World Quilt New England, August 17-19, 2017, at Manchester’s Radisson Center of New Hampshire, features an impressive instructor line-up offering a variety of workshops and lectures. This year’s faculty includes well-known instructor RaNae Merrill.
RaNae is an award-winning quilter, author and teacher. Her unique “spiral” quilts have appeared in national shows and magazines, and her books Simply Amazing Spiral Quilts, Magnificent Spiral Mandala Quilts and Sideways Spiral Quilts have already become quilting classics. She is a popular instructor and teaches around the world.
RaNae found her calling as a professional quilter after previous careers as a pianist, a photographer and a travel writer. She holds both Bachelor and Master degrees in Piano Performance from University of Southern California and UCLA respectively.
She began quilting in 1989 when she found a batch of nine-patch squares in a trunk that had belonged to that grandmother. She started making baby quilts, incorporating Grandma’s blocks into each one. When people began praising her designs and suggesting that she quilt professionally, she brushed off the idea as impractical. Then, she attended a quilt festival where she was astonished to discover that being a professional quilter could, indeed, be a rewarding career!
Today RaNae designs quilts and patterns, writes quilting books and teaches workshops in the USA and abroad — in both English and Spanish. She still loves to travel!
RaNae is teaching three, full-day (9am – 4pm) workshops at World Quilt New England:
Thursday, August 17
Free Motion Mastery in a Month: A Block a Day to Machine Quilting Success
This class will help you build machine-quilting skills and confidence with simple daily exercises, even when you can’t be at a sewing machine. RaNae’s 25 years as a piano teacher inspired this simple, effective system.
Friday, August 18
Spiral Rose
Learn to foundation-piece this Spiral Rose. Along the way, you’ll learn to select fabrics by color and value, and pick up techniques for easier-than-ever foundation piecing.
Saturday, August 19
Magic Mirror Mandala Quilt
Use a simple spiral variation on the Log Cabin block to make a Magic Mirror Mandala Quilt — in one day you’ll go from mystery to mastery!
Register for one, two or all three of RaNae’s workshop at World Quilt – you won’t be disappointed. As RaNae commented, “One of my students wrote to me at the end of a project and said ‘I never thought I could do anything like this. You’ve changed my life.’ Moments like that are when I get the greatest joy from quilting.”
For complete show details and to register online, please visit World Quilt New England.
World Quilt New England is generously sponsored by Nashua Sew & Vac/Pfaff/Husqvarna Viking, Olde City Quilts/Innova and Bits ‘n Pieces/Handi Quilter.