About Alice

What fun I find in sharing what I enjoy the most - designing and stitching. Little did I realize that my grandmothers, mom and an 8th grade home economics teacher were challenging me toward a path that would engage a life-long career in all aspects of sewing!

I've always been most at home with a needle and thread in my hands, joining various fabrics and threads to find their endless possibilities. I learned to sew as a teen, eagerly sewing one garment after another, gradually being seduced by the influence of fabulous instructors to stretch just a bit further. From age 14 through two degrees in Home Economics, I knew I wanted a creative teaching career. My first teaching job in clothing and textile subjects began in a junior college. After discovering the community enthusiasm over a local quilt show, the college department started an adult education quilting class that became so popular that it grew from one weekly night to four. I was in the middle of that community of needle energy and knew immediately I had found my place.

In the following years I left college teaching and joined a major sewing machine company. That endeavor pushed and stretched my skills to many experimental levels of garment and quilt sewing. I wrote a book on Sashiko techniques by machine in the early 90's, then one on the Crazy Quilt by machine imagery ten years later. Each time, book writing led me down a research path that seemed inexhaustible - a happy journey with no end. It has been a wonderful stretch - one that pushed my humble beginnings to a passion of creative endeavors - to teaching travels across the US, Switzerland and Japan. From the discovery of quilt making in the 1970's to my current activities of sharing the needle, I've never looked back.

Partial list of my teaching, exhibiting, juror and writing invitations:

International Quilt Festival
American Quilter's Society
Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival
Pennsylvania Nat'l. Quilt Ext.
Quilting by the Lake
Quilting Adventures
World Quilt & Textile Conference
International - Canada, Switzerland, Japan
Quilt Guilds - Nationally
Retail Stores throughout US

American Quilter Magazine
Threads
Rodale Press
Traditional Quilter
Creative Needle
Threads Magazine Design Challenge participant
American Quilter's Fashion Show - participant, hostess, juror
Fairfield Fashion Show
Juried - numerous fashion and quilt shows

Books:

Sew Crazy, 2001, AQS (machine crazy quilt)
Rodale Press 2001, Successful Quilting Library- Creative Embellishments - machine embroidery chapter
CrazyPatch by Machine, 1997, Bernina of America
Threads and Needles, 1995, Sewing Information Resource
Sashiko Made Simple, 1990. Bernina of America (machine sashiko)

Education - M.S., Home Economics Education, Clothing and Textiles
Free-time - Family, Bible Study, Grandchildren, Friends and Travel