Jennifer Houlden is a passionate textile artist whose quilting journey began in 2002 as a remedy for Yellowknife's harsh Arctic winters. She is known for her artistic play with bargellos quilts—you might instantly recognize her sunflower. Now working from her cottage studio in beautiful Muskoka, Ontario, Jen creates stunning art quilts that blend traditional and modern techniques. A former nurse turned full-time quilter, she's the creative force behind "Quilts by Jen." She teaches and lectures v...
Jul 08, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 215
Pat Pauly is a visionary in the world of fiber art, known for her bold, graphic compositions and rich, hand-printed fabrics. That might sound like a bold statement, but she plans out her quilts with imagination, innovation and wisdom. With a background in art and design, she seamlessly blends construction, painting, printmaking and stitching to create work that is both striking and deeply rooted in abstraction. Her pieces have been featured in major exhibitions worldwide, beginning with Quilt Na...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 214
My guest today is Mary Engelbreit. She has had an incredible art career spanning over 4 decades and she is an icon in the licensed artwork industry. Her work started with greeting cards and went on to be licensed on nearly 6500 products over the years with more than 1 billion dollars in lifetime sales. She was also editor-in-chief of the award-winning creative lifestyle magazine, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion for more than a decade. She is one of a select few artists with three New York Times...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 213
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) has grown from a modest display of a dozen quilts in 1975 to the world's largest outdoor quilt show, featuring over 1,300 quilts from artists around the globe. My guest today is Dawn Boyd, the Executive Director of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Oregon held annually on the second Saturday in July. The event attracts more than 10,000 visitors to the charming town of Sisters, Oregon, transforming its streets into a ...
Jun 17, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 212
My guest today is Sharon Holland. A mother of 3 with a B.A. in Art & Design. Sharon’s story goes from handcrafting dolls and seasonal crafts to a stint in magazine publishing and fabric design first for Paintbrush Studios and then now Art Gallery Fabrics. Starting as a library-book-taught quilter when rotary cutters were revolutionary new tools, she's evolved into a sought-after designer with a signature "modern-traditional" style. Her journey proves that formal training combined with hands-...
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 211
Sew Powerful a volunteer driven organization founded by Jason & Cinnamon Miles. They are a learning organization, driven by their faith, frugal in their practices, and they are focussed on combatting extreme poverty. They provide training and tools to create jobs which produce purposeful products including purses, school uniforms, reusable hygiene pads, soap and farm fresh food. What’s their mission? To promote and enable the academic success of children throughout Zambia, while providing th...
Jun 03, 2025•2 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 210
My guest today is Valori Wells - From darkroom photography at age 13 to earning a BFA in fine art, her journey has always followed inspiration. For the past 27 years, she has designed commercial fabric collections, authored quilting books, and led artist retreats in Bali and Morocco, where she teaches photography, block printing, and textile arts. As the second-generation owner of The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters Oregon, she’s carried forward a 50-year legacy of art, education, and community. Her w...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 209
My guest today is Amanda Oros the founder and host of Not Your Granny’s Quilt Show – A conversational, slightly chaotic podcast about quilting with lots of amazing guests! We did a podcast swap and had a really great conversation both times. You can find her interview with me right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKVY7Kt_Kzk The tables were turned, I was in the hot seat, and it was a lot of fun. Amanda has dropped over 140 episodes so be sure to listen in for all kinds of quilty fun. You c...
May 20, 2025•48 min•Season 1Ep. 208
My guest today is HollyAnne Knight – from making t-shirts quilts by order to an online quilting Academy and her new bricks and mortar quilt shop, Holly Anne Knight has come a long way. In person at the shop String and Story on Main, she offers beginner to intermediate quilting, bag-making, and garment sewing classes as well as supplies for a variety of projects. And online she guides you to quilt and stitch with confidence in her rockstar community where you can make friends and finish your own ...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 207
My guest today is Amber Elliot! Founder of Alderwood Studio, Amber is a Software Engineer turned fulltime Quilt Entrepreneur. She released her first book in 2022 and we’ll do a deep dive into her 2nd book today on the podcast! Amber is a modern quilter, pattern designer, educator and a fabric designer for Riley Blake which was a big tick off her bucket list and she is the founder of the Modern Makes membership. Her big ticket item – the thing she’s most known for – is her Pattern Writing Academy...
May 06, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 206
My guest today is Jane Sassaman . She is a world-renowned artist known for her expressive art quilts and fabric designs. Her bold, colourful, abstracted from nature quilts are instantly recognizable and her quilts have been shown in many national and international exhibits. She is the author of The Quilted Garden which featured 20 years of her work and Patchwork Sassaman Style which beautifully illustrates her fabric in action. And she also brings that joy to quilters and sewists worldwide with ...
Apr 29, 2025•59 min•Season 1Ep. 205
My guest today is Kimberly Einmo! She is an award-winning quilter, fabric designer, international instructor, quilt judge for over 20 years, and the National Spokesperson for Janome-America. She has written six best-selling books published by the American Quilter’s Society, created a signature line of precision quilting rulers, and she wrote a column called Stray Threads, in every issue of American Quilter Magazine for close to a decade. Kimberly is proud to be a featured artist for the Electric...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 204
My guest today is Judy Gauthier – a long time quilt shop owner doing all kinds of fun things! Step into her vibrant scrappy world in Wisconsin! Author, fabric designer, and owner of Bungalow Quilting, she transforms scraps into spectacular creations. With six books, national teaching tours, and TV appearances alongside quilting legends, Judy's creative magic continues to unfold through her AccuQuilt designs and upcoming projects!" Go to Judy's's website right here: https://www.bungalowquilting.c...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 203
My guest today is Sue Penn. She loves to sew and she’s been passionate about art and creativity since childhood. Encouraged by her grandmother, who generously supported her artistic development, she studied drawing and painting for years. In her early twenties, she discovered a deep love for sewing, quilting, and textile arts, which ultimately led to a career in fabric design spanning nearly 28 years. She’s known for her use of color designing Free Spirit Fabrics, beginning with bold and bright ...
Apr 08, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 202
My guest today is Becky Campbell of SewForever Quilting. She is known for creating Innovative Appliqué and English Paper Piecing Made Easy. Her quilting and sewing products make complicated, time-consuming techniques doable for the modern sewist. I took her EPP sticky papers on one of my England tours for my guests to play with on the coach as we travelled across the countryside of Wales and they loved the reusable self-stick templates. It was really fun and easy. On the podcast today we’ll talk...
Apr 01, 2025•53 min•Season 1Ep. 201
Today is like the color confidential episode of the Quilter on Fire podcast except its not confidential – we are going to spill the beans on color. My guest today uses colour as a principal element in her work, applied in layers, and created with the intention to surprise, evoke calming emotions and a sense of joy. Today I’ll have a chat with professional artist and designer Estè MaCleod. She is a professional artist and designer with a background in textile and surface design. Her art has hung ...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 200
My guest today is Kaye England who hits the road from her farm life to share her love of patchwork piecing techniques and her delightful philosophy of life! She has owned 3 quilt shops, two gift shops, and two tea rooms in her retail career and now resides on an 8 acre farm where she plays Mama to llamas and goats. She designs 2 collections of fabric per year, she’s written 15 books, and designed patterns and blocks of the month and more. She even has embroidery collections on many of her fabric...
Mar 18, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 199
My guest today is Julia McLeod – an international award-winning quilter. She specializes in making silk quilts, sourcing her fabrics from neckties, clothing and furnishing fabrics. She has been featured on the quiltshow.com in episode 2902 and she has an on-demand workshop called How to Use Silks in Your Quiltmaking. Julia’s new book, and first book actually, with C&T Publishing is Patchwork LUXE: Quilts from Neckties, Kimonos, and Sari Silks - I love that title – Patchwork LUXE sounds so lu...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 198
My guest today is Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry! She is internationally known for her award-winning fine-art quilts, which are easily recognized by their luminous colours and illusions of light, depth, and motion. Her attention to detail has earned her a reputation for fine craftsmanship and stunning designs. Her quilt, Corona 2: Solar Eclipse was voted one of the hundred best quilts of the 20th Century. Caryl's work has appeared in hundreds of exhibitions and publications throughout the world, and...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 197
Helen Robinson & Jenny Pedigo are sisters and co-owners of Sew Kind of Wonderful - a contemporary quilt pattern & specialty notions design company. THEY ARE KNOWN FOR, The Quick Curve Ruler which was the cornerstone of their "Urban Series" quilts, and they’ve designed a few more specialty rulers since then. They’ve published 8 books starting off with Contemporary Curved Quilts and we chat about them all in this episode. And they bring fresh and inspiring fabric designs to the world each ...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 196
Devida Bushrod is a quiltmaker and entrepreneur known for her love of pixel quilts. At PixelQuilts.com she offers ready made quilt patterns, teaches pixel quilting, and provides a brand new program where you can upload your photo and create your own custom pixel quilt. With hundreds of hours and thousands of pieces invested in each pixel quilt, Dee quilts with a purpose. Choosing people and subjects that truly inspire her, Dee has even made a quilt fit for the Queen. Find Dee Bushrod: Instagram:...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 35 min
It's the PRE QUILTCON Featured Speaker Episode with Tara Faughnan! I've got my QuiltCon socks on and I can't wait to share this interview with you. Tara is professional textile designer and quilter living and working in Oakland, CA. She is a quilter, teacher and pattern designer who loves to stretch her own skills and take her students right along with her. She is known for her simple bold geometry and gorgeous bright colours in her quilts and for pushing the boundaries of what works. Are you re...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Vicki Conley is an art quilter and surface pattern designer. She works in both abstract and representational and shares her love of the outdoors through her art. She is a juried artist member of SAQA and has shown her work in shows that have travelled the world. She has been featured on QATV and on thequiltshow.com. She is well known for her national park quilts but her creative journey didn’t start there. Today you’ll hear the story of an artist who’s had the best career possible from pottery t...
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 193
My guest today is Lori Miller! She is a quilter, pattern designer, and national quilt educator from Oxford, Michigan. With a career in IT software for 25 years you can imagine why she enjoys the design process and why one of her favourite tools is EQ8 Quilt Design software. She teaches EQ8 classes around the country and writes Lessons With Lori for the EQ blog. As an Accuquilt GO! Getter, she shares tutorials and patterns of her designs on the Accuquilt blog as well. Today's podcast is a great c...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 192
My guest today is Ana Buzzalino. Ana Buzzalino is a creator, maker, fibre and mixed media artist, surface designer, teacher and lecturer. Her love of layers and texture combine in her original work. Her work has won numerous awards at national and international shows. In 2019 Ana was honoured as Quilter of Distinction at Heritage Park 24th Annual Festival of Quilts. She has been featured in numerous magazines, TV Shows like thequiltshow.com, - too many to mention! But most notably - her work has...
Jan 21, 2025•2 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 191
Susan Madu of MODERN BLENDED QUILTS has been quilting for over 35 years alongside her career as a certified professional accountant. Her quilting journey has evolved from always following other people’s patterns to designing her own. For close to a decade Susan has been teaching and speaking for guilds in person and on Zoom including 3 different workshops at QuiltCanada in 2023. Grab a cup of tea with me and enjoy her story! Find Susan on Instagram: @modernblendedquilts Facebook: Modern Blended ...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 190
We’ve got the latest scoop on some BIG NEWS – if you haven’t heard - SOAK WASH INC. has acquired SEW FINE THREAD GLOSS and there is so much to talk about! It is such a great thing for both businesses and I can’t wait to unpack the story. Today I’ll have a chat with Jacqueline Sava of Soak Wash Inc. and Jenn McMillan, the creator of Sew Fine Thread Gloss. Find the Soak Wash website right here: https://soakwash.ca/ Shop Sew Fine Thread Gloss right here: https://soakwash.ca/collections/sew-fine-thr...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 189
Happy New Year 2025! I hope you find the time as this new year rolls in to cozy up with a cup of tea and take 2 full hours to listen to this wonderful episode. I enjoyed every minute of this conversation! Annie Unrein is an absolute sweetheart and I've wanted to have her on the show for years. Annie is well known in the bag making world with over 150+ incredible patterns, high quality bag making supplies and a few innovative product creations along the way. She has travelled the world to teach a...
Dec 31, 2024•2 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 188
Get ready to be inspired by the founder of CraftyMonkies! From a successful TV career that suddenly came to a halt to a thriving retreat and online event business bringing crafters together, this educational event planner has found her niche. I am looking forward to this episode with Rachel Pierman of Crafty Monkies! Crafty Monkies features live interactive Zoom classes, a monthly VIP club, on-demand videos and in-person retreats in the UK and the USA. Rachel connects teachers from around the wo...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 37 min
My guest today is Kate Colleran. She is a quilt pattern designer with Kate Colleran Designs and a fabric designer with Island Batiks, and she’s written 2 books! She first started Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs with Elizabeth Balderrama where she was the designer and Elizabeth did the pattern testing, consultations and was the shipping maven! Together they wrote their first book Smash Your Precut Stash with C&T Publishing. Today we’ll talk about how the business changed when her partner ret...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min