Future Programs & Speakers
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October 21, 2024
Kimberly Bennefield
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
Kimberly Bennefield began her quilting journey in late 2015 in part to explore a new creative outlet. However, she quickly found a community of supportive and talented quilters. She soon found her way to the Portland Modern Quilt Guild and 2018, Kimberly served as President.
Prior to being introduced to the wonderful world of quilting, Kimberly enjoyed a career of over 20+ years working in technology and design with companies like Nike and Intel. She began her career as a webmaster/network administrator. Kimberly has been able to find opportunities to blend that expertise with her grass roots love of design, now working in the field of User Experience Design.
Kimberly is a wife and mother to a blended family of seven (three step children and four of her own) as well as five grandchildren. She is also a sports, comic book and sci-fi nerd, who loves music, baking, painting and gardening.
Kimberly’s presentation is sure to be an interesting one. We look forward to seeing her BarGelato quilts and her quilted shoes (yes- you read that correctly).
Find Kimberly at:
FB/IG: nwpepper
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Past Programs & Speakers
September 16, 2024
Vicki Conley
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
Vicki Conly will share her inspiring journey through the national parks and how she combines photo inspiration and imagination to make graphic style art quilts. She will share a few funny stories as well as history and facts about the parks. She will also speak a little about the various techniques she uses: Turned edge machine piecing, fussy piecing and silk screening.
Vicki is coming to us from her home in New Mexico. We are incredibly fortunate to have Vicki and her quilts in person at our meeting. Read how Vicki describes herself: “It has been the best career possible—doing what I love“
“My love for art began as a youngster. I explored papier-mâché, macramé, pastels, painting, stitchery and whatever else I could do with my hands. Art education seemed the route I would pursue until the ninth grade when an exceptional science teacher opened my eyes and heart to another direction. For the next eleven years I followed the dream of science to a Masters of Science degree in Physiology and subsequently worked in medical research. When my husband and I started our family, I quit work and enrolled in a pottery class. What began as a hobby grew steadily into a full time business. I established Pinon Pottery in 1982 with a home studio and in 2000 opened my studio/gallery, Pinon Pottery. It has been the best career possible, allowing me to be an at-home mom who could be involved with scouts, home schooling, church and sport activities for our two girls, while at the same time developing a business doing what I love – throwing pots.
In 2003 I discovered quilting – beginning with foundation pieced wall hangings. After making a few traditional quilts, I started designing my own quilts and art quilts. I enjoy learning new techniques and using them to develop a quilt. My inspiration is taken from the natural world and I enjoy interpreting it both realistically and abstract.
I have recently retired from 40 years as a studio potter. I still own the gallery in Ruidoso Downs where I sell my work. I've been a fiber artist for about 20 years and am now also exploring surface pattern design. My work is strongly influenced by hiking and traveling through our national and state parks. My husband and I now travel extensively in our RV with our three dogs always looking for the next inspiration”.
You can see videos of Vicki and her work by clicking on these links:
https://www.vicki-conley.com/
https://www.vicki-conley.com/new-page
Vicki Conley taught a 2-day workshop on September 20th & 21st. It was amazing!
August 19, 2024
Barbara Schoonover
Our August guild meeting is sure to be a colorful one! Our speaker will be Barb Schoonover, an avid quilter for 14 years who loves color, flowers, and happy little quilts. Barb owned a brick and mortar store for 7 years before transferring her efforts to longarming, vending at shows, and teaching. She and her husband, Pete, are deeply involved in community service. After the horrific fires in her area, Barb organized a massive project to send 810 quilts to families that lost everything to fires.
Barb is a certified instructor for Laura Heine and we can’t wait to see her collage quilts! You’ll have the opportunity to learn how to make your own at a workshop on August 31st.
Barb and her husband will be bringing a large display of fabric, patterns and kits to the guild meeting for some fun shopping before the meeting and during the break.
FB: Bolts to Blocks
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BoltsToBlocks
Click Here to See/Signup for the Workshop
July 15, 2024
Nancy Tubbs
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
Our presenter this month will be Nancy Tubbs. You may have seen Nancy’s work at the recent Clark County Quilter’s quilt show, where Nancy was one of the featured quilters. You might also know her through her membership in NW Quilters Guild, Clark County Quilt Guild, Portland Modern Quilt Guild and Columbia Fiber Arts Guild. She has also taught at Mt Hood Community College, and she owns Blue Heron Quilts, a home based business selling fabric and quilting supplies. She’s one busy lady!
Nancy has been sewing for over 60 years, starting as a young child learning first from her mother. Her creative world expanded to include yarn, and various kinds of needlework- especially needle turn appliqué. Paper piecing and working with wool have captured her fancy in recent years, and she’s always on the lookout for a new project. She claims that her UFO project list stubbornly hovers around 140! So what is she known for? That’s a difficult question to answer- she does it all!
Nancy traveled the world with her husband, who served in the USAF. Adding to this, her professional career as a cartographer, photogrammetrist, and geographer for over 30 years, gave her much to inspire her artistic view of the world.
You’re sure to love Nancy’s trunk show as she takes us through her journey as a quilter.
June 17, 2024
Karen Walker
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
You may recognize Karen Walker of Laugh Yourself into Stitches. She was born and raised on a farm right here in Hillsboro, Oregon! Karen was a presenter at the Westside Quilters Guild in March of 2018. She had been designing traditionally pieced quilt patterns since 2013 and spoke to us on ‘Modern Piecing the Farmer’s Wife Way. In her upcoming guild class, scheduled for June 28, Karen will bring back her tips for successful piecing while teaching her chilly but warm, Frosty quilt. Click Here for the workshop info and signup.
In the past few years, Karen has been published in Simply Vintage Magazine, Simply Moderne as well as Quiltmania. One of her quilts was the featured cover for Keepsake Quilting catalog in the Fall of 2018. Recently, Quiltfolk Magazine highlighted Karen in an email expose.
In January 2024 her first fabric line called ‘Huckleberry Saltbox’ for Riley Blake Designs was released and her second fabric collection called ‘Sewing Your Oats’ will be in shops December 2024.
You’ll also find Karen on the road with the Magic Quilting and Crafting Spray team (a Faultless product) promoting one of her most favorite quilting essentials!
On June 17th, Karen will take us down the road of color and fabric design in her talk called ‘Color, does it work, or does it play?’ How color choices can go so wrong…to oh so right… and the impact color has on her fabric designs.
Follow Karen on
Instagram @laughyourselfintostitches facebook.com/laughyourselfintostitches/
May 20, 2024
Kathy Cardiff
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
Our speaker for May is the delightful wool artist Kathy Cardiff.
The Cardiffs established The Cottage at Cardiff Farms in 2010 as a way to showcase Kathy’s original textile designs. She is a talented designer and wanted to provide patterns and books for quilts and wool projects in with her signature cozy cottage feel for quilters of all experience levels.
Kathy lives on on a charming two and a half acre “farm” in picturesque Southwest Washington State. She and her late husband relocated to the beautiful Pacific Northwest from sunny Southern California in 2016 and Kathy says she has never looked back! The quiet rural setting provides endless inspiration for all of Kathy’s beautiful designs.
Kathy will be bringing a wonderful array of patterns, books, and kits to the meeting for your shopping pleasure. We don’t have a workshop scheduled at this time, because Kathy will be returning in October as a guest speaker and teacher at our quilt show. She is designing a new pattern to be unveiled at the show, which will be a half-day workshop. There is a strong possibility that we will book her for another guild workshop in the future.
Don’t miss the opportunity to see Kathy’s beautiful work in person at our May guild meeting!
Where to find Kathy Cardiff:
FB: thecottage@cardifffarms
IG: thecottage@cardifffarms
April 15, 2024
Creative Cabins Challenge Reveal
Temperature Quilt Reveal
Reveal of the annual Challenge – Creative Cabins
Challenging you to be as creative as you can using at least one log cabin block.
The rules: Quilt must be 36” X 36” or smaller. It can be any shape. It must be finished to present at the challenge reveal.
The quilt must contain at least one log cabin or log cabin variation block.
Reveal of the 2023 Temperature Quilt Challenge
Calling all temperature quilters!
At least one is happily finished – what a year to remember. Bring what you have to the April meeting to celebrate the journey!
March 18, 2024
Susan Beal
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
Our guest for March is the multitalented Susan Beal. Susan will be speaking to us about quilts (of course) and about how we can document the history of our own quilts. She will also have books and other unique items for quilters available for purchase.
Susan and her family live in Portland, Oregon. She’s a freelance writer and loves to make things! Susan is the author of nine craft books, she teaches online for guilds and maker spaces, and filmed a log cabin series for Creativebug. On top of that she is an active volunteer in the PMQG and is her daughter’s Girl Scout Leader.
In her spare time, she loves to sew clothes, make quilts, embroider, read, and drink coffee.
Read more about this crafty dynamo on her website, www.westcoastcrafty.com.
And be sure to attend the March guild meeting to meet and hear this engaging speaker.
February 19, 2024
Ken Casey
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
Ken Casey is our speaker February 19 meeting and his workshop rescheduled to March 23.
WQG is kicking off our 2024 program year with an inspiring trunk show by Eugene quilter, Ken Casey. Ken is a native of Phoenix, AZ and has been quilting for over 35 years. He grew up making articles of clothing for his stuffed rabbit then for himself. In his early twenties, he worked in stained glass, and then began quilting after it was suggested to him by his sister.
In his quilting journey, he spent several summers at a Quilt Camp in Flagstaff, taking classes from internationally known teachers; further developed his skills. He has had quilts in shows across the country and is a certified instructor for AnglePlay Templates. Ken spent many years teaching and helping other quilters. He is currently expanding his horizons teaching the craft and quilting for others. He is a member of Emerald Valley Quilters and the Eugene Modern Quilt Guild. Quilting is a constantly changing and challenging art form for Ken. He LOVES to play with color and use unexpected combinations. He likes challenging himself to try new techniques as often as he can. Ken is a retired elementary school teacher, and lives in Eugene with his husband Ron; and their sweet and comical dogs Gracie and Glady.
Ken will be teaching a workshop to make a “Crown and Anchor” quilt March 23
Click HERE for more information.
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December 18, 2023
Holiday Celebration
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
The 2023 WQG Holiday Party will be held at our regular meeting time and place on December 18. If you’d like to participate in a gift exchange – strictly voluntary – please bring a quilt-related gift with a value of $15 to the party, wrapped in a gift bag. The exchange will take place during the meeting. There will be cookies and other sweet treats to enjoy. Guild members will be providing demonstrations of some helpful tips and tricks. Feel free to wear your favorite holiday garb (ugly sweaters included!) Don’t miss the fun! For more info contact Carrie Townsend ( in the directory).
November 20, 2023
November 20, 2023 General Guild Meeting
UFO Reveal
Harvest Community Church, Hillsboro
Meeting starts at 6:30; Social time 6:00
The time has finally come! It’s one of the greatest events of our year! Connie has been cheering us on for almost a year and this is the evening we get to show everyone what Un-Finished Objects we have turned into Finished Objects. It doesn’t matter if you have finished one quilt, or one hundred (Ha!), we want to share in your success. Please bring no more than 3 completed UFO’s to show from the stage, but if you want to show others to your friends at the break- that would be great.
October 16, 2023
Lecture and Trunk Show: “Piecing to the Edge, Pieced Borders”
Spanning the combined years of work including two published books on quilts designed with pieced borders, Sheila will share her ideas about the advantages of making quilts with this approach.
Many of our guild members might remember Sheila from her Barn Quilt workshop several years ago where we painted wood blocks to hang outdoors. For this visit, she’ll show us what she has done with fabric! Don’t miss the opportunity to spend an evening with this talented artist!
Sheila will have a vending table and will be bringing books, patterns, and kits with wood frames and instructions to make a barn quilt block on your own.
Find Sheila at:
LicenseToQuilt.com
FB: Sheila Sinclair Snyder
IG: Sheila Sinclair Snyder
September 14, 2023
We gathered onto the stage (we wouldn’t all fit up there now!). When Pastor Brad was ready to take the photo, we pulled our masks down, the camera clicked, and our masks went right back up.
Join us in September for a trip down memory lane, as we wave farewell to the Aloha Faith Center and remember all of the good times we had in this wonderful facility. The Faith Center welcomed us when the pandemic was evolving to a stage that allowed us to meet in person once again. It was the perfect space for us, as our in-person numbers were lower than when we met at the New Life church. It’s now time for us to move on to a facility that will accommodate our growing guild (now more than 200 members!) We want to express our gratitude to the pastor and congregation for sharing their facility with us and we will carry many fond memories of our time there.
Do you remember that first meeting? As we wore our masks, our eyes did the smiling for us. The atmosphere was charged with emotion and friendship filled the air. Our program that evening was sharing quilts we made during all that time we had at home in our sewing spaces. After the parade of quilts, Pastor Brad spoke a few words of welcome to our group. He said that he was touched to see the beauty that we made out of a time of ugliness. Those words are one of the greatest memories from our time at the Aloha Faith Center.
IF QUILTS COULD TALK….
We’ve all heard that phrase. And we all know that our quilts talk to us. Quits evoke memories- especially for the maker of the quilt. Our first program at the Faith Center was sharing our quilts with each other, so it’s fitting that our last program at this facility is to do the same thing. But this time, we want to share quilts that instantly remind us of something. They can remind us of a person, an event in our lives, something that we learned, fabric or a scene from a vacation, a person who is gone, a person just entering the world, or any other memory you have. Bring that special quilt to the September meeting and share your memory.
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August 10, 2023 Karen McCarty Appli-Piecing
Karen McCarty
Karen is a member of our guild and we are excited to welcome her “home” from her winter in Arizona (She missed all of the snow and ice we had this past winter!). Karen is sure to warm our quilty hearts with her beautiful appli-pieced art quilts. She first became interested in the appli-piecing technique when our guild welcomed Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry in 2017. Caryl was a memorable speaker and she explained to us that she had retired from teaching workshops. In an amazing act of generosity, Caryl posted the complete instructions for the technique on her website so that quilters would continue to learn from her for years to come. It was a huge file, and proved to be intimidating for many. So it’s Karen to the rescue! Karen has embraced this technique and loves to lecture and teach workshops, clearly explaining the process and making it fun for all!
Karen will be bringing a trunk show for us at our August meeting
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July 13, 2023
Anya Doll – My Journey as a Fiber Artist
Join us for the July general meeting and you might just feel as though you have stepped into an art gallery. Anya Doll will take us through a bit of her life journey as expressed through fiber art.
The daughter of an artist and a banker/farmer, Anya Doll has sought creative reconciliation of dichotomy through art from a very early age. She received simultaneous Bachelor of Arts degrees in Theology and Elementary Education, which taught her that exploration of life’s dilemmas, is much more effective while finger-painting with chocolate pudding, and that perhaps children’s book authors are among our best philosophers.
In 2014, in response to the destructive powers of mental illness in her family, Anya turned to art as a path to learning how to love better while walking through hell.
“Working with fibers has led me to explore other fibrous materials as well as exploration of glazing techniques in painting. All my art orients the observer to look beneath the surface of the human condition, to find the fierceness of love as well as the tenderness, where is the balance of what sustains us through the chaos.” Anya Doll
June 8, 2023
Erin Eggenburg, Visible Mending & Embroidery
Erin Eggenburg, (sometimes called “wrenbird”, hence the name of her business) has always been “crafty”. In 2011, she fell in love with hand embroidery. Erin thought it might be fun to hand embroider some hankies for her Etsy shop. Fun fact- Since then, Erin has hand embroidered more than 15,000 hankies!
Then in 2018, while working at a local creative reuse non-profit, she found a way to blend embroidery and upcycling/reuse, called visible mending. She was able to salvage her favorite pair of jeans with a few patches and some embroidery.
The rest, as they say, is history. Along the way, Erin has authored a book, and now lectures, teaches, and creates patterns and kits which are available on her website and on her Etsy site. She volunteers much of her time to various causes and donates a portion of her sales to various non-profits.
We’re excited to see Erin’s work at the June guild meeting. She will have a vending table that evening and we also have her scheduled for a workshop on Friday morning, June 16, 2023. Check our Workshops page for more info and to sign up for her workshop.
You can find Erin at wrenbirdarts on FB, IG, and YouTube, and Etsy, as well as on her website (www.wrenbirdarts.com).
May 11, 2023 Reba Worotikan of Quilt Batiks
Reba Worotikan, Owner/Founder of Quilt Batiks
Quilt Batiks is a small, family owned business with deep roots in Indonesia. Upon their return to the Pacific Northwest to raise their family, they knew they couldn’t leave behind many of the wonderful experiences they had abroad, batiks being a big one!
It has truly been Reba’s passion to see batiks come to life, whether a quilt, clothing or various other projects. We at Westside Quilters’ Guild will be treated to a wonderful evening of learning and fun when Reba Worotikan visits with us. She will show us how batiks are made- start to finish, and she will have “eye candy” that will be sure to temp any batik lover! Don’t miss this educational and fun evening!
March 9, 2023 Jenny Jo Lamb
April 13, 2023 Challenge Presentation
The One Hot Tamale Challenge Presentation!!
Join us to see what amazing projects will be revealed for the annual challenge — This Year — One Hot Tamale – let’s see what people came up with as their interpretation!!
Meet our March 9, 2023 speaker, Jennie Jo Lamb:
Sewing has always been an influential part of Jennie Jo’s life. Growing up, there wasn’t a time she could remember that her grandmother, mother, and aunt weren’t sewing or creating their next masterpiece. Naturally, she began with handwork; that evolved into garment sewing. Not long thereafter she began quilting and the rest was history!
In the last twenty-five years quilting has become her passion. Now, designing beautiful patterns is also a huge part of that passion. Jennie Jo is employed full-time and the older she gets the more she realizes how important this creative outlet is for her. It grounds her and helps her focus. She loves being able to share this passion with others, whether it be teaching or gifting her knowledge and quilts. To her, giving a quilt is like giving a hug, only it lasts even when she can’t be with that person.
Jennie Jo lives in the Pacific Northwest on a few acres in the country. She and her husband have four grown children, a couple (so far) bonus children, and a flock of grandkids that are all their pride and joy. They are working on a small farm that is ever expanding. Jennie Jo says she wakes up every day feeling blessed to watch her family and business grow!
Don’t miss this enthusiastic speaker! She’ll tell us how she got into pattern design, and share a trunk show of her “happy quilts”.
February 9, 2023 Kelly Cole
The presenter for our February, 2023 meeting was Kelly Cole. Kelly is the creator of Vintage Fabric Studios in Portland, OR. Vintage Fabric Studio’s mission is to get beautiful vintage textiles into the hands of quilters, sewers, and crafters before they enter the landfill. In the shop, you will discover Kelly’s custom color fat quarter bundles, die-cut charm square packs, and sewing kits for vintage fabric lovers everywhere.
She has this to say about herself: “My name is Kelly Cole and I am the creator of the Vintage Fabric Studio. My skills as an experienced quilter and seamstress, along with my love of all things vintage, have come together to bring the fabric community the ultimate source of vintage textiles packaged for the modern sewer and crafter.
Her vintage sheets quilts were amazing!
Where to find Kelly:
blog: https://vintagefabricstudio.blogspot.com
Etsy: www.vintagefabricstudio.com
IG: Kelly_vintagefabricstudio
FB: vintagefabricstudio