Presenting Rhonda Masters/ President
Name: Rhonda Masters
Born Where ~City, State: Trenton, New Jersey
Live Where ~ City, State: Port Arthur, TX
Tell us something about you! I have been quilting for about 15 years. I like scrap quilts and I enjoy quilting with African fabric. I really enjoy the online fellowship of our guild and the community we have created. I am honored and proud to work toward advancing and increasing opportunities for African American quilting and quilters.
When did you become a quilter? My paternal grandmother and her sisters quilted and my mother sewed. I wanted to follow in their footsteps. Around 2010-2011 I was able to join a guild and a bee to learn how to quilt and then I was hooked!
Why do you quilt? I enjoy the creative process of quilting. I enjoy it because there are so many styles and techniques – there is always something new to learn. It is truly an art form that you can enjoy for a lifetime.
What is your favorite part of quilting? I enjoy piecing and designing my own quilt patterns.
What is the part of quilting you don’t like? Quilting my quilts is a challenge, but with practice the quilting process has become less intimidating.
Where do you find inspiration? I have always appreciated the beautiful work created by the skillful hands of traditional quilters. I recall so clearly when I experienced my first quilt exhibit that featured African American art and traditional quilts (a Dr. Mazloomi exhibit!). The styles, subject matter and artistic interpretations really resonated with me. I loved the bold colors, fabric choices and cultural/historical topics that were featured. The story telling in African American art quilts inspires me and we have many more stories to share through our art.
What do you do when you are not quilting? I enjoy reading and love to travel to new places at home and abroad.
Presenting Marilyn Gore
Name
Marilyn Y. Gore
Born Where ~City, State
Bolivia, North Carolina
Live Where ~ City, State
Charlotte, NC
Tell us something about you!
Marilyn has been sewing and quilting since the age of fourteen. Born and raised in the rural, farming community of Bolivia, NC, sewing, and quilting were necessities. Marilyn’s first sewing experience was probably helping her mother make woven and tied floor rugs form feed sacks and tobacco twine. Her mother, Mattie Pearl, also taught Marilyn how to embroider and decorate homemade pillowcases.
Home Economics was a required part of Marilyn’s high school education, and it was there that she learned to construct garments. Under the tutelage of Lizzie Mae Mitchell, Home Economics teacher at Southport – Brunswick County High School, she constructed her first garment. Scraps from this garment were used to make an eight-pointed star quilt. With the help of her mother, Marilyn made her second quilt, a lone star, from scraps of polyester fabrics.
She is a 1974 graduated of Bennett College with a degree in Home Economics, Clothing and Textiles. With the encouragement of Professor Louise G. Streat, she continued her studies at Howard University, Washington, DC. Marilyn’s Masters thesis centered on a historical study of North Carolina quilt making. She also acquired a Masters Degree in Counseling from the University of the District of Columbia.
Marilyn retired from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension on February 28, 2007. Her Extension career – nineteen (19) years with the University of the District of Columbia and twelve (12) years here in North Carolina – were most rewarding. She served in several national executive board positions with the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS), including the 2004 – 5 President.
When did you become a quilter?
I have been quilting since the age of 14.
Why do you quilt?
I am trying my best to get rid of my huge fabric stash. (LOL) I quilt because I truly love quilting. It is something that I try to do every day.
What is your favorite part of quilting?
I am a hand quilter and love to see my accomplishments – the finished product. I especially love to bind the quilts. I volunteer to bind charity quilts for my quilter guild.
What is the part of quilting you don’t like?
I most dislike the lack of knowledge the general public has about the art of quilting.
Where do you find inspiration?
I love to find information from other quilters, books and magazines.
What do you do when you are not quilting?
I love to read medical murder mysteries and other books. My goal each year is to read at least 50 books.
Presenting Tara Wilson Evans
Name- Tara Wilson Evans
Born Where ~Jackson, Mississippi
Live Where ~ Bellevue, Nebraska
Tell us something about you!
I am a member of the Friends Board at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. I am honored to serve on this prestigious board. I simply love quiltmaking and I desire to leave a legacy of quiltmaking in my family and community. I am the Executive Director of my nonprofit organization, Community Quilting Center, Inc. I love teaching about my cultural history of quiltmaking. I also love writing children’s books. So far, I’ve written eight books and published three. I am currently working on my fourth children’s book.
When did you become a quilter? I’ve been sewing since I was a preteen. But didn’t actually begin quilting until around 2001.
Why do you quilt?
I quilt because it soothes my soul and spirit. I love, love, love to make quilts-all kinds. When I am stressed, I quilt. When I am low in spirit, I quilt. When I am happy, I quilt. So, I quilt just about ALL the time.
What is your favorite part of quilting?
My favorite part is finishing the quilting on the longarm quilting machine. When I finish a king size quilt usually, and see it roll off the machine….OOOOooooweee! It makes my heart sing!! I free-motion quilt. When I see the completed results, it is absolutely beautiful to me.
What is the part of quilting you don’t like?
I love all of it, however, before I had a longarm machine to work on, I had to spread out and pin the quilts on the floor. Boy! That did a job on my elbows and knees.Thankfully, I don’t have to do that anymore.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am inspired to make various quilts from older traditional patterns. I fit the colors and the pattern style to the personality of whom I am making the quilt for. Quilts are sooo special. Each and every one of them. They all have a story to tell.
What do you do when you are not quilting?
I am either writing books or spending time with my family
Presenting Glendora Simonson
Name Glendora Simonson
Live Where ~ City, State East Orange, NJ
Tell us something about you! A native of Newark, NJ, I recently retired from education after 36 years. I Initially I worked as a special education teacher, working with adjudicated delinquents then as a learning consultant, diagnosing learning disabilities. Much of my work involved underserved populations. In addition to textile art, my hobbies include drawing, cooking and baking. Someday, I also hope to learn to play the piano really well. My house is full! Two of my three adult children still live with me (but I’m working on that); the oldest lives happily across town. I also live with 3 cats.
When did you become a quilter? Before quilting, I sewed clothing for myself and my dolls. I also made window treatments. I’ve been quilting for about 40 years. My first quilt was an appliqued and embroidered baby quilt that I made from a Simplicity pattern. Always intrigued by textile crafts, I started quilting in earnest after taking a class in a local adult school program. I previously used the sewing machine and was accustomed to completing projects quickly and efficiently. This class emphasized hand sewing which helped me improve those skills tremendously. I was also introduced to the rotary cutter and discovered that you could actually cut and measure at the same time!
Why do you quilt? The urge to create is persistent. Quilting is my medium. I quilt because I must express visually what I’m thinking and feeling. Making art affords me the opportunity to achieve a zen-like state where I feel like I’m channeling ancestral memories.
What is your favorite part of quilting? The design process is my favorite part of quilting. Most of my recent quilts tend to be narrative. In addition to telling a story, I also enjoy solving design dilemmas, playing with textures, shapes and colors.
What is the part of quilting you don’t like? Cleaning up after a project is so tedious to me. I never want to throw away any scraps, because I can “use” them for another project. I realize the necessity of clearing the work surface but I find the housekeeping, organizing part unpleasant. While I thoroughly enjoy working in a clean and orderly space, it just doesn’t come naturally to me. I have to expend a great deal of energy to achieve orderliness. After spending that time and effort, I’m either annoyed that the day is over or that I’m too tired to do anything creative. So, when my choice is to regain order or keep working, I usually just keep working.
Where do you find inspiration? Everywhere. I find inspiration in nature, particularly flowers and plants that have unusual shapes or colors. I also find inspiration in music, fabric, as well as socio-political events. I find the current political climate to be a perpetual source of rich inspiration, good and bad.
What do you do when you are not quilting? When I’m not quilting, I enjoy cooking and baking, playing with my cats, as well as reading about different craft or quilting projects. I also enjoy traveling to different places on my bucket list.
Presenting
Montika Allen-Atkinson
Born Where ~City, State Glendale, AZ Luke Air Force Base
Live Where ~ City, State Junction City, Kansas
Tell us something about you!
A retired school teacher of 37 years in the profession: Bachelor of Science in elementary education, a Master’s Degree in Education, an Endorsement in Library Media Specialist and a National Board Certification Teacher. The illustrious teaching career spanned Oklahoma, Kansas, and Germany. Traveling, reading, teaching, cooking, Quilts of Valor, and talking to her connected circle of friends are passions which keeps the life of retirement enjoyable. Spending time with her wonderful husband Ronald Atkinson Sr., a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel of 34 years and their son Ronald Atkinson Jr., a graduate of Kansas State University with a BS in music education.
When did you become a quilter?
First quilt was made at the age of ten 51 years ago and periodically made baby quilts as gifts. The life of quilting passionately peaked full bloom around 2009 after becoming a member of a quilting circle with African American women. The urge to know and grow took on its own course with reading, experimenting, and pushing into areas with reading knowledge. As the urged pressed on so did the dream of finishing quilts from beginning to end, therefore owning a longarm quilting machine was on the list to accomplish, so did the desire to find her own niche of quilting from traditional, creating self-patterned quilts, fabric dyeing, thread art, quilts incorporating machine embroidery, mixed media experimentation quilts, art quilts and art quilts with statements. I am a self-taught quilter as well as self-taught free motion and ruler work quilter!
Why do you quilt?
Quilting is a passion and it will be the legacy I leave after my “Dash” My Dad told me, “You have your grandmother’s hands” which is my great grandmother. The desire for quilting is within my soul, the fabrics speak to me, the designated designs come in dreams. I truly believe the ancestors are speaking to me and their love of quilting comes through. I want to believe that my ancestors quilting would have evolved to what I do in quilting if we could quilt side by side.
What is your favorite part of quilting?
All aspects of quilting are my favorite. Binding a quilt was not and prayer has put me on an all new level; it took some years but with an earnest prayer of asking Him to help with a love binding for as much as a for love designing, piecing and longarm quilting. So now a stack of quilts to hand bind is an awaited sense of PEACE to finish a quilt; no machine binding in this studio!
What is the part of quilting you don’t like?
At one time is was batting but prayer changes things!
Where do you find inspiration?
Inspiration comes from dreams, creating one of a kind quilts. In the beginning it was gifting quilts to my siblings, nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, new babies arriving in the family and a few close friends who I call MY SISTERS. Six years ago with purchasing African waxed fabrics scraps from a local dress maker pushed traditional quilting fabrics off the radar and the challenge to use African waxed fabrics to the center and an entire “Newness” was birthed. The African waxed fabrics creates its own language to a quilt and that in itself keeps the inspiration pointing upward with self-challenges.
What do you do when you are not quilting?
When not quilting sketching, doodling, reading books on quilting is an automatic. A small notebook is always in my purse to jot down a line drawing for longarm designs or to sketch which could derive into a quilt. Knowing how one brain works and a love for teaching time is set aside for two or three struggling readers to accomplish the task of becoming a reader. Traveling is always in the works with the husband and a trip of 10 or more days the traveling machine is in tow as well as the sketch booklet. A few stops along the way where the desire is only red, white, and blue fabrics for Quilts of Valor; rarely are other fabrics put into the basket for purchase!
