, yet it’s a team effort to plan the programming, develop the samples, and write and illustrate the books. Nancy frequently quips, “The show should really be called Sewing With Nancy, Donna, Kate, Pat, Diane, Laure, Lois, and Diane.” For the past 20 years, Wisconsin Public Television in Madison, Wis. has been Nancy’s partner in television production with Laurie Gorman serving as the director for the past 19 years.

Amanda Herring
"The Quilted Fish"

Amanda has been creating from a young age. She learned to sew at 10 years old and hasn’t stopped since. In college she studied art, art history, fashion design and interior design. Several years later, when she added quilting to her life, she was finally all “pieced” together. At last, at the tender age of 32, she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up! A quilter!

Not long after that, her company, called The Quilted Fish , was born. Why the name The Quilted Fish? Because she’s a Herring! Amanda loves to hand out “red Herring’s” (aka Swedish fish) to people to help them remember her and her company. In 2010 Amanda completed her first line of fabric for Riley Blake Designs called Sweet Divinity.

Amanda loves making quilt patterns and designing fabric and her love of color and flair for design show in her creations. And what, you may ask, is her favorite creation? Her answer never changes....her family.

Sue Daley
Sue Daley Designs

Sue Daley was born and raised in the southern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. She worked for many years as a detail draftsperson, but her love of fabric and design was so great that eventually it took over her life.

Sue has 30 years of patchwork experience and the last 15 years running her own business. Patchwork with Busyfingers which specialises in English paper piecing, American piecing, needleturn appliqué, embroidery and fine hand quilting.

Along with her pattern designs the business supplies pre-cut paper shapes, acrylic templates, patterns, books and associated accessories worldwide.

Sue now lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia with her husband and 2 dogs.

When she is not travelling the world sharing her love of patchwork, she spends her time designing new patterns and writing books for the patchwork industry.

Lori Holt
Bee In My Bonnet

I’m a small town farm girl who spent her childhood playing in the sunshine on tractors and climbing trees.

I grew up happily immersed in all things domestic. I’m the middle child of a large family and live closely surrounded by grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

My mom says that I was practically born with a needle in my hand. My earliest memories are of sitting underneath the quilting frames and threading needles for my grandma and great aunts until I eventually grew old enough to make stitches of my own. As a girl, I spent many happy hours designing and sewing clothes for my dolls, crocheting and doing embroidery. My deep love of all needle art comes from the early influence of my mother and grandmothers, who were my first teachers. Now I teach others to create and I find joy in using my creativity to make beautiful things.

I draw inspiration for my designs from the beauty of the earth and from the love of God and family memories. I am drawn to stacks of colorful fabrics, pretty papers, aprons, buttons, embroidery, old dishes, gingham and polka dots, sprinkles and glitter and all things vintage.

I am married to my best friend and childhood sweetheart and together we have 3 creative, intelligent children, and a new baby grandaughter. Life is good! I sew, draw, create, decorate and re-decorate on a daily basis. I think of myself as the luckiest girl in the world, because I get to do what I love everyday. I feel blessed to have my own company called, “Bee in my Bonnet,” which I began in 1994. My wish is that my designs in both patterns and fabric, will inspire others to create and will also instill the desire to pass down the valuable lessons of days gone by taught to us by our mothers and grandmothers.

Hi! My name is Lila Tueller. I am a really lucky person to have the opportunity to work with Riley Blake to design fabric, which is one of my most favorite things to do in the world!

Most of my life I have been either sewing, drawing, painting, or creating in some form or another. I have spent many, many hours creating fashions for my children, myself, or my home; or for other people or their children or their homes. I absolutely love to design and create things, in just about any medium you can think of. I have a lot of creative energy which needs to be channeled, or it becomes a nuisance to everyone around me! Although I have received some formal training in the arts, I am mostly self-taught. I had an indulgent mother who would spare no expense to provide me with materials and do-it- yourself books. I began sewing for real when my mother bought me a used machine at the age of twelve. After that I couldn’t be stopped! I have sold many of my handmade things at boutiques, and I have made and sold everything from my brightly painted ceramic pitchers, platters and bowls to children’s boutique clothing, to wild winter fleece hats, to baby quilts, to framed water color paintings, to handbags… and the list goes on.

The best thing that could’ve happened to me in regards to my creative ventures is to have the opportunity to be a fabric designer. It is something I always dreamed of doing, but didn’t know how to begin! luckily, through a quirky series of events, that dream has been realized for me. It has been really gratifying to see my artistic designs become fabric that can then be sewn into more of my designs. And to see what other people have made from my work is beyond fulfilling!

Sandra Workman
Pine Mountain Designs

Sandra Workman lives with her husband Randy and their beautiful daughter Kaylee, in Draper, Utah where she and Randy operate their design company Pine Mountain Designs. They oversee their quilt store, Pine Needles at Gardner Village in West Jordan, Utah.

Sandra began her love of creative arts as a young child following in the footsteps of her talented mother and has continued to develop her talents under the encouraging influence of her husband Randy. Sandra’s designs include an extensive line of cross-stitch kits, embroidery designs, quilt patterns and now her first fabric line Happy Ever After.

Sandra has one criteria for design and that is it needs to make her feel happy. Her subject choice and color selection are sunny and sweet. Sandra believes that each of us has an innate need to create, and whether it is with paper, fabric or food creating feeds the soul and brightens the world around us.

Paige Hill
Project Design Team Coordinator 
" paige@rileyblakedesigns.com  "

From an early age Paige Wayment Hill has been a creative soul. One of her favorite childhood activities was creating things—holiday decorations, pinecone wreaths and paintings. Her love for her family and for boundless creativity have found an outlet in scrapbooking, sewing, and other crafty endeavors. She is the author of four books, and a contributor to countless others. In 2006 (while eight months pregnant!), she was featured on HGTV’s That’s Cleaver. Currently Paige is the Internet Marketing Manager for Riley Blake Designs as well as their Project Design Team Coordinator, a job she truly loves. In her spare time she loves mountain biking, hiking, and being with her family. Visit her at  rileyblakedesigns.com/blog .

Melissa Mortenson 
" Polka Dot Chair   "

My name is Melissa Mortenson. I'm a Utah born girl who is happy now to call Kentucky home.  I've been sewing since I can remember.  I love travel,  the color pink, reeces peanut butter cups, glitter,  handbags & making stuff.  While sewing is my first love, I have a passion for all things handmade and also enjoy oil painting, scrap booking and any kind of crafts.  I love to create projects with my 3 kids in mind. I've got a 16 yr old daughter and boy  girl twins that are 10.  

 

They are all growing up too fast but I love the challenge of sewing for older kids.    Most days you can find me at home in my craft room working on projects for my blog the Polkadot Chair ( www.polkadotchair.com ).  My blog, named after a chair in my craft room,  is where I share my creative adventures.   I'm proud to say I was published for this first time in 2011 in Fresh Fabric Treats. I also  have a pattern design company named fourteen may ( www.fourteenmay.bigcartel.com ).

Elizabeth and Elizabeth 
" Simple Simon and Company "

We are Elizabeth and Elizabeth two girls who married brothers and ended up with the same name.  Besides sharing a name we share a love for all things vintage, an addiction to sewing, and an adversion to having our pictures taken.  We are both former school teachers, each have 3 children, and together run a blog where we share all the projects that we create for ourselves and our families.  Our similarities (and our differences) make us a good team---even if we drive our husbands crazy with all our crafting escapades.

Jennifer  
" Tatertots and Jello  "

Lindsay Wilkes  
" The Cottage Mama "

Lindsay Wilkes is the owner/designer of The Cottage Mama, www.thecottagemama.com , a boutique children's sewing pattern and clothing company.  She resides in Illinois with her husband, two young girls and baby boy.  In addition to The Cottage Mama, she writes a cooking, sewing and crafting blog called The Cottage Home, www.thecottagehome.blogspot.com , where she shares her love of the handmade lifestyle through DIY sewing and crafting tutorials, recipes, free patterns and more.  Her work has been featured in Altered Couture Magazine, Sew Magazine, Sew Hip and Stitch. Craft. Create, just to name a few.

 
Kari Sweeten  
" U Create "

I love to create pretty things, redecorate my home with diy projects, blog, and find endless inspiration on Pinterest! Come visit me over at www.u-createcrafts.com!

 
Becky Vandenberg  
" U-Create "

Becky Vandenberg is a contributor at Ucreate, a hobby blog which features the latest tutorials and trends from talented crafters around the world.  She comes from a creative line of women and is a self-taught seamstress. Becky has been into everything crafty most of her life, but her passion is sewing and creating original designs and patterns.  She is known to have a healthy obsession with fabric and Diet Coke.  Becky lives in Utah with her husband and 3 children.

Deonn Stott  
" Quiltscapes "

I love every aspect of quilting! I love to design and make quilts, teach quilting classes, hang out in the Quiltscapes studio and do custom free-motion quilting for clients on my longarm quilting machine, Old Betsy! I constantly think about quilting, dream about quilting, talk about quilting, and can hardly wait to get up in the mornings to get quilting! Fabric speaks to me, and I listen... You might say I'm a little bit passionate about quilting....

Quilting is a connection to generations of women in my family. I began sewing as a child, and have many fond memories of spending time in the sewing room with my mother and two sisters. I pretty much grew up under a quilt frame, helping my mom tie quilts, eventually learning to hand-quilt whole-cloth tricot wedding quilts with my Grandma. I remember looking over my Great-grandma's shoulder as she pieced countless quilts for charity and family.

Working at home gives me the flexibility to pursue other passions including singing, theatre productions, choral directing, reading, arranging music, desktop publishing, and spending time in the kitchen, where I have compiled several cookbooks.

 
Amy Smart  
" www.diaryofaquilter.com "

Amy Smart has been quilting in earnest ever since the birth of her first child 14 years ago, craving an artistic outlet and something that “stayed done.” She worked in a local quilt shop for 7 years and taught Intro to Quilting classes. She started blogging about her quilting adventures and fabric obsession over 4 years ago at www.DiaryofaQuilter.com and developed a series of tutorials about Learning to Quilt. She loves bringing other people over to the ‘dark side’ and seeing them become avid quilters and fabric addicts themselves. She lives in Utah with her patient husband, and four active kids. Besides quilting Amy loves fish tacos, BBC dramas, and wearing flip-flops.

Kim Christopherson & Kris Thurgood  
" DIY Dish "

Kim Christopherson and Kris Thurgood are twin sisters from Logan, Utah. You may recognize them from hosting the online sewing, quilt, and craft show, “The DIY Dish.”

Kim is the owner and creative force of Kimberbell Designs, a sewing, quilt, and embroidery design pattern company. Kimberbell products are available online and in quilt and fabric shops around the country. Kim has also been involved in the DIY industry as the founder of YouCanMakeThis.com and SWAKembroidery.com.

Kris is the owner of "My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe" located in Logan, Utah and the new expansion of "My Girlfriend's Attic" retreat center. Kris’ passion in creating these places for women to come together and be inspired, learn something new, and enjoy one another’s company, has made “My Girlfriend’s Quilt Shoppe” a fun destination for people near and far.

Kim and Kris have been featured on national television shows including The Rachael Ray Show and The Nate Berkus Show. You'll find them in magazines, such as "Where Women Create," "Designs in Machine Embroidery, and a regular column, My Girlfriend’s Breakfast Club in "Where Women Cook" magazine. They are also monthly contributors to their local NBC affiliate lifestyle television show, Studio 5.

Jenny Doan  
" Missouri Star Quilt Company "

Veteran quilter Jenny Doan has risen to stardom in the quilting world with her YouTube tutorials. A former costume designer, she has been quilting for over 20 years. Jenny is the mother of 7 children and grandmother of 20 and holding, Jenny is beloved for her approachable demeanor and contagious enthusiasm for quilting. Jenny's expertise lies in using precuts, her methods are new and quick and made for a world where we all have less time to quilt than we would like! Jenny and her loving husband live in the small town of Hamilton, Mo., where they run the Missouri Star Quilt Co with several of their children.

Natalie Earnheart  
" Missouri Star Quilt Company "

Natalie Earnheart works behind the scenes at Missouri Star Quilt Company. Her designs and ideas have been made into tutorials and templates that have reached millions of quilters worldwide. Her creativity is manifested in how she helps us see complex modern and traditional patterns in a way that anyone could succeed at them. She is a single mother of five children, an artist and a quilter.

Andrea Goddard  
" Quiltique "

Andrea has had a passion for creating for as long as she can remember. She did not find her niche until she discovered her love of quilting around 12 years ago. With a background in graphic and interior design she loves selecting color choices and designing patterns for her quilts. Andrea has a strong interest in promoting the modern quilting movement in the industry and she founded the Las Vegas chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. She works and teaches at Quiltique, in Henderson, Nevada and blogs at andisew.blogspot.com

Carolina Moore  
" Quiltique "

With a mom that taught her how to sew when she was 6, and quilt when she was 13, Carolina Moore has always had a passion for fabric. After taking a Kids Quilt Camp at Quilt in a Day, she was hooked on quilting. She has come a long way since that first Log Cabin quilt, and has since taught other children to sew during Kids Quilt camps at Quiltique. With two young boys to run after, she loves to take on fast quilts and projects that can be accomplished in a few evenings or worked on while the kids are napping. You can find her online at 30 Minute Crafts.com as well.

Becky  
" The Crafting Chicks "

Becky is a mommy to three girls. Lucky for her she loves the color pink. She met her hubby at Staples, of all places, and they have been married for almost 11 years.

Becky graduated from Utah State University in Public Relations and Human Resource Management and loved working in the field until her first daughter was born. She then became a stay at home mom and found that crafting was the perfect way to fill her “spare time ” (aka nap and bedtime). Other then crafting, Becky loves to read, write and have lunch with friends and family.

Brooke  
" The Crafting Chicks "

Brooke is a mom of three and wife of her best friend! Brooke and her husband met when they were 14 and the rest is history! She loves photography, Photoshop, creative projects galore, cold glasses of milk, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Charlie and Lola, dancing like a spazz, and making her kids laugh with her ugly faces.

Brooke graduated from BYU with a Nursing degree but currently works full time as a MOM, which is exactly what she wants to do! She loves to teach people how to create fun projects with Photoshop, and has taught at digital scrapbooking retreats, scrapbooking expos, and classes both publicly and privately for the past 4 years. She is embracing her “nerdy” side and has enjoyed learning how to build websites last year. This year her goals include learning how to sew something wearable and building something cool with wood and tools and such. You can also find Brooke blogging at www.brookiewookie.com.

Jamie  
" The Crafting Chicks "

Jamie is mom to 4 little muffins–two sets of twins! She married a boy from Vegas-(her USU sweetheart)-GO AGGIES! Jamie graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and then taught 1st grade for 3 years. She now LOVES being a mommy (the best job in the world) and has followed one of her passions by starting her own ”Wild About Learning Preschool,” where she gets to teach some of the cutest 3 and 4 year olds in the world.

Some of Jamie’s favorite things include family trips, taking photos, digi scrappin’, Photoshop, eating pastries, DisneyLand, girl’s night out, dates with her hubby and dancing in pajamas with her kiddos. Something strange about Jamie is that she says that some of her best craft ideas come to her in dreams!>/p>

Kirsten  
" The Crafting Chicks "

Kirstin attended BYUI and Utah State and graduated with a business degree with an emphasis in marketing. She has been a professional photographer for the last ten years. Kirsten loves roller coasters, running rollerblading, crafting, going out with her hubby, playing and being silly with her 4 kids, organizing and photography. She used to dream of being on American Gladiators, but now dreams of being on The Martha Stewart Show. Her mind is constantly swimming in new ideas for crafts, marketing, business and of fun things to do.

Nikkala  
" The Crafting Chicks "

Nikkala loves to plan parties, research future purchases, read books and magazines, figure out class schedules and untie knots! Her creative and analytical sides are in a constant battle and the results are very practical projects. She loves a good deal and has an insatiable appetite for learning. Nikkala graduated from Utah State University with a degree in horticulture and business. She has also taken classes in floral arranging, cooking, cake decorating, graphic and interior design. Nikkala is mom to 2 adorable boys and baby girl she claims is the World’s Best Baby. She’s married to a geek who doesn’t understand crafting, but supports it none the less. Nikkala grew up in southern Idaho, but now lives in northern Utah.

Sydney Haglund
memoryquiltmaker.blogspot.com

I have always had a love of sewing and quilting. I had made a queen-sized quilt prior to my marriage (33 years ago!), I made dresses and costumes for our children as they went through school, and I looked forward to more quilt-making when my children were grown. What finally got me started again was a photo quilt for our oldest son's 19th birthday. From there I went on to making 'memory quilts' for our other children, as well as holiday quilts for Christmas and Valentine’s Day. A friend saw one of my quilts and commissioned me to make one out of old TWA flight attendant uniforms. That quilt now hangs in the TWA museum in St. Louis, MO.

I love for my quilts and sewing projects to look 'scrappy' and to have meaning behind them, which means shopping for just the right Riley Blake fabric and then finding previously-used fabrics around my home to serve as accents, highlights or focal points. If you look around in your closets, drawers and laundry room, you will find old shirts, boxer shorts, little girl's dresses and patches of cloth that will evoke fun memories when they appear in your fresh new sewing project.

Bonnie Bailey
www.pieplatepatterns.com

Bonnie was born with a Bernina in one hand and and a sketch pad in the other. Being creative from day one was a challenge to her Dad. He would assign her to watch the sheep and she would dye their wool, each sheep a different pastel color. Then she would arrange the sheep coordinating them in beautiful patterns of color. She would then climb the large sycamore tree in the field and take aerial photographs of her creation.

While attending North Sanpete High School Bonnie was torn between FFA and Home Economics. Agriculture was in her blood, but sewing fabric was an urge she just couldn't control. Eventually the fabric over-ran the weeds in the corn fields and her Dad was fit to be tied.

This was Bonnie's start to quilting and she has never looked back since. Bonnie is Chief Designing Officer and Treasurer for Pie Plate Patterns. It has been observed, that In her position, she dishes up plenty fast, mouth watering designs. This is a habit that still lingers from her Softball days at North Sanpete.

Most Recently, Bonnie has taken on extra responsibility with a dual position for Riley Blake designs. She beat out applicants who were looking to flee from big name brand fabric manufactuers. It was her rural upbringing that got her the position. The other applicants were just too city-ish. Bonnie not only keeps the lights on in the warehouse by paying the bills, but she dreams up all kinds of simple quilting and sewing projects. She is now known as Queen of the Sew Together Project Kits! Her next project will be a quilt with an appliqued Technicolor Turkey, something she has been planning since her days on the farm.

Bonnie is currently looking to acquire a fast car. Something that would cut her commute time from Fountain Green to Sandy, Utah in half. If you have a used Nascar you would like to sell, give Bonnie a call at 1-800-IGROWFABRIC

Jina Barney
www.jinabarneydesignz.com

Jina comes from a diverse background of culture. Her father is a New Zealander and her mother Australian. Jina spent her early youth growing up in New Zealand and Australia and was influenced by her surroundings. Part of her early years of schooling included hand sewing. Her grandmother and mother taught her how to knit and her father bought her whatever supplies she needed to continue sewing her own clothing. Sewing extended into the crafts and then to quilting. Jina has quilted for over 25 years.

Jina started her own pattern company named Butterfly Kisses in 2007 which features uniquely designed quilts, projects and clothing patterns. Her attention to detail has earned her a reputation among friends for her fine hand crafted items. Her love of quilting brought her the opportunity to be hired as Design Director for Riley Blake Designs. Every day is a day filled with new adventures to create and explore the possibilities in design. From start to finish it has allowed her to be surrounded by lots of color, texture and creativeness.

Jina has designed quilts for various magazines and has taught classes sharing her love for the arts. Her favorite thing is to inspire and motivate others to create something out of the ordinary into something extraordinary. Her greatest love is her family who is growing up quickly and leaving to pursue their own passions and love... but her husband has decided to stay and enjoy their journey together:)watching their 2 grandchildren and being the biggest fans to their 4 children.