Introducing: Diane Henry

DIane has been zooming across the country for several years teaching for Handi Quilter. I think this quilt is stunning. . . now I want to go to the opera!

Artist’s Statement

“A Night at the Opera” was inspired by the crystal chandelier in the Opera House at The Kennedy Center. My husband and I have been attending the operas there and appreciating the chandelier for over 30 years! I’ve been wanting to use that inspiration for a quilt for years! This quilt is part of the Handi Quilter National Educator’s 2023 Black & White Challenge.

Zoom in to see the quilting. Designed with Pro-Stitcher Designer. Quilted with Pro-Stitcher Premium on my Handi Quilter Infinity.

Learn More About Diane

Diane Henry has been working with fabric since her grandmother taught her how to hand piece her first nine-patch block at age four. A blue ribbon winning hand quilter, she discovered machine quilting in the late 1990’s and has never looked back.

Diane loves sharing her passion for machine quilting with others around the world. She works with quilting groups and shops leading classes for beginners and advanced quilters and organizing workshops; conducts lectures, classes and demonstrations at quilt shows; and serves as the owner/moderator of the HQ Pro-Stitchers IO group, supporting Pro-Stitcher owners and Pro-Stitcher Designer users. 

A professional machine quilter since 2007, Diane purchased her first longarm, a HQ Sixteen® with Pro-Stitcher® in 2008. She now uses a HQ Infinity® with Pro-Stitcher, a HQ Forte® and a HQ Sweet Sixteen® to further expand her creative options.

Diane lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, Terry and dachshund, JJ.

Note: Diane has added a BRAND NEW PUPPY to the family named Hazel.

For more Black and White Challenge Quilts, CLICK HERE.

Introducing: Allison Spence

I met Allison at a training in 2021 and she and I were partners for a day so I got to know her pretty well. She is a fun lady and a fine quilter and teacher. She lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. . . I had to introduce her and I had to practice saying where she lives WAY too many times.

Artist’s Statement

I Saw Stars!

I approach each new project with a “what else can I do” attitude. I learn the rules and once I know what the rules are, I can then do my best to bend, stretch or break the rulers in a creative way. I try to take this into my quilting projects and teaching opportunities. Every project I work on or teach is a learning opportunity for me and for my students. I like to give my students a strong foundation so that they too, can stretch, bend and break the rules and create on their own with confidence. 

This started as a painful challenge as I broke my arm this summer dyeing the green fabric.  I tripped, hit my shoulder against the side of my house and saw stars!!!! Getting my arm working for the piecing and then the quilting with my Handi Quilter Amara and a selection of the Ring rulers was an extra challenge.

I found the Smooth Jazz pattern from Studio 180 Design and decided to use this new to me block for the stars.  The blocks needed extra fabric to put them on point.  I loved quilting these small mandalas and trying a wide variety of ways to show off the quilting with the contrast thread.

The top was quilted with Superior Fantastico #5054 and Superior Bottom Line #649 & #624 with Wonderfil DecoBob #122 in the bobbin. Hobbs Poly/Cotton and Polyester battings were used.

Allison Spence has a long association with crafting in the form of knitting, sewing and quilting. Her introduction to quilting was a tied quilt given to her newborn daughter by her sister-in-law over 30 years ago. Allison enjoys all areas of quilting but prefers simple piecing designs, so she can get to the quilting part!

After quilting many large quilts on a domestic sewing machine, Allison purchased a HQ Sweet Sixteen® stationary machine which was well used for many years. She now owns an HQ Avanté® and loves the freedom of quilting both smaller and larger projects with ease.

Allison has an education degree from the University of Manitoba and many years experience teaching aquatics. She began teaching sewing and quilting while working at a sewing machine dealer in Calgary, Alberta. She owned her own fabric store and sewing school. She now has a studio and classroom in her home and does customer quilts as well as longarm machine rentals and offers a variety of sewing and quilting classes.

Taking great pleasure in teaching the basic and intermediate skills in all areas of quilting, Allison encourages students to go further and see what they can do on their own. She especially loves to quilt and teach feathers!

Allison currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and has a very supportive husband. Her daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and grandson live near by.

CLICK HERE to see more black and white quilts!

Introducing: Nicholas Turcan

I got to meet Nicholas in January of 2022 and immediately liked how he asked questions and actually listened to the answers. He is very creative and we are all jealous of his hair.

Learn More About Nick

Nicholas Turcan is a multitalented and very creative individual. His journey into quilting began in 2012 with one quilt that quickly turned into several, which made him realize that he needed a better way to finish these quilt tops than a small, domestic-sized machine.

In 2014, Nicholas purchased the HQ Fusion® to help with this task. It didn’t take very long to realize that the creativity this machine unleashed from within him deserved to be shared. To further feed his quilting obsession, he took a part-time job at a local quilt shop, where his passion for fabrics, quilting, and designing patterns grew. He is now a talented longarm quilter who helps his clients enhance their quilts with his creativity. In 2020 after the pandemic struck and things shut down, he took a moment to decide what he wanted to do with his life and decided to become a full-time quilter! Taking the plunge and invest- ing in Pro-Stitcher® Premium allowed him to keep up with the overflow of quilts that started to pour in from every housebound quilter.

Early in 2021, Nicholas had the chance to lease a coveted studio on Granville Island and move into a much larger space, which has allowed him to set up a in-person classroom as well as create a small filming studio for virtual classes, trunk-shows, and video tutorials.

In addition to long-arm quilting for customers, he has started to teach free-motion quilting workshops, where students can learn the confidence and skills required to further their own quilting abilities.

To find out more information about Nicholas, please visit his website
http://www.mysterystitch.com and check out his YouTube channel Mystery Stitch Designs.

Introducing: Dee Maier

Dee is a LOT of fun but I don’t know how she gets any quilts done because she spends more time RVing than I do!!! She loves to travel and is an excellent quilter. You can tell from her quilt that she has a great sense of humor. She incorporated the movie theme from HQ Academy 2023 into her quilt.

Murder Mystery at the Cinema

I love murder mysteries as movies, television shows or books, so when the National Educators were
challenged to make a quilt for the 2023 Handi Quilter Academy whose theme was to be “Cinemacademy,” I immediately thought of the “who dunnits” I so enjoy. We were told we could use only black or grey and white, but could include a small amount of a third color, so, of course, I had to put some “blood” in the quilt. This is an original design, quilted with Sew Fine by Superior Threads and solid fabrics by Connecting
Threads.

Dee Maier Murder Mystery at the Cinema

Learn About Dee

Dee Maier’s interest in needle arts was inspired by a loving grandmother and aunt when they introduced her to crochet at a young age. Dee began sewing as a tween and moved on to counted cross stitch, crewel, needlepoint and knitting as a young adult. After several years, she progressed into quilting and has never looked back!

Her experience with longarm quilting machines began almost 15 years ago, when she and a dear friend opened a quilt shop. After carefully examining all the machine options on the market, they settled on Handi Quilter because of the company’s dedication to quality, support and education.

Dee began a custom quilting business soon after, but also taught others how to use her longarm to finish their quilts beautifully. She has been the proud owner over the years of a HQ Sixteen®, a HQ Sweet Sixteen®, and now a HQ Avanté® and HQ Amara®, both with Pro-Stitcher®. Ruler work is also dear to her, because of the beautiful work that can be achieved with the many specialized rulers now available.

With a lifelong love of teaching others, Dee wants to inspire others to discover the beauty they can create and share with family, friends and those in need of the emotional comfort quilts provide.

Dee lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and loves traveling to meet old friends and make new ones while sharing a passion for quilting!

CLICK HERE to see more quilts from the Black and White Challenge!