Fall Alaska

Seaside, CA • www.indigobluequilts.com
Quilting is in Jeanette’s DNA. Both her grandmother and mother were hand quilters. Jeanette still has a nine-patch quilt made by her grandmother that was given to her as the oldest grandchild. She cut pieces for her mother using scissors, which we all know was not fun. Fast forward to 2003 when she took a class and discovered the rotary cutter. In 2006, she discovered paper piecing.Jeanette loves the sharp points and precision of paper piecing and is CDO (OCD with the letters in the proper order, as they should be) about pieces lining up, so paper piecing had immediate appeal.

After retiring from a career in Human resources in 2013, Jeanette began teaching Judy Niemeyer’s patterns at a local quilt shop. Her passion is showing beginning students how easy Judy’s patterns are to read, how organized the patterns are, and how simple to finish if the steps are followed. Her biggest reward is the satisfaction of seeing amazing works of art from beginning students who said, “I could never do that” Jeanette’s second passion is travel. She has combined her love of quilting with her love of travel, and attends quilt festivals, shows and retreats around the country and around the world. Jeanette holds officer positions in several guilds. Her goal in life is to reduce the abundance of UFO’s multiplying in her studio.

Whidbey Island, WA • www.bluenickelstudios.com

Scott is the Mad Color Scientist at Blue Nickel Studios which he runs from his rural home in the Pacific Northwest, smack dab be-tween the Cascade Mountains and the suburbs of Seattle. He has been quilting for more than half of his life now, and doesn’t see fit to change that any time soon.

Mostly self-taught, Scott has found his bliss in the needle and cloth and the glorious combinations of color in this medium. He has designed and created quilts for many fabric manufacturing companies and has had many other quilt designs featured in many leading quilt magazines. He speaks and teaches locally and regionally, sharing his designs and color philosophies. He graduated from Washington State University with honors in English, but quilting and textiles have become his passion.

Throughout the years, Scott’s aesthetic has continued to evolve from very country, traditional roots into a more modern contemporary design into what he has dubbed under the Blue Nickel Label as “Urban Folk — Modern Design.”

In his spare time, he tries to maintain his sanity along with the house he built and acreage he thinks can still be the park he envisioned 20+ years ago. He is married to his wife of 25+ years, Linda, a talented mixed-media/doll-loving artist herself, and they have three young adult children, who give them all sorts of joy and challenges as they are stretching their wings leaving the nest.

He loves God, his family, trees, architecture, gardens, color, cats, vintage and modern textiles, art, pattern, meeting new people, design, Christmas, books, the color red, fashion history, his curly mustache (when it’s in season), and a great many other marvelous people, ideas, places, and things.

Bellevue, WA • https://fiberartistjourney.com/

Christina has been working professionally in sewing, quilting and textile artistry since she was 14 years old. She has exhibited her work extensively, both in the U.S. and internationally, winning numerous awards. She is a juried member of “Fiber Forum” the Art Embroidery small group of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America as well as a juried member of “S.E.W.” (Society of Embroidered Work), an international group which promotes embroidery as artwork.

She has earned a certificate in Advanced Experimental Stitch from the Gail Harker Center for Creative Arts and is currently finishing up her Degree in Research for Advanced Design. She was also a featured artist in Jane Dunnewold’s “Botanical Printmaking” book in 2019. An avid traveler and photographer, she frequently brings her photos into her quilts and fiber art pieces. Many of her travels include exploring the textile traditions and meeting contemporary textile artists in the areas she visits.

As a college professor teaching surface design, she has expertise enhancing fabrics including dyeing, painting, hand embroidery, machine embroidery, collage, beading, natural dyeing and printing, block printing and anything you can imagine to make the surface of fabric unique. Her hands-on individual mentoring style helps students develop their pieces to reflect themselves and their experiences. Christina is passionate about life-long learning, textiles, animals, and being part of a community of women who love to create!

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 Creative 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!