Quilting Instructors
You have an outstanding opportunity to spend 14 days with 2 extraordinary teachers aboard Holland America Line’s Noordam. These fantastic two were chosen because they are exceptional instructors who are friendly, fun-loving and warm. Both are internationally known for the books they have published and their exceptional teaching skills.
Gyleen X. Fitzgerald
Instructor: New Zealand Adventure Cruise 2024
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.
Kathy McNeil
Instructor: New Zealand Adventure Cruise 2024
Kathy McNeil is an internationally award-winning quilt artist, teacher, author, and judge. Hand appliqueing thousands of little scraps of fabric together by hand, she creates quilts that look like paintings. These wall hangings are inherently and symbolically full of love and comfort. Often using over a hundred different fabrics in one composition, she revels in adding small details and surprises for the viewers to find. The quilting itself adds an additional element of texture to her work. Her award-winning quilts are featured in museums, magazines, calendars, and international shows. Her quilts are in private and corporate collections.