Each year, Quilt Odyssey attempts to present you with a diverse sampling of instructors known throughout the U.S. Each instructor has been hand-picked for their expertise and style of teaching which leads to stress-free learning. We want you to enjoy your experience with us while creating in an atmosphere that is both relaxed and inspiring. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions for future instructors.
J. Phil Beaver - Indiana
In 2000, Phil entered his first quilt contest - Quilt Odyssey 2000, also our very first show - winning Viewers Choice and he hasn't stopped quilting award-winners since! A retired art teacher, he paints and dyes his own fabrics and designs each quilt individually. He is now well known and in demand throughout our nation and is an avid and devoted instructor stressing creativity. Last year, his class filled only hours after it was posted on our website. This year, we've asked him to return and teach the same two-day class twice - once from Wednesday through Thursday and once from Friday through Saturday. His teaching will bring out your creative juices and will open the world of fabric dyeing to you!
Nancy Bills - Pennsylvania
Nancy is a native Pennsylvanian whose mother was an expert seamstress. She instilled a love of sewing in Nancy. For 30 years, she has been interested in quilts, particularly antiques, and has been quilting seriously for about 12 years Piecing is her first love. That, combined with the fact that she seldom follows a pattern preferring to experiment instead, trying to find easier and better ways to do things, has resulted in developing a number of new techniques. One is her "Perfect Strips" method of piecing which she has adapted to a number of patterns. It makes some very difficult looking blocks, including regular size and miniature, both easy and amazingly accurate. Passing along her techniques and piecing tips to fellow quilters is fun, but the most rewarding part is hearing them say, "Wow, I never thought I could do something like that!" She teaches at shops and guilds and has written and self-published a number of patterns and class books.
Karen Kay Buckley - Pennsylvania
Voted Quilt Teacher of the Year in 1997, Karen has devoted her lifework to teaching quiltmaking and creating extraordinary quilts. She has mastered both handwork and machine quilting and piecing. Her quilts have graced the cover of QNM numerous times. She is consistently in ribbons in most shows she enters and has won major awards all over the U.S. including Best of Show at Lancaster, firsts in applique at Houston, the annual NQA show and Quilt Odyssey. She has authored several books including her latest, Earthly Delights: The Perfect Finish. You may also be familiar with some of her other publications, Magical Medallions and Applique Basics: Flower Wreaths. She also has been seen on Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson. She regularly teaches at Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, Pa.
Norma Campbell - Maryland
Norma returns to us once again with her enthusiasm and wit. When it comes to quilting, she's prepared, not only with the know-how, but also with a few jokes to add to the fun. A serious quilter for almost 20 years, she's been teaching since 1990. She coordinated the fourth annual project of decorating the Maryland State House with Christmas-themed quilts and wall hangings for the administration of Gov. Parris Glendening. Her miniature quilts have been featured in Miniature Quilts magazine. Besides numerous guilds, quilt shops, and Belle Grove Plantation, she regularly teaches for Anne Arundel Community College in their Continuing Education Program. Norma is part of the "dynamic duo" hostessing our Saturday evening Show 'N' Tell (the Princess of Patchwork).
Mimi Dietrich - Maryland
Mimi has shared her joy of quilting since 1974 and always has an optimistic word for each student. Among her notable contributions, she was a "founding mother" of the Village Quilters in Catonsville, Md., and is a member of the Baltimore Heritage Quilters Guild. She has authored numerous books on quilting including Happy Endings, The Easy Art of Applique, Quilts from the Smithsonian (a result of her working with the Smithsonian to create quilts in the style of the antique collection in the Smithsonian), Quilts: An American Legacy (a continuation of working with the Smithsonian), Handmade Quilts, Baltimore Bouquets, and Basic Quiltmaking Techniques for Hand Appliqué. Her newest books include Pink Ribbon Quilts, in support of the abolition of breast cancer, Bed & Breakfast Quilts, Growing Up with Quilts, (co-authored with Sally Schneider) and Applique Samplers. Last year, Mimi worked with the Baltimore Museum of Art and P&B Textiles to produce a new line of fabric and a book reflecting the designs of the era of the Baltimore Album quilt. Mimi is half of the "dynamic duo" hostessing our Show 'n' Tell Saturday evening (the Queen of Appliqué).
Marilyn Doheny - Washington
Marilyn returns to us with her characteristic exuberance for the art of piecing! She started making quilts in the '80s when she, desperately needing an outlet with lots of adult interaction from raising three small children, she enrolled in a 6-week basic quilting course. During the entire 6 weeks, each student attempted to piece one pinwheel potholder using a single triangle template, then quilt it and bind it. Truly, great things come from humble beginnings: Marilyn never finished the potholder, but she was hooked on quilting and started her search for the endless possibilities! Her life has included every aspect of quiltmaking, from creating her own quilts to inventing innovative sewing techniques for the traditional favorites. She teaches worldwide and gives purpose to the joys of her life: color, texture, fabric, geometric patterns and people! Through her publishing company, Doheny Publications, as well as her talented teaching, she brings enthusiasm and creativity about the world of quiltmaking to a global audience.
Becky Goldsmith
Ellen Grau - Virginia
Ellen is a certified IGOLOCHKOY miniature punchneedle teacher. Her love of rug hooking and other crafts gives her an excellent background in use of color and texture in the art of punchneedle embroidery. She designs her own kits and likes to use unusual threads, i.e., wool, candlewicking, linen, silk, metallic, etc., and often combines different needle sizes and various pile heights to achieve and unique and interesting look to her designs. She lives in Virginia and has been an artist craftsman and teacher for more than 20 years. You an find Igolochkoy/Birdhouse Enterprises in our merchants mall.
Joan Jones - Virginia
Designer and publisher of more than 80 copyrighted designs, Joan has extensive sewing, doll making and quilting experience. Her work covers a variety of techniques. Joan has taught patchwork, applique, machine quilting, doll making, and Santa making extensively across the country and in her former shop, Seams Like Home, in New Jersey. Visit her website ( www.seamslikehome.com ) to see her collection of patterns and the wonderful face drawing techniques she can teach you! You can find Seams Like Home in our merchants mall.
Dierdra McElroy - California
Famous for her appliqué and reverse appliqué techniques, Didi is also co-author of That Perfect Stitch™, a comprehensive reference for the serious quilter. Her creations and articles have appeared in Patchwork and Quilting, Journal of the International Quilt Association, American Patchwork, Traditional Quiltworks and Quilting Today magazines. You can find her either teaching the "quintessential quilting stitch" in workshops or at her booth, Roxanne Products, from the East Coast to the West. She has been a featured artist at the International Quilt Festival & Market in Houston, Texas and was nominated for Teacher of the Year 2000 by The Professional Quilter, and has been the featured artist on Simply Quilts hosted by Alex Anderson. Didi is owner of Roxanne International, named for her mother and developer of her unique thimble.
Marti Michell
Betty Neff - Pennsylvania
Betty's design roots began with a creative childhood. She mastered the treadle machine by age 6, thanks to her mother, and has been sewing ever since nurturing a love of history and all things "older than her." Quilting since 1976, her teaching and quilting skills found a natural outlet with high school and middle school students making charity quilts during activity times of their daily schedules. Today, she teaches workshops, retreats and lectures throughout the East Coast and Canada. Betty is a student of 19th Century quilts and shares her experiences with others in a way that is highly motivational. Her workshops usually include historic and contemporary approaches to fabric selection and design. Recently she was featured in Quiltworks Today, March 2004, and the book Some of My Favorite Christmas Quilts (2005) contains two of her pieces. She has recently authored Quilts to Treasure which has eight full patterns of her original heirloom quilts. She and her husband own Pennsylvania Quilter, vending at several national shows yearly. The business carries her line of patterns and vintage sewing machiens. You can visit her company in our Merchants Mall.
Cindy Oravecz - Ohio
Cindy is the owner of the business, Quilter's Fancy, which can be visited in our merchants mall. Cindy is a writer by trade, but she has always found solace in working with her hands. She received her first sewing machine in junior high and partly attributes her love of sewing to a great home economics teacher. With the birth of her first child, Cindy began freelance writing and wrote her first sewing article. "Looking back on how sewing touched my childhood, I feel we must pass on our traditions of creating with our hands to our children. Any chance you get, teach a child the love of sewing." Today, Cindy enjoys teaching her three-dimensional flower making techniques and meeting stitchers from everywhere. For her, and others, sewing can be a mystical experience!
Sharon Schamber - Arizona
Sharon started her quilting just like most of us do, buying the wrong fabric, using the wrong batting, and using the wrong needles. With time, she learned to use what really worked for her, even though the product might not be known as the "right" one. She does not under any circumstances compromise her standards, however. She had to learn what a scant quarter and a fat quarter were. Translating all those unusual terms that we use so casually was the next step. The first year was just a spin of learning and creating a base for future quilts. The quilting her grandmother did in the 1960s was so different when compared to today. Sharon hopes the quilt world will be just as different for her grandchildren. When she first began, she had no idea that quilts were being machined quilted! She remembered only that quilts were all hand pieced and hand quilted. She remembers her Grandma Larsen counting the stitches per inch and ranting about being inconsistent, so she set out to find how many stitches per inch she needed to make her quilts "right." She asked the wrong person, and was told that it was rude to ask. This was the first indication that she should be a quilting teacher. The rest is history.
