Get to know each of the instructors for the upcoming Iowa Quilt Festival taking place May 31 – June 3 in Winterset, IA.
Purchase your Saturday, June 3 Airing of the Quilts Tickets now for $20.
Scott Flanagan
Hi, My Name is Scott Flanagan, my quilting journey started at the age of 7 sewing alongside my grandmother making quilts for Lutheran World Relief, but come from a family of crafters and woodworkers. I started 4th and Main Designs in 2011. Since then my patterns have been frequently found in Quiltmaker, McCalls Quilting, and Fons & Porter magazines as well as Country Traditions where I work. I love the endless possibilities available when designing patterns and get super excited when putting together a project and normally end up with a sample within a day or two.
I have two strong quilting philosophies: (1) A quilt is only hard if you have been told it is hard beforehand and (2) you learn some of the best lessons from the mistakes made along the quilting Journey. With those two thoughts, I strive to write patterns that no matter how hard they look a confident beginner with sewing experience could handle.
Patti Fried
Modern Traditionalist
I have never been known to follow the rules, so blending modern aesthetics with traditional quilting makes perfect sense to me. Color, texture, and bold graphics are key elements in my quilts. I also like to ignore the obvious and make unusual choices in my designs – it makes the journey much more interesting.
Whether you read my blog, take one of my workshops, or buy one of my patterns, I hope I can inspire you to follow your own creative path – even if you have to break a rule or two along the way.
Diane Murtha
My Grandmother helped me with my first hand sewn and tied quilt as a young girl, but I didn’t take my first quilting class until the late 90’s. From that moment on, I was hooked. I snatched any quilting time I could get, but a demanding career left minimal time for my quilting hobby, although I was very active in both my Heidelberg, Germany and Northern Virginia quilt guilds over the years.
Like many of you, I started with mostly traditional quilting. Gradually I modified patterns more and more, making my quilts unique, as well as creating my own original designs. Over the last 8 years I gravitated to art quilts, specifically participating in art quilt challenges. An early retirement allowed me time to open my creative aperture to explore quilting on even more new levels!
Challenges are an excellent opportunity to get out of your comfort zone. I embrace it fully and encourage you to do the same and experience the joy and personal satisfaction of challenges!
So why do you want to listen to me? Because I am you! My point is – if I can do challenge quilts – so can you! I’m not fancy. I only recently started entering juried competitions. However, I’m super excited to share what I have learned with you. I regularly spoke at international conferences across the country in my professional life so speaking about my quilting passion is an easy and natural transition.
Sharon Wasteney
After retirement as a professional educator and facilitator of learning for 37 years, Sharon Wasteney turned her focus to creative quilting. She places special value on preserving family traditions through intergenerational sharing of family stories and keeps that in mind when designing quilts to share with others. Personal memories and reflections of nature and rural life are her inspiration when designing both traditional and artful quilts. Her designs often begin with paper and pencil sketches then move to the computer to refine. Artful designs are often a whimsical take on traditional blocks and colorful using her artisan dyed fabrics. Traditional designs often have a softer color palette with a focus on unusual construction techniques.
Sharon recently published a quilting book, Hand Me Down Quilts, and her quilts have been published in magazines and juried into national and international shows.