Past meeting program information is listed below.
Quilts of Illusions
Monday, October 11- 7pm
Karen Combs
Explore the world of optical illusions with Karen as she shows you some of the wonderful quilts that she has created and shares tricks and tips on how to make them. A native of Michigan, Karen Combs began quilting while still in high school. She has a degree in library science and has worked at many state, city and school libraries before finding her calling as a professional quilting instructor, writer and designer. Her quilts are known for taking a traditional pattern and giving it her own unique “twist.” Karen is intrigued with quilts of illusions and has been designing quilts with a 3-D look for many years.
Photo to Fabric: Design in the Palm of Your Hand
Monday, September 13 – 7pm
Lisa Thorpe
I demonstrate, how to take a simple photo with your smart phone or tablet, manipulate it in app and print the image onto fabric on a home printer. I share a variety of art quilts I’ve created with these images as a central theme. As well as several art quilts using multiple photo images tiled together to create a stunning collaged quilt effect. I have also come up with an easy way to create a repeat printed fabric in 4 steps using a smart phone or tablet. I will demonstrate, the process of creating and uploading your own repeat fabric design for commercial printing. This lecture comes with handouts detailing apps, printer info and fabric printing sources. There will be lots of art quilts, fabric and clothing items to see. Participants who want to play along can download app I use and start manipulating photos during the presentation!
My Life in Quilts:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Monday, August 9 – 7pm
Marge Tucker
Marge Tucker is an international award-winning quilt artist. The first quilt she made, over twenty-five years ago, was for friends expecting their first child. “At that time, I didn’t know that quilting would become my passion and now my profession. I feel so fortunate to be able to share and continue the tradition of quilting with my students.”
“I started with traditional pieced quilts but am now focused on abstract improvisational design in my work.”
Marge received “Best Machine Quilting” at QuiltCon 2019 as well as “Best Sewing Machine Workmanship Award – Modern” at the Pacific International Quilt Festival in 2019 as well as numerous other awards for her quilts. Marge teaches throughout the United States and also from her studio in Rockland, MA.
In this lecture, I tell my quilting journey, from the first quilt I remember seeing to becoming a quilting instructor/fiber artist. I also discuss my inspirations for quilt designs and how quilting has changed my life.
Driven to Abstraction
Monday, July 12, 2021
7:00 pm
Brenda Gael Smith
Brenda creates textile works made from a rich palette of her hand-dyed fabrics complemented by intensive stitching. Much of her work is inspired by the colour and patterns of the natural world with a focus on her surroundings at the “other” Copacabana in Australia and her New Zealand homeland. Using a process of abstraction, Brenda strives to capture the essence of her subjects in simplified form. Working improvisationally, she refines line, shape, colour and texture to evoke a sense of place, express an idea, highlight an issue or elicit an emotional response. Learn more about Brenda’s inspiration and process in this colourful lecture.
Stitching, Symbols, Signature Style
Monday, June 14 – 7pm
Deborah Boschert
Deborah shares her most recent art quilts and talks about developing her own personal style. She’ll share tons of examples of her favorite techniques, materials and themes. She’ll tell stories about exciting collaborations, surprising discoveries and finding inspiration in unexpected places.
Native American Indian Quilts: 150 Years of Sewing and Survival
Monday, May 10 – 7 pm
Teresa Duryea
Teresa Duryea Wong, who writes, quilts and blogs about quilts, will give an online lecture at our May meeting entitled “Native American Indian Quilts: 150 Years of Sewing and Survival.” She’ll talk about the tumultuous period from 1880 to the present when Native Americans all over North America were relocated and had to adapt to a new way of life. When Western missionaries introduced quilting, Native American women who had learned to sew using buffalo hides and other natural materials applied their skills to cloth and eventually began to make beautiful quilts reflecting their own cultural heritage.
Learn how the transference from sewing buffalo hides and other natural materials to quilting took place and see the beautiful quilts made in this period.
In addition to the lecture by Teresa Duryea, two additional important items of business will take place at our May meeting:
- We will vote on the 2021-2022 Board
- The drawing for the 2021 Opportunity Quilt will be held.
Improvisational Piecing Techniques and More!
Monday, April 12
7:00 pm
Carol Rossi
Carole Rossi, a beloved former PVQA member, will be the featured speaker at our regular meeting in April. Now living in Sacramento, CA, Carole continues to explore improvisational piecing techniques in her work, creating abstract and fanciful representational images, often loosely based on photographs from her travels. See the dynamic quilt art she has produced and share her experiences as she explores the Sacramento quilt world.
Unconventional & Unexpected – Quilts that Break the Rules
Monday, March 8
7:00 pm
Roderick Kiracofe
Roderick Kiracofe, a noted quilt collector and author from San Francisco, will give a lecture at our regular meeting on Monday, March 8, 2021. Titled “Unconventional & Unexpected–Quilts that Break the Rules, his lecture will feature quilts from his extensive collection. He’ll explain how old things from the basement, the garage or his grandmother’s house around the corner in Indiana intrigued and then hooked his interest. You’ll see his favorite quilts, which are pieced, often crudely quilted or tied and full of printed fabrics, yet at the same time quirky, funky and soulful expressions of quiltmakers who broke the rules. Join us for a memorable night of the exotic and unusual!
Mile-a-Minute Quilts
Monday, January 11th
7:00 pm
Sally Miller
Join Sally Miller, a Carmel quilter, as she details a nearly 20-year long joy ride, using up her scraps as efficiently and quickly as possible as she made Mile-a-Minute quilts. Inspired by an article in American Quilter Magazine, she embarked on an continuing project which resulted in many lively quilts, a tidier studio and an empty waste basket.
The Design Process – From Concept to Quilt
Monday, December 14th
7:00 pm
Tina Curran
We’re in for a treat in December! Instead of our traditional Holiday Party, Katie and Pam have scheduled an online lecture by Tina Curran, an art quilter from Southern California, at our regular meeting on Mon., Dec. 14, 2020. Besides making quilts, Tina designs and sells quilt patterns through shops on Etsy and Craftsy. People who buy her quilt patterns often ask, “Did that come out of your head?” Tina’s lecture, “The Design Process–From Concept to Quilt,” answers that question. In her lecture, Tina shares the process she follows, sometimes linear, sometimes circuitous, which ends with a finished quilt. Through her lecture, illustrated with many original quilts, Tina hopes to demystify the creative process and encourage others to start designing their own quilts. Note: Members, you can do this! The process of designing a quilt can be taught, and Tina will show you how.
Anatomy of an Art Quilt
Monday, November 9th
7:00 pm
Cindy Grisdela
Cindy Grisdela, an award-winning fiber artist, author and quilter from Reston, Virginia, will be joining us Monday, November 9, 2020, for her virtual lecture, “Anatomy of an Art Quilt.” Cindy will talk about how to create an improvisational quilt (improv quilt for short). She’ll answer these questions: How do you create an improv quilt without a pattern? Where do you start? How do you know when it’s finished? She’ll share her tips and tricks in an entertaining lecture about the process of working improvisationally from start to finish.
If you haven’t read it yet, Pam Rocco highly recommends Cindy’s book, “Artful Improv: Explore Color Recipes, Building Blocks & Free-Motion Quilting,” available in paperback. Her book contains an excellent tutorial on how to get started with improv.
Social Justice Sewing Academy
Monday, October 12 – 7 pm
Sara Trail
Sara Trail, the talented and charismatic founder and Executive Director of the Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA), will be our speaker at our October meeting. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley and enrolling in a doctoral program at Harvard, Sara dropped out after only one year, got a job at a California prison, and founded the SJSA, because she wanted to use her artistic voice as a quilter to advocate for social justice.
She’ll tell us about the hands-on workshops the SJSA conducts in schools, prisons and community centers across the country, teaching students how to use quilting to effect social change.”
Quilts made by SJSA students from both continuation and regular public school classes were displayed at the 2019 PVQA Quilt Show.
Learn more about Sara and the Social Justice Sewing Academy.
Design and Color
Monday, September 14th
7:00 pm
Tara Faughnan
Tara Faughnan, a professional freelance textile designer and quilter from Oakland, will be our featured speaker at our September meeting. In her presentation, “Design and Color,” Tara will discuss different design approaches and delve into the importance of how color and value can tell a story. She draws inspiration from the simple bold geometry of antique quilts, the gorgeous bright colors from textiles around the world, and the spontaneity found in unconventional pieced quilts.
Check out her website www.terrafaughnan.com to see her work.
Rules and Options of Planned Improv Piecing
Monday, August 10th – 7:00 pm
Sarah Goer
Sarah Goer, is a modern quilter and teacher from San Jose. She loves bold color and enjoys the geometry and math of quilting.Her quilt patterns are less about following a precise pattern and and more about learning to improvise. In her presentation, “Rules and Options of Planned Improv Piecing,” she’ll show how she uses her planning nature to develop rules for herself, which drive her Planned Improv quilt design work.
The Traditional Way and Mac’s Way
Monday, July 13th – 7:00 pm
Mac McNamara
Enjoy a mini-workshop from President Mac McNamara. He is going to demonstrate the traditional construction of several blocks and then his interpretations of how those blocks could be reconstructed. It should be a fun evening that will stretch boundaries and get our creative juices churning.
