Name: Kathryn Van Bourgondien

Member of CVAMQG since:  The beginning, I found the group that would become CVAMQG just after I had moved back to Richmond in 2015 as the group was talking about becoming a guild. I joined a meeting at Quilting Adventures and have stuck around ever since. I reconnected  with someone from college in the guild that night as well! Hi Ana

How long have you been quilting?  I learned how to quilt when I was around 12, about 29 or 30ish years ago. I helped my dad hand piece and quilt a baby quilt for one of my cousins. I spent quite a bit of time sewing as a kid. I was a volunteer junior interpreter in  Colonial Williamsburg ( costume, speeches, shoes with buckles and all) part of that program was lead by some wonderful women who had a sewing program. We would gather and sew together in traditional 18th century style while people toured the house I volunteered in. I learned how to sew a marking stitch sampler, design and stitch a pocket using crewel embroidery and  made a bargello embroidered pin cushion.   Then I went to VCUarts and  graduated with a BFA in Craft and Material Studies with an emphasis on Fibers and spent the majority of my college career  in the fibers studio quilting, printing, felting, weaving( not my favorite)  and dying all day everyday.

What is your favorite quilting tool?

 My hands, they are the best tool for any job, they can fix things that break, manipulate anything   into shape and I never forget them. After that it would probably be a leather coin thimble and milliners needles. 

What are your favorite fabric lines and substrates? Do you prefer prints or solids?   I genuinely don’t have a favorite of any kind, I will use just about anything and don’t prefer one thing over another. Except Brown fabrics, and neutrals. I just don’t gravitate towards them.

Favorite and least favorite parts of the quilting process:

Depending  on the day you will get a different answer, tomorrow  it might be totally different than today. So sometimes the answer is….

         Favorite part: all of it 

         Least favorite part: all of it

Why do you quilt?

Because I love it and I think if you love something you should do it. There is something magical about being able to express your thoughts, ideas and feelings in a way that is accessible to everyone.  

Creating is  an incredible healing practice for me, for both my mental and physical health. The act of creating things  has helped me through a concussion, severe anxiety, a lung infection, more foot injuries than I’d like to count  and a significant trauma. My creative process is an outlet, a medicine  and  as necessary as air for me.  Continuing that practice has made a significant difference in every part of my life. Without a creative practice I am not myself. 

Where do you find inspiration? Absolutely everywhere. If you look at something for long enough you can find beauty, intrigue and a story, you just have to be willing to wait to see it.

Quilters who inspire you:

Well this could be an incredibly long list. Right now in this moment…… 

     Heidi Parkes, Rebeka Lambert, Tessa Layzelle, Russell James Barratt, Jo Avery, Lindlee Smith and Rachel Troutman

What is your favorite guilty pleasure while quilting?

Being alone, listening to an audio book and having quiet because all my energy is going into getting by the ideas and thoughts out and into fabric. I am ultimately an introvert. I love to be around people but know my limits and time alone  creating  recharges my social battery. It also makes everything go quiet so I can actually hear and listen to the book I’m listening to!

Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us:

When I hiccup it sometimes sounds like a pterodactyl. 

Name: Ana Conceicao

Member of CVAMQG since: 2015; since the guild began.

How long have you been quilting? I began quilting around 2009.

What is your favorite quilting tool? My hands; without them it would be complicated.

What are your favorite fabric lines and substrates? Do you prefer prints or solids?  I love fabric in general, it is probably one of the main reasons that I began quilting. Textiles have always drawn me in. I love prints and solids, I love to use fabrics other than cotton, sometimes linen or silk.

What is your favorite color combination? Blue, a tiny bit of yarrow, white, a hint of metallic and orange. Or black and white.

Favorite and least favorite parts of the quilting process: I don’t really have a least favorite part of the process, I like to do different things at different times. Often when I get restless with something I am working on, I change to something else and that gets me excited about the process again. Starting a quilt is the hardest part of the process for me, I don’t hate it though; it just challenges my brain in a different way.

Why do you quilt? I quilt because it is a way to work out feelings, thoughts and ideas. Quilting is one of the many forms of textiles that I have worked with that fulfills my OCD tendencies in a productive manner.

Where do you find inspiration? Nature, life, experience, travel, books.

Quilters who inspire you: Carolyn Friedlander, Heidi Parkes, Denyse Schmidt, Bisa Butler. I am also inspired by every single “anonymous” quilter that came before me. We owe a lot to them.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure while quilting? Listening to books or podcasts.

Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us:

I have a BFA in craft and material studies with an emphasis in textiles, and the whole time I was in college I said I would never make a “utilitarian” object. Some 20 years later here we are, and I love beautiful, thoughtful and utilitarian objects. Making them and using them.

Most of my quilts still are not bed sized but they are often throw sized, making them utilitarian. Irony.

Name: Megan Martin

Member of CVAMQG since: 2017 to the present, plus Treasurer 2021, 2022, 2023

How long have you been quilting? 34 years

What is your favorite quilting tool? My Gammill Statler longarm

What are your favorite fabric lines and substrates?  Paint Brush, Kaffe Fassett and solids by Michael Miller.

Do you prefer prints or solids? Both! There is a place for each in my studio.

What is your favorite color combination? Turquoise, fuchsia, and lime green (I like bright colors)

Favorite and least favorite parts of the quilting process: favorite: playing with color and creating the pallet for the quilt; least: ripping when it doesn’t work.

Why do you quilt? I love fabric, color, and texture. The creative process has always focused me. I started out making clothes for myself when I was 10 years old. Then when I grew older and my size kept changing, I found making quilts was much more rewarding.  I could focus on the design and fabric, not as much the fit. It is art to me.

Where do you find inspiration? In nature, architecture, classes, workshops, and magazines and sometimes in my dreams and imagination.

Quilters who inspire you: Deborah Boschert, Angela Walters, my quilting friends

What is your favorite guilty pleasure while quilting? Sometimes I watch movies if I’m doing repetitive work, otherwise, I love silence so my imagination can come through.

Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us: My first international trip was to Easter Island in the South Pacific. We have a friend who is native to the island and we spent a week with her. We visited all the incredible Moi statues, experienced Tapati week, where the locals competed in athletics, dancing, singing, and craft making. Incredible journey!

2019 Cactus Collage-Laura Heine design

2021 Solid Creativity-Maria Shell Class

2022 Snow Crystals

2022 Towards the Sun

2023 MQS Mystery Quilt-My Birthday Quilt

2023 Scrap Quilt Challenge

2023 Sedona

Peacock-Violet Craft design

So Well Remembered

Wheels with Traction

Name: Wanda Ann Dotson

Member of CVAMQG since: 2015

How long have you been quilting? Twenty-nine years

What is your favorite quilting tool? ?  I love hand quilting, and I couldn’t quilt without my metal thimble.

What are your favorite fabric lines and substrates? Do you prefer prints or solids? I love solids, and I have recently fell in love with PURE Solids by Art Gallery Fabrics.  For applique, I like Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture.

What is your favorite color combination? ?  I recently used Play Crafts’ Palette Tools, designed by Ann Sullivan  (Tools – Play Crafts (play-crafts.com) to discover colors in a design I’m thinking about making.  I designed it in Procreate.  I used six of the colors from the Modern Quilt Guild’s February Color Palette.  It represents colors from the Best in Show quilts over the last nine years of QuiltCon.

Favorite and least favorite parts of the quilting process: I love the design process and the process of making.  I get anxious to finish a quilt and sometimes the tediousness of a design will frustrate me.  I take lots of breaks so that I don’t give up.

Why do you quilt? Through the years, I’ve used quilting to express myself and work through problems.  I enjoy how designing and quilting convey how I am feeling.  It’s a creative outlet.  I also quilt to share with others, and it gives me a community of people to interact with and love.

Where do you find inspiration? I pay attention to what I’m doing at any one moment.  I have a folder called Design a Day on Procreate.  Currently I’m using the game Wordle as a prompt for a design each day.  Today the Wordle word was Moose.  Because Moose are basically neutral, I tinkered with the idea of a really bright-colored moose. 

Quilters who inspire you: .  I was star struck when I met Chawne Kimber at A Gathering of Stitches “quilt camp” in Maine.  She was a generous teacher, and after spending an extensive time with her, I now call her a friend. My first love was Gwen Marston and her Liberated Quiltmaking book.  I found her through a quilting group called Liberated Quilters which used to meet at Blue Crab Quilt Co.   At the same time, I also fell for Carolyn Friedlander.  Her approach to designing and making inspires me.  I have used her book, Savor Each Stitch, to make a series of quilts.  I look forward to her weekly newsletters.  I have said that when I grow up I want to be Carson Converse.  I love her commitment to minimalist quilts, and the texture in her work is phenomenal.  In that same vein, Heather Jones’s work probably aligns more with my own voice.  The last few years, I’ve gotten to know Irene Roderick through her Dancing with the Wall and Finding Your Voice workshops.  Her artistic viewpoint informs how I look at my work.   Shelia Frampton Cooper’s work inspires me to use color and improv in new ways.  I’m addicted to Instagram and I let all those images from amazing quilters influence me—perhaps a little too much!

What is your favorite guilty pleasure while quilting? When I hand quilt, I “watch” television.  It’s background noise mostly, and unfortunately, I can’t read the subtitles of my favorite Scandinavian murder mysteries.

Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us: This is a hard one for me.  For my family, it would be no surprise to learn that I can’t make biscuits and gravy.  It’s a talent I don’t have.  I’m really good at making pumpkin muffins using a box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake.  Also, it would be no surprise to my husband that I can’t read a map and have no sense of direction.  It would be no surprise to my brother that I can’t sing a lullaby.  It would be no surprise to my sister that I can’t organize a family vacation.  It would be no surprise to my daughter that I’m annoyingly loud at public events.  I embarrass her sometimes. 

On the design wall: I’m working on the Pantone Color of the Year, Viva Magenta, Quilt Challenge, hosted by Elizabeth Ray and Sarah Ruiz.  I’m using all scraps.

Light Coming Home quilt

Light Coming Home quilt detail

Name:  Kelly Feltault

Member of CVAMQG since: 2015? Since the beginning

How long have you been quilting? Since 1994

What is your favorite quilting tool? My saddle chair–keeps my back straight while quilting and cuts down on shoulder/neck pain

What are your favorite fabric lines and substrates? This changes a lot; but if I’m looking for a solid I like Michael Miller’s cotton couture and quilting linen; love the bamboo and recycled plastic bottle battings from Quilters Dream

Do you prefer prints or solids? Depends on the project

What is your favorite color combination? I have an entire Pinterest board of color combos, I tend to start projects by looking at those.

Favorite and least favorite parts of the quilting process: least fave: binding; favorite part: picking out the color combo and finding fabrics to match

Why do you quilt? It is part of my creative arts practice along with collage and monoprinting. There is a lot of research out there on how a creative practice supports well-being, and this is one of the main reasons I quilt. 

Where do you find inspiration? Everywhere!

Quilters who inspire you: I am including other artists here Sherri Lynn Wood, Jane Davies, Sarah Golden, John Vitale, Joe the Quilter, Rebecca Sower, Rebecca Chapman, Jennifer Candon

What is your favorite guilty pleasure while quilting? Listening to the podcast “Shagged, Married, Annoyed” when piecing or designing; and jamming out to Christmas songs or classical music while machine quilting

Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us: I speak Thai and Hungarian because I lived in both places.