Quilting Instructors
You have an outstanding opportunity to spend 7 days with 2 extraordinary teachers aboard Holland America Line’s Westerdam. This fantastic group was chosen because they are all exceptional instructors who are friendly, fun-loving and warm. All are internationally known for the books they have published and their exceptional teaching skills.
Chardel Blaine
Instructor: Alaska Adventure 2023
Woodinville, WA • www.flyinggoatstudio.com
Chardel Blaine is an award-winning quilter, beader and metalsmith whose work has been juried into numerous Pacific Northwest events. Nationally, her work has been juried and displayed at the Nassau County Museum of Art Craft and Fine Arts Fair (Roslyn Harbor NY), produced by the American Concern for Art and Craftsmanship; Uncommon Threads Art-to-Wear Show, Fine Line Cre-ative Arts Center (St. Charles, IL); and in “Multiplicities: New Directions in Fiber”, IMAGO Foundation for the Arts, IMAGO Gallery (Warren, RI).
Blessed with parents who valued creative and independent thinking, there was always some sort of creative experience around the house. Most were done at the kitchen table or in the basement workshop with supplies that Mom and Dad brought in with care and sacrifice. Chardel’s mother and grandmother taught her to sew, and her father taught her to saw a shape and pound a nail. Her favorite projects involved designing components that fit, then measuring twice and cutting once to ensure that they did. She has learned how color, texture and unique materials embrace the “what-ifs” and happy accidents that occur when one has backed into an artistic corner and must find a creative means of escape.
Chardel managed and taught at a local quilt shop and bead store for 15 years, exposing her to the latest techniques and materials and feeding the creative beast. Fiber art and jewelry, often combining the two, became Flying Goat Studio where she shares her work. And as editor of Create Whimsy, she shares the stories of renowned artists and makers who inspire creatives to get their hands busy every day. Needle and thread consistently bring her joy. She still gets a rush when she turns on a power tool – and that includes a sewing machine!
Gyleen X. Fitzgerald
Instructor: Alaska Adventure 2023
Baltimore, MD • www.colourfulstitches.com
Gyleen was born in Philadelphia, PA but grew up in Taiwan and Japan. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering at Drexel University and opened Colourful Stitches in 1999.
Those formative years in the Far East developed her love for simplistic artistry. She began needlework at the very young age of four and has since pursued artistic expression in drawing and quilt making. Her quilts blend colour, pattern and texture to provide a contemporary essence to traditional quilting.
Her strength as a quilter is demonstrated by the infusion of engineering tools and techniques to simplify visually complex quilts. Her written works center around Haiku poetry, Quilt project books, patterns and magazine articles and of course the crème de la crème, children’s books.
As an artist, she has achieved “Best of Show” recognition; as a writer and publisher, she has achieved award winning status with Quilts: Unfinished Stories with New Endings. Gyleen has appeared on The Quilt Show and Lifetime TV promoting finishing antique quilts and the new spirit of traditional quilting. For Gyleen, quilting is the passion which colours her world as her writing journey continues.