Meeting info

Rachaeldaisey January 18, 2026

“Australian quilter, Rachaeldaisy Dodd has followed a wonderfully creative path, beginning with
a childhood full of crafting adventures and evolving into a vibrant career as a creative events
florist for over 20 years. In the early 2000s, she discovered the world of patchwork and
quilting—and was instantly hooked. Quilting became the perfect canvas to combine her love of
beautiful fabrics with her love of colour, design sensibility, and fearless creativity she had honed
through floristry.

Often described as a “kangaroo on a pogo stick” in terms of style, Rachaeldaisy’s work is playful,
eclectic, and joyfully unconventional. While she explores a wide variety of techniques, a
unifying thread in her quilts is the innovative reimagining of traditional designs. Her signature
style includes three-dimensional elements such as Yo-Yos, Prairie Points, wool felt, appliquéd
and pieced denim, doilies, and trims. Words often used to describe her work include whimsical,
colourful, creative, and happy.

Rachaeldaisy’s quilts have received widespread recognition both in Australia and
internationally, earning multiple prestigious awards including Best in Show, Best Use of Colour,
Most Innovative, and Viewers’ Choice. Her work has been featured in fine art exhibitions and
published in numerous magazines and books around the world.

Her popular book Whizz Bang! Adventures in Folded Fabric, published with Quiltmania, has
inspired a global community of quilters to explore folded fabric techniques.
A passionate teacher, Rachaeldaisy shares her joy for quilting through workshops that

encourage creativity. Whether welcoming enthusiastic beginners or offering seasoned quilters
something fresh to try, her classes prove that quilting doesn’t always have to follow the rules.”

Clorinda Design Studio August 17, 2025 An Artist’s Journey:Creating My Style

Being a combination of uptown and cowgirl, I spent weekends on our family ranch in New Mexico rounding up sheep and cattle. During this time spent horseback riding, I developed an appreciation of the beauty in the world around me which inspires me to capture and share it in my art. My earliest memories of becoming an artist come from my parents and the people closest to me. I would sit on my dad’s lap and watch him draw horses which I would try to copy. My mom and I enjoyed coloring together for hours. Then, about ten years ago, my neighbor introduced me to quilting and machine embroidery, which started my fiber artist journey, creating patterns and designs.

Recently, an artist friend encouraged me to pick up a pencil which stirred up the artist in me again. What if I combine traditional art and fabric? This is where my journey as a mixed media fiber artist begins.

My unique style combines traditional art media such as watercolor, colored pencils, Inktense, acrylics, etc. with fabric and thread painting to create mixed media fiber art.

July 20, 2025 Pam Weeks Soft Protests–Lecture on the history of storytelling, raising social awareness and protest in textiles and quilts. Stories were quilted into bed coverings as early as 1400, and protest quilts go back to 1830!

Quilts have been the focus for more than half my life and I joyfully explore the many facets of this ancient and always exciting craft. I started making quilts as a result of the craft revival inspired by the Bicentennial in 1976. Like many of my era, I made traditional quilts with the limited calicos available.

By the mid-1980’s I was designing my own work, and considered myself an art quilter. I made quilts based in tradition with an emphasis on non-traditional color. A class with Nancy Crow sent me into the world of hand-dyed fabrics and improvisational quilts.

In 1991 I meandered down a different avenue when I took a class on reproducing the antique quilts I loved but couldn’t afford, and I was hooked on quilt history. Who knew that this would lead to research on “potholder” quilts, and even the Civil War? My first book was published in 2013 on Civil War quilts made for soldiers. My next book will be out soon.

As the Binney Family Curator of the New England Quilt Museum, I have the job of my dreams. I work with many different quilters, collectors, institutions, and co-conspirators to plan exhibits for the museum, and research the quilts in the museum’s collection. I’m having so much fun!

May 18, 2025 Gloria Loughman Lecture – The Quilted Landscape

 The Quilted Landscape

Have you thought about making a quilt to capture your memories of a special place?  Perhaps a wonderful holiday destination, a view from your lounge room window or a memory of a special place from childhood.  No matter what the inspiration, creating a landscape quilt is an achievable project.   The process combines making decisions about design and color choices as well as incorporating accurate construction techniques.   This lecture and slide show will focus on these components, solving the mystery of where to begin

I live by the sea, on the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula, in Victoria, Australia. Married with three daughters and nine grandchildren, I am a trained secondary teacher having worked mainly in the literacy and special education faculties. My initiation into the world of patchwork occurred nearly 30 years ago when I was recovering from a course of chemotherapy for breast cancer.

​After completing some studies in design and colour as part of a Diploma of Art in 1996, I began to make my large vivid landscape quilts depicting the Australian bush. Having the opportunity to travel to many unique and fascinating parts of our continent, I am continually challenged to reproduce these images in fabric. Most of the textiles used have been hand dyed or painted and feature extensive machine embroidery. These quilts have won many major awards in Australia, Europe, Japan and the United States. My quilt ‘Kimberley Mystique’ was the winner of Australia’s most prestigious national quilting award in 2003.

​Travelling extensively, with my husband Tony, a very keen and talented photographer, I am never short of inspiration for my work. In more recent times, my landscapes have become more abstract as I have played with pattern and colour.  My series of quilts based on buildings and other facades is a result of a love of architecture and our opportunity to travel and explore, photographing many fascinating buildings.  Underlying all my work is a passion for colour and the ongoing challenge to capture light in my work.

​I have been teaching patchwork classes for many years, and I really enjoy sharing my knowledge and skills with others. I like to challenge my students to design their own quilts, but I am also happy to provide patterns for those less confident. My classes have proved to be very popular with lots of students coming back for a second or third class. I have taught extensively in Australia and in more than 20 countries overseas. My commitment to teaching was acknowledged when I received the Rajah award in 2009, which is awarded for ‘an outstanding contribution to Australian quilt making.’

​I have had a number of solo exhibitions, including two invitations to have a gallery at the prestigious NEC Show in Birmingham, UK.

I have written four books, Luminous Landscapes, Quilted Symphony, Radiant landscapes and Fabulous Facades.  This latest book, published by C&T and based on architecture, is due to be released in August 2017

​ So, what began as a therapy has developed into a passion and has given me the opportunity to travel the world exhibiting my quilts, teaching classes and meeting lots of wonderful people.

 

March 16 Teresa Duryea Wong – Quilts, Cotton, & Indigo from Japan: The Very Old and The Very New

Teresa Duryea Wong is an author, lecturer, and quilt historian. She is the author of Sewing & Survival: Native American Quilts from 1880 – 2022, and five additional books covering Japanese quilts and textiles, and American quilts and cotton. Her newest book which she co-authored, Kawaii Applique Quilts from Japan, will debut in spring of 2025. She is a contributing writer for Quiltfolk and other magazines. Teresa is a member of the International Quilt Museum advisory board and the Quilt Alliance board. She is a quiltmaker and she also collects antique quilt tops and finishes them with machine quilting on her longarm.

Learn more at: https://TeresaDuryeaWong.com

IG @third_floor_quilts

It’s our Birthday!!

Join us Sunday, May 15, as we celebrate our 35th birthday. Thirty five years ago a group of quilters decided to meet and form a guild. I was around for the first meeting. If I remember correctly we had about 85 quilters show up for our first official meeting. Thank you to that group of quilters that got the idea and got Bear Valley Quilters off and quilting!

Sunday, May 15, South Bay Community Center, 2180 Palisades Ave., Baywood-Los Osos, CA.. 1:00 pm social, 1:30 pm meeting.

Our special guest this month is Rob Appell.

Yum!

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