2015 Quilter's Retreat

Plans are beginning to take shape for our 2015 Mayflower Quilter's Retreat at Pictou Lodge. We are happy to announce our lineup of teachers for the 2015 Retreat - first of all the dates are Wednesday September 23 - Sunday September 27, 2015. Registration forms will be really early in January 2015, registration will begin mid March 2015.

And the teachers are...

Fiesta Mexico - Karen Kay Buckley

Karen Kay Buckley from Carlisle, Pennsylvania 

Karen has over 300 quilts to her credit and her personal work has received numerous awards including nine Best of Show Awards, including the 2013 Best of Show at the American Quilter's Association Show in Paducah, Kentucky. Karen was voted "Teacher of the Year" by the Professional Quilter Magazine in 1997. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines and calendars. Karen has fourteen "cover quilts" to her credit (she considers herself very lucky!). She has appeared on Simply Quilts and AQS show American Quilter. Karen has a very busy schedule teaching, judging and designing.

Karen has written four books and has numerous patterns published. As well Karen has developed several of her own products and useful tools including her amazing scissors!

In A New York State Of Mind - Ana Buzzalino

Ana Buzzalino from Calgary, Alberta 

Ana Buzzalino is a fiber artist and quilt instructor living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She has taken numerous workshops with renowned quilt and fiber artists throughout the years to improve her skills. Some of the workshops have been with Hollis Chatelain, Laura Cater Woods, Katie Pasquini Massopoust, and Elizabeth Barton among others. She has also attended various classes at the Alberta College of Arts and Design. 

Ana has been a teacher on a variety of quilting techniques for the past 22 years. Some of the recent workshops have been on Machine Quilting with focus on free-motion quilting, and New York Beauties Blocks quilts, which is one of her interests. Her present focus is on Art Quilts, incorporating different elements for surface texture. 

Ana's quilts have won several awards at local and national shows, and have been juried into major International shows.

Make and Break - Laurie Swim

Laurie Swim from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia 

Laurie has worked as an artist for some 40 years, developing unique and innovative treatments to fashion her imagery in textiles with fabric and thread. She has written three books, two published internationally, on quilt art. The Joy of Quilting with an Introduction by Alex Colville, 1984, made her an early leader in the art quilt field. Laurie's third book, Rags to Riches: The Quilt as Art with an introduction by Mary Pratt, was published in Canada in 2007.

Laurie's works grace many private and public collections, including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Art Bank, Nova Scotia Designer Craft Council, the City of Toronto Art Collection and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

Del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles, California has represented Laurie since 2007. She is also represented by Zwicker's Art Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Amicus Gallery in Chester, NS.

Laurie is recognized as one of Canada's best living artists. 

We are so excited to have these three exceptional teachers at our 15th Quilter's Retreat,be sure and visit their websites to see more of their work. The pictures shown in this blog post do not necessarily represent the workshops they will be teaching. Workshops will be announced in September.