More of the 46 Quilters featured in America’s Pictorial Quilts:

Rhoda Cohen: Rhoda is still quilting and exhibiting on the east coast of the United States.  You can view her most recent work on her website.

Elaine Sparlin:  Elaine was such a talented quilter from Kansas who was widely known for her story quilts, but sadly she passed away in February of 2012.

Helen Kelley was inducted into the Quilter’s Hall of Fame on July 19, 2008, in Marion, IN.  Click on her name to see her speak after receiving her honor.  Helen’s information may be found on her site at http://www.helenkelley-patchworks.com/.  Helen passed away in September of 2008.

Steve Schutt was trained in the fine arts with a BA Degree in art education. For years he supplemented his teaching income making and selling quilts, woven baskets, intricately dyed Ukrainian eggs, detailed realistic gingerbread houses and performing and making puppets. He credits his maternal Grandmother for teaching him how to sew. Steve specializes in making teddy bears!

Linda Cantrell made her first quilt in 1977. She is a quilt show judge and teaches nationally.  I first fell in love with Linda’s quilts with her famous quilt “THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,”  You can see it on her website if you click here.

Ami Simms: You’re not a real quilter if you don’t know who Ami Simms is! Ami is the gal behind the Alzheimer Art Quilt Initiative, and my first quilting buddy from way back in the early 1980’s.  Ami lives in Michigan, where she continues to make quilts and teach both in her home studio and all over the world.

“Beebe’s Orchids,” by Caron Mosey

Made as an Alzheimer Art Quilt Initiative in honor of Beebe Moss, Ami’s mother,

who loved to grow the beautiful flowers in her home greenhouse.

Private collection.

Here are more of the 46 Quilters featured in America’s Pictorial Quilts:

Susan Turbak works at Earth Resources Laboratory and still quilts.  Her quilts have been exhibited all over the globe and one of them even traveled on the Challenger, during the 50th manned mission in space.

Joan Schulze works in mixed media and has been exhibited in numerous places.  Please visit her website to see all her work!

Victoria Faoro has written and served as an editor on numerous quilt books… see several of them listed here.  She was also the Founding Director of the Museum of the American Quilter’s Society.

Robbie O’Rourke is still active in designing pictorial quilts!  She served as the designer of the Newton commemorative quilt.

Mona Barker:  I couldn’t find very much about Mona on the Internet, but it does look like she was one of the contributors to the book Friendship Quilt by Golden Quilting Pattern Book 20 National Quilters.

Sarah Hass was an wonderfully accomplished quilter from the State of Iowa, a member of various art and quilting guilds, and won numerous awards for her quilting.  Sarah passed away on August 31, 2011. My sympathies go out to her family, and she will be greatly missed by the quilting community.

Dawn Rappold created a pretty quilt called  “LADY” 25.5 x 26.5″  in 1985. Beautifully hand-appliqued and hand-quilted.  I haven’t been able to locate anything more recent about her, however.  If you have any current information on Dawn, please leave a comment below.

Here are more of the 46 Quilters featured in America’s Pictorial Quilts:

Chris Wolf Edmonds: I have been a fan of her work for many, many years.  Chris, who lives in Kansas, has a resume that goes on and on and on.  Visit her website and gallery page, then click on photos of her quilts to see even MORE.  Wow!

Katie Pasquini Masopust:  Who doesn’t love Katie’s work?  I have watched her evolve over the years, and Katie is a very popular teacher.  From Santa Fe, New Mexico, Katie is both a painter and a quilter worth discovering. 

Monica Calvert: Monica was a part of Quilt Odyssey 2002.  Visit the website and watch a video with Monica to see what she’s done.

Roberta Horton: Roberta is both a traditional and contemporary quilter, author (C&T Publishing) and fabric designer.  Her work has been exhibited around the world, and she has taught in all but one of the United States. 

Erma Martin Yost: Erma is a very diverse artist, formally trained as a painter and now working in fiber (primarily felt).  Her work has been seen in many galleries around the country.  Plan to spend some time clicking around her website!  Gorgeous work!

Virginia Costa is from Los Banos, California.  I have found mention of her name in a few places, but discovered no website dedicated to her quilting.  If you know anything of her recent work, please let me know in the comment area below.

Anita Murphy:  You can read an older interview with Anita Murphy on the Alliance for American Quilts website. Anita was the author of a book on Mini Quilts and numerous other publications and patterns.  Sadly, Anita passed away in 2011 in Texas, her home state. 

**Note: clicking on a name will take you to a link elsewhere on the Internet for further exploration!

Stay tuned for more updates!

In 1985, America’s Pictorial Quilts was published by the American Quilter’s Society.

At that time, pictorial quilts hadn’t reached the heights that they have today.  Pictorial quilts were more along the lines of having a folk appearance, or at the beginning of the movement into the pictorial art quilt.  They were more primitive than today’s work, to be sure.

From time to time I think about all the quilters whose work was featured in APQ, and wonder where they are… and what they are doing today.  Let’s take a look.  Over the next several posts, I will do some online searching to discover who is still creating quilts today, in hopes of sending you on a journey to investigate on your own.  If you recognize a name below and know about the quilter, please respond in the comment area at the bottom of this post.

The 46 Quilters featured in America’s Pictorial Quilts:

Edward Larson:   Ed is a delightful character, still living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  His website may be found at http://edlarson.com.

Gwen Marston:  Gwen is living and working on Beaver Island, off the coast of Northern Michigan.  The author of numerous books, she is preparing for her final Beaver Island Quilt Retreat. http://www.gwenmarston.com/

Paula Nadelstern: Paula has created so many beautiful quilts it’s hard to keep track of them all.  Take a look at her website and visit her gallery.  Be prepared to be amazed!  http://www.paulanadelstern.com

Joe Cunningham:  Joe’s quilting has stretched from very traditional hand quilting to some awesome and unique contemporary quilts.  http://www.joethequilter.com/  Joe will be visiting the Evening Star Quilters in April of this year to give a workshop and lecture.  For information, visit https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Byjbje_Gc82EUDV2YzFjQXNUNEE for the registration form.

Judy Mathieson: Judy has done a lot with pictorial quilts through the years, and also is drawn to the Mariner’s Compass design.  Now living in Sebastopol, California, Judy still quilts, teaches and lectures.  http://www.judymathieson.com

Cathy Grafton:  From Illinois, Cathy owns Prairie Quilts and More.  She loves quilting and silk ribbon embroidery, and her website is a delight.  Please check it out at http://www.prairiequiltsandmore.com.

Lois K. Ide:   Lois passed away Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at the age of 90.   A dear, sweet woman, her obituary included the following: Lois was well known locally and nationally in the quilt world through her published writings in several books, as well as through her lectures and workshops.  Her quilts have been shown in several museums including the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and she has donated quilts to the Ohio Historical Museum in Columbus where they are still on display.  Following the publishing of America’s Pictorial Quilts, Lois sent four Christmas ornaments to me, which still hang on my Christmas tree every year. 

Judith Montano:Judith is a talented artist, and loves embroidery.  She has written several books, and her resume goes on and on.  See it for yourself on her website at http://www.judithbakermontano.com/.

Alice Schmude:  Alice created a beautiful quilt called “Michigan Wilderness.”  It is able to be seen on the Quilt index website here: http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=1E-3D-118  If you know where Alice is, please leave a comment below.

Stay tuned for more updates!