The Quilters’ Guild of Arlington meets on the second Tuesday of each month at:
Bob Duncan Community Center in Vandergriff Park
2800 South Center Street, Arlington, TX 76014
Workshops are typically held on the Wednesday following the Tuesday General Meeting.
Printable Workshop Registration Form
Online Workshop Registration
2023 Programs and Workshops
April 11 – LISA ERLANDSON – Northern Lady or Southern Belle?
Lisa Erlandson is a compulsive quilt collector, with an extensive collection of antique quilts, whose habit has led to several quilt-related specialties. She is an AQS Certified Appraiser of Quilted Textiles, lecturer, quilt show judge, teacher, and quilt historian. She also owns LeRetreat House in Gainesville, Texas.
She learned to sew as a child, re-discovered sewing in the mid-1980s as a drama teacher, and made her first quilt in 1991. She taught junior high school, high school and college before deciding to focus on the quilt world.
She has spoken internationally and teaches and lectures at venues from small local guilds to national quilt shows. She also judges quilt shows ranging from county fairs to statewide shows. She is a past president of the American Quilt Study Group.
In her lecture, she will explain that here was more than just the Mason-Dixon Line that divided the North and South. This program compares and contrasts quilts from the 19th century in design, style, and fabric to examine the regional differences of our quilting ancestors.
May 9 – LINZEE KULL McCRAY – The History of Feed Sacks
Linzee Kull McCray has been an art teacher, a bartender, and a book publicist; she has taught childbirth education to expectant parents and magazine writing to journalism undergrads. As her checkered background indicates, she’s got the perfect writer’s temperament: she’s curious about everything.
And curiosity has led her to pursue other unexpected opportunities—to curate museum exhibitions, give talks and teach workshops at libraries, quilt guilds, and textile research centers in the U.S and Europe, and design feed-sack inspired fabrics for Moda and patterns for Clark Street Quilts.
People’s stories and the opportunity to share them get her up in the morning and keep her up far into the night. She is constantly inspired by the art, textiles, and crafts she encounters through her writing, and the people she meets through her work.
Long before “sustainability” was a household word, people reused the fabric bags that once held everything from animal feed and seed, to sugar and flour, to ballots, hams, and even laxatives. Based on her book Feed Sacks: The Colourful History of a Frugal Fabric, her lecture will share both the beauty of feed sacks and their importance in the social and economic history of the times in which they were made and used. The lecture features historic photos, vintage advertising, and fabric patterns, as well as actual sacks and the clothing, quilts, and other items made from them.
May 10 – WORKSHOP – String Piecing
Signs of String Quilt
Quilters of the feed sack era embraced string piecing as a way to use up every last fabric scrap. But it also offers countless design opportunities, which we’ll explore through images of vintage and modern string-pieced quilts. Then you’ll use your own scraps to create quilt blocks on a paper foundation. There’s no right or wrong way to string piece, so this technique is great for freeing quilters from worries about perfect points or fabrics that match exactly. Four blocks will make a striking pillow or keep going and you’ll soon have enough for an entire quilt.
Workshop attendees may purchase and use this pattern, but it is not required for the workshop.
Link to Signs of String pattern and pattern requirements.
June 13 – Christina Cameli – Lecture
Christina Cameli has been sewing since she was a child. In 2003, she fell in love with quilting. Since then, she has authored five quilting books, filmed multiple online classes and designed quilt patterns and fabric. But she is also a nurse-midwife, a mom and a paddle boarder. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her blended family, their rescue lab mix, and a ton of houseplants. Quilting is where she puts herself back together. She loves teaching and creating and sharing the incredible journey of being human.
June 14 – WORKSHOP – How to Love Free-Motion Quilting
This is a lighthearted look at free-motion quilting and how to have a great relationship with it!
July 11 – Ronald McDonald Quilt Challenge and Past QGOA Presidents Quilt Trunk Show
August 8 – MARGARET WILLINGHAM – Reverse Applique: Revealing Beauty
What is reverse appliqué? What is the difference between appliqué and reverse appliqué? When was it developed and by who? How do you quilt reverse appliqué? What is hidden will be revealed!
August 9 – WORKSHOP – Reverse Applique is Fun
Be empowered with Margaret’s fun and easy four step method by hand or machine.
September 12 – DEBBY MADDY – Indigo Shibori Dyeing from Itajime, Arashi, Nui, Kumo, and Beyond
In her combination slide presentation and trunk show, Debby will explain the concept of Shibori and show examples of many of the different techniques. The slide presentation will illustrate Debby’s Shibori experiences in Japan, England, and the US, where she has done extensive studies. She will also show a
collection of hand dyed fabrics and quilts made from Shibori fabrics.
October 10 – TERESA DURYEA WONG – The Calling of Quilt Collectors (via ZOOM)
November 14 – SALLY BROWN – Dear Jane Trunk Show
December 12 – Guild Members Trunk Show of Christmas and Winter Quilts
2024 Programs and Workshops
April 9 – SHANNON SHIRLEY – An Eclectic Mix
Quilts of all styles, including quilts inspired by children’s artwork, quilts incorporating vintage needlework, art quilts, traditional and creative quilts labels . . . there is sure to be something to interest everyone! Shannon began quilting in 1989 and will share some of the lessons she has learned along the way. She started as a mainly self-taught quilter, machine piecer, and hand lap quilter. Over the years, she started taking technique classes to understand how quilters were creating the wonderful art quilts she was seeing at shows. She has always been eclectic in other areas of her life, and quilting is no different. She now uses any technique from her toolbox to achieve the end result . . . a beautiful, unique quilt.
April 10 – WORKSHOP – Mitered Facings