2023 Instructors
Heather Blokzyl
Teaching: Barn Quilts
Heather Blokzyl is the owner of Flying Fox Barn Quilts from Towanda, PA. She creates one of a kind hand painted barn quilts for interior and exterior decorating.
Cindy Claycamp
Teaching: Drunkards Path
Cindy Claycamp, from Seymour, Indiana, has been quilting for over 40 years. She has been a certified AQS Quilt Appraiser since 2003. Cindy has a business called Quilting Memories. She buys and sells antique quilts, vintage fabrics, linens and other sewing ephemera. Besides attending both local and national quilt shows, Cindy lectures, teaches quilting to adults and children, and judges quilts at guilds, and both Indiana and Kentucky State Fairs. Most recently Cindy has published her first book, Quilts Reflecting the Poetry of James Whitcomb Riley.
Karen Comstock
Teaching: Hand Applique
Karen Comstock is a quilt designer who lives in Cary, NC. After years of perfecting her patterns with students, Karen officially launched her company, Quiltricks, in 2005. She has produced award-winning quilts, five dozen patterns, and traveled from Florida to Oregon exhibiting her work. Her designs have appeared in American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine, 100 Blocks From Today's Top Designers and McCalls quilting among others. She is, as her husband likes to say, a calendar girl; her Ohio Cabin quilt was featured as the full-page January illustration of the Better Homes and Garden Quilting Calendar 2003. "Patterns," a national exhibit devoted exclusively to her work, was on display at The National Humanities Center in North Carolina. One of the co-founders of the BeeFF's bee in Cary, she hosts meetings, amateur work days and group retreats in her home. Known as a caring instructor with a warm sense of humor, she is eager to share her love of the craft with quilters of every level.
Barbara Dann
Teaching: Fun Poinsettia Runner, Wedge Star Block, Snail Trail Block, Shaded Four Patch, Geese on the Edge and Ric Rac Quilts
Barbara began her quilting career as a longarm machine quilter on July 1, 2000. For 10 years she quilted clients’ quilts and only made a few simple quilts for herself. She started vending at most of the major quilt shows on the east coast and mid-west representing a fabric cutting system. At one of those shows her booth was next to Jeff and Deb Tuckers’ (Studio 180 Design) and they became fast friends! Deb and Jeff introduced Barbara to the two tools they were demonstrating – the Wing Clipper and the Hunter’s Star. It wasn’t love at first sight. You see, Barbara was (and still is) a very talented machine quilter but wasn’t much of a piecer – she mostly found it difficult and frustrating.
Having the right tools changed everything! Barbara began making quilts she never thought possible – Hunter’s Stars, Flying Geese, Lemoyne Stars – and the list goes on and on. She began working at the quilt shows as part of the Studio 180 Design team. And what she enjoyed most was teaching quilters how to use the tools and share all the other quilting hints and tips she learned.
Barbara has been teaching at guilds, shops, retreats and quilt shows for over 10 years. Her teaching style is relaxed, informative and fun! She enjoys teaching quilters of all skill levels and shares many tips and ideas that make piecing easier, faster and more accurate.
Kelly Davis
Teaching: Hunter's Star, Pineapple Block, Peaky and Spike Blocks
Kelly is the owner of Hoppin Bobbin. Hoppin Bobbin operated in Aberdeen, MD for 9 years as a Brick and Mortar store and was featured as a Top Ten Shop in Quilt Sampler Magazine in 2016. Over the years Kelly has taught many quilting classes, taught at Schoolhouse at International Quilt Market, spoken at Guilds and enjoys sharing her knowledge with the Quilting Community. She jokingly calls herself a “Pressing Maniac” and a “Grainline Geek” but anyone that has taken one of her classes will let you know the importance of those characteristics. While Kelly closed the Brick and Mortar store in September of 2019 to have more time to spend with her family, she continues to Longarm Quilt for her customers and designs her original patterns out of a home based Quilting Studio located in Quarryville, PA. You can find Kelly vending at Local and National Shows, Teaching at Shows and Local Quilt Shops or schedule an appointment to visit. To view Kelly’s schedule, contact information and products on her website, visit www.hoppinbobbin.com or follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Hoppin-Bobbin.
Denise Delp
Teaching: Basic Machine Quilting, Machine Quilting Feathers
Denise Delp opened In Stitches Quilt Shop in Sept. of 2007 and has taught many classes on a variety of subjects. Denise has been a long armer for 12 years now and specializes in pantographs and custom quilting. She started with making fleece blankets and selling them at craft shows many years ago as a self taught quilter (at least in the beginning!). Denise believes in extending your education with quilting and "stepping out of your comfort zone" to grow as a quilter and sewer. That is the only way to become a more confident quilter and to have a variety of skills available to you.
Andrea Hoke
Teaching: The Holland Pouch
Andrea has been sewing ever since she was a little girl. Fortunate to have a mother who was a Home Economics teacher, she learned to sew and do needlework at a very young age. She grew up sewing her own clothes, participating in 4-H club, and entering her creations in the local county fair.
A Sampler Quilt class in 1991 awakened Andrea’s love of quilting, and she has been stitching quilts ever since. She enjoys all forms of quilting, including hand and machine piecing, appliqué, and hand and machine quilting. She has entered her quilts in the Elizabethtown Fair almost every year for the past 25 years.
“Modern Traditionalist” best describes Andrea’s style. She loves all things vintage, which is reflected in her work. The exploding online quilting community has only fueled her passion for quilting, and as a result, she has “more quilts in her brain than she will be ever be able to stitch in this lifetime!” Andrea enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience and delights in introducing sewing and quilting to others.
Andrea lives in Elizabethtown, PA and also enjoys cooking, gardening and blogging
Kathy Farra
Teaching: Love Your Featherweight
Kathy Farra from Harmony, PA- aka Machine Lady, LLC is dedicated to preserving sewing history by helping people use their Singer 221 Featherweight sewing machines effectively. We are a full service repair shop and we attend several quilt shows each year. At quilt shows our focus is on selling Featherweights and accessories including: power cords, bobbins, walking feet, ¼” feet, books, oil, motor lubrication, and other parts. We also bring other vintage Singer machines for sale. Please stop by our booth and test drive our machines to find the machine that fits your needs. We also have some hand crafted items for your Featherweight machines, including custom made Featherweight tables and other unique accessories.
Tara Kordich
Teaching: Collage Technique
Tara Kordich, owner of Amelia’s Garden, was born and raised in upstate New York and began quilting when she moved back home from Boston, MA over 10 years ago. She searched for local quilt classes, which then led to starting her own custom made to order bags at local home parties. She quickly learned that what she really loved was helping customers choose and coordinate their fabrics and colors while designing her own patterns. From there she started vending at various quilt shows in the Northeast. Just 5 years ago she decided she needed a new adventure and wanted to bring her love of fabric and colors to a brick and mortar shop to Delmar, NY where she could share love and build a local community of quilters who share the same love. She passionate about teaching others the love craft and assisting them creating their next wonderful creation. She’s drawn to modern traditionalism that favors bright modern fabrics.
Susan Sato
Teaching: Sashiko Stitching
Second-generation Japanese American, Susan has been sewing since age 14. While going through an old trunk at her mother's home about thirteen years ago, Susan found her grandfather's kimono and obi with his kamon, the family crest, on it. She knew then that sewing in the traditional Japanese style was the path she wanted to follow for her quilting inspiration. Susan started quilting with Japanese fabrics, incorporating the sashiko form of hand sewing. When her own work inspired her to teach, she began with basic quilting classes in sashiko, shibori dyeing, and then branched out to Japanese free-form design classes.
Susan's quilts have appeared in QUILTS AROUND THE WORLD by Spike Gillespie and PIECED SYMBOLS, Quilt Blocks from the Global Village by Myrah Brown Green. Sato was choosen as a Featured Teacher on The City Quilter's website in New York City and Quilter of the Month in the Quilters' Guild of Brooklyn's Newsletter. A member of the Empire Quilters and past co-president of The Quilters' Guild of Brooklyn, her work has been featured in exhibits throughout the Northeast. She teaches quilting at shops in New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey, and at quilting guilds around the area.
Lugene Shaver
Teaching: Pieced and Frayed Technique
Lugene Shaver is the owner of The Quilt Peddler in Johnstown, PA. She is a fourth generation quilter. When she was 8 years old, her great grandmother taught her her quilting techniques. Lugene taught Family and Consumer Sciences for 33 years. For the last twelve years since then, she has developed patterns and kits for the pieced and frayed method.
Patricia Simons
Teaching: Template Mania, Do It Yourself Designs...Really!
Patricia represents Quilter’s Rule. When Quilter's Rule created the Design Tools line, Patricia developed a knack for designing different quilting patterns. Her signature class “Unlock Your Creativity (The Key is Templates)” has opened a whole new world to people who are not naturally artists. Her techniques are applicable to all quilters regardless of whether you hand quilt, use a home machine, a short-arm, a mid-arm, or a long-arm machine. These techniques can even be used in a variety of different crafts. In addition to using templates to create designs, she also helps create new products. She looks forward to sharing her techniques to help you develop your own style and look.
Maria Tamaoka
Teaching: "English Paper Piecing" With Hungarian Templates
Maria started her quilt shop, Pinwheels in 1991. Since then, she has been recognized as the “Taupe Lady” specializing in Daiwebo Taupe fabric. Her kits, patterns and projects incorporate many unique materials and techniques, which Maria finds throughout her travels in Japan and Europe.
Holice Turnbow
Teaching: Designing a Wholecloth, Rainbow Dahlia
Holice Turnbow is a Quilt Judge and Teacher certified by the National Quilting Association. His quilting career began in the early 70’s. He also served on the planning committee for the First Continental Quilting Congress held in Arlington, Virginia in 1978. These two events resulted in invitations to lecture and teach at quilting events across the United States and in Canada.
Holice Turnbow lectures and conducts workshops in many quilting techniques with emphasis on those subjects related to the development and use of quilting designs. This is an outgrowth of his work with The Stencil Company, for which he designs quilting stencils, and with two companies for which I have designed whole cloth quilts.
He has written for various quilting magazines and appeared on public television.
Holice has also designed and made garments for two invitational exhibits and has designed and made quilted items for various other special exhibits and quilt challenges including the exhibit “Men of Biblical Proportions.”
Cathleen Koons Wiggs
Teaching: Machine Applique Plaque
Cathleen Wiggs, a retired U.S. Marine and published author, is active in the folk art of quilting and presents her creations through her reenactment performances. Wiggs travels across the country to share America's unique history of quilts and the stories they tell.
Jennifer Worthen
Teaching: Half Square Triangle Basics, Hand Binding
Jennifer Worthen is the owner of Slightly Biased Quilts, established in 2020. She has been quilting since 2009 and truly loves bright, fun fabrics that can be brought to life with a simple pattern!
She is a member of the DC Modern Quilt Guild, and has a PhD in Computational Science, Engineering, and Mathematics. Jennifer really enjoys quilt math and putting together patterns that are both fun and easy to assemble. The fabrics and color palettes help bring a modern twist to typically traditional quilt blocks. She has recently started designing quilts for magazines, along with teaching quilt classes and lectures. Jennifer really enjoys vending at quilt shows and meeting quilters! She is a Texas transplant currently located in Gambrills, MD