QA Teachers M - Z
Get to know our amazing Quilter's Affair teachers!
Mary just loves fiber. Yarn, fabric, threads. You name it. While she spends her time doing all-the-things fiber, Mary’s particular fascination with Sashiko comes from her time spent in Japan.
Introduced to Sashiko during her corporate years while traveling in Japan for work, Mary has spent the intervening years learning not just the techniques relating to Sashiko, but the history and cultural importance of the practice. Sashiko is beautiful in its own right and while it is easy to learn, it takes years to master. It represents insights into a culture that values the combination of beauty, utility and practice.
Tonye Belinda Phillips is a fiber artist/quilter living and creating in Camp Sherman, Oregon. Her work covers several different styles from whimsical folk art to abstract. Bright, saturated colors are a key ingredient in her work, along with the use of multiple different fibers for added texture. She is the author of the book Hand Appliquéd Quilts -Beautiful Designs & Simple Techniques. Tonye’s true love is hand stitching of any kind.
Adam Rateliff grew up wanting to be a teacher. During college, he thought he would be teaching accounting but now gets to share a true passion everyday with his followers. He would have never
guessed that he would one day be an internationally recognized longarm teacher.
Adam learned to sew at a young age. He remembers sitting and watching his mother in the kitchen, as she flipped her sewing machine out of the table and got to work. She taught him the basics of
sewing and most of the fiber arts then. After college, while working as an accountant, he started quilting. Quilting became a part of his life, and he really found a passion and desire for it.
In 2016 Adam purchased his first longarm and has been teaching since. He isn’t one to shy away from a challenge and will play until he finds a solution. He also brings a fresh view to the quilt world, looking for and taking out-of-the-box projects, and bringing them to the longarm, frequently with tutorials on his Adam Sew Fun YouTube channel. He has been a national educator since 2018, teaching consumers how to use a longarm, but more importantly, showing new owners that anyone can do it. His favorite part of teaching is when a timid student leaves with the knowledge that they too can do it.
You might know him as his social media personality Adam Sew Fun. In 2020, he started a successful YouTube channel, where he shares his love of the fiber arts. You can also see what he is working on, catch him on a LIVE and ask questions, or just see where his #turtletoes are leading
him next on his Adam Sew Fun Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Giuseppe Ribaudo (Giucy Giuce) grew up in Long Island, NY. His Sicilian-American family lived on the bottom floor of his grandparents’ house. His grandmother is a talented seamstress who taught him to sew at an early age. It wasn’t until college that he discovered quilting. After a decade of traveling, he moved back to New York to pursue a career in textiles. He was offered a marketing position at Andover Fabrics and was soon promoted to multimedia manager. In 2018, he turned his focus to fabric design and released his first collection, Quantum. His tenth collection, Nonna, is an homage to his grandmother and her home where he learned to sew. Recently he relocated to Portland, Maine where he continues to design fabric and patterns, and teach quilting classes.
Delia is a textile artist, natural dyer and educator working with plant pigments and recycled textiles. Raised in south
Louisiana, Delia moved to Oregon after graduating with a degree in graphic design to pursue letterpress printing and botanical illustration where she fell in love with foraging, and plant identification. She began block-printing on reclaimed fabrics and clothing in 2016 and in an effort to move more towards sustainable art practices, discovered natural dyes, a craft she has studied for just over five years now.
Delia has studied at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, working under Graham Keegan as a studio assistant, assisted with natural dye workshops at the WildCraft Studio School in Portland as an intern, and learned the process of eco-printing from Annette of Tinctorium Studio in Portugal.
Now based outside Portland, Oregon, she works at a small clothing consignment shop and experiments from her backyard home studio-- dyeing with foraged and garden-grown plants, teaching workshops, and recently started a small business mending clothing called Loop Mending.
Latifah Saafir is a Professional Seam Ripper and Hoarder of Fabric. She tries to justify her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree by designing cool, multi-functional tools for quilters to use like The Clammy and The HuRTy. She loves to challenge quilters to try hard things—and make them easier—by developing clear, approachable techniques for skills like curved piecing, bias tape appliqué, and half-rectangle triangles.
Having learned to sew as a kid, Latifah now works to inspire the next generation through her Quilt Cadets line, designed especially for kids who sew. A co-founder of both the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild and the Modern Quilt Guild worldwide, she’s on a mission to fill the world with quilty friends.
Her greatest love is teaching—but most days you’ll find her at her computer, feverishly trying to crack the code for the next pattern that’s destined to go viral.
Jenny and Helen are sisters that have many shared passions which include buying shoes, making good food, loving licorice flavored treats, raising and loving 11 children between them, and making beautiful quilts! We grew up watching our mom, grandma and granny always creating something beautiful and we are continuing that passion with Sew Kind of Wonderful! We have been sewing curves since 2010 and we are still going strong with over 100 patterns!
We love combining curved piecing with straight line piecing to give variety and beauty to every project. We always use an easy piecing technique that makes sewing with the bias quick and easy, and the square-up step ensures blocks are consistent for piecing at the next step.
One Ruler-Multiple Patterns -Endless Possibilities
Naomi Snapp is a passionate quilt artist whose work blends traditional quilting, foundation paper piecing, and art quilts into vibrant, story-driven designs. As a certified Legit Kits instructor and President of the Richmond Quilters Guild, she loves helping others grow their skills and confidence through engaging programs and workshops.
Naomi’s teaching style emphasizes creative freedom, practical technique, and joy in the process—whether students are tackling their first quilt or mastering complex designs. Originally from Oregon and now based in Virginia with her husband, three kids, and three dogs, she brings warmth, humor, and real-life balance to everything she creates and teaches.
Sujata Shah’s work is inspired by the imperfections and irregularities of handmade crafts from India and around the world. While incorporating them as design elements, she explores abstract interpretations of traditional quilt blocks in design and compositions. Her instinctive ability to work with colors and textures, combined with education in graphic design, has helped her develop a unique style as a designer. Her quilts originate from emotions, memories of events or places she travels to. She finds hand stitching therapeutic and nourishing to the soul, ultimately helping her document personal stories of time spent with family and friends.
Kelly is a leadership and personal coach who works with high achievers who are feeling that “there’s got to be something else.” They may have checked all the boxes but want to experience a fulfilled, meaningful, and more creative life. She works with individuals and organizations, runs international retreats with Valori Wells, and co-hosts online groups to enhance wellbeing and creativity.
Sheila Sinclair Snyder of License to Quilt is well-known and loved throughout the Pacific Northwest. She is an author, speaker, designer and talented teacher of a variety of quilting arts. Most popular among her classes recently is Barn Quilt Painting, a project that can be completed in class.
Southern Africa had a considerable influence on my life and creativity. I was born in Zambia and educated in South Africa, where I also trained to be a nurse. I soon moved to England. This shift between two very different environments and cultures has inspired many of my designs. The stark contrasts between the arid beige and browns of the African bushveld and the lush greens of the rolling hills of Southern England have continued to be a rich source of ideas. I am influenced especially by the energy and color of traditional African designs. All of these early experiences combined to stir my love of “primitive” arts and crafts and grew into my focus on contemporary folk-art. Throughout my early life, the United States beckoned and in 1989 that dream was fulfilled when I moved to Connecticut and subsequently to Tennessee, Utah and finally settling in Ohio. Each new State presented sharp contrasts and stirred new ideas. With each move I met many new and wonderful quilt enthusiasts and through them added abundantly
to my knowledge and creativity. Quilt makers are special people and I thank them for their
warmth and companionship.
A quilter since 1986, Karen’s inspiration manifests equally of innovation and tradition. Her quilts have won numerous awards, including first prizes in international competitions, and her designs appear frequently in exhibition. Her Clam Session quilt received the Master of Innovative Artistry award at IQF in 2009, and her Indian Orange Peel Quilt was People’s Choice at Quilt National ’95, and is now part of the QN collection at the International Quilt Museum. Her Sacred quilt was Best of Show in Dallas in 2020. Her pieces have juried into Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022, and won awards in QuiltCon 2022 & 2023. Her Las Almas Rotas won a judges award at Quilt National ’23, and she judged for the Houston International Quilt Festival in 2023. Having enjoyed success in design, publication and teaching, she continues to teach,and reinvent herself in new work. Karen holds degrees in Piano from Baylor and Indiana Universities, has two beautiful daughters, three exemplary cats, and rides her bike from historic Deep Ellum in Dallas, TX.
Lawry made her first quilt–Storm at Sea–after moving to Sisters and discovering this “cute little quilt shop” in Sisters Hotel (now the bar of Sisters Saloon). This led to filling in at Stitchin’ Post, then teaching quilting classes, and now teaching mystery and beginning quilt classes as well. Traditional style and teaching basic techniques are her forté. At the Stitchin’ Post, Lawry does all of the registration for Quilter’s Affair.
Recurring themes in my textile art have to do with natural configurations: rocks, trees, grasses, flowers, and the land. I am fascinated with line, pattern, shape, color, and texture, and how to design with these elements capturing the essence of what I see and feel. My favorite quotation is from Emerson, "Nature always wears the colors of the spirit."
As co-owner of Stitchin’ Post with my daughter Valori in Sisters, Oregon for 49 years, I have been involved in the quilting industry as an author, workshop/lecture presenter, and founder of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.
I received the Business of the Year and Citizen of the Year award in Sisters, and was the first independent retailer to be inducted into Primedia’s Independent Retailer Hall of Fame. In 2010 I was inducted into the Quilter's Hall of Fame in Marion, Indiana. I received the Michael Kile Award of Achievement honoring commitment to creativity and excellence in the quilting industry. The Stitchin’ Post was one of the first stores to be included in the American Patchwork and Quilting top ten quilt shop issue. I am the author of 30 books, the most current ones being “Intuitive Color and Design,” 2nd edition, and “Journey to Inspired Art Quilting.” In 2020 I was awarded the Ben Westlund Memorial Award by the Deschutes Cultural Coalition of the Oregon Cultural Trust. I have participated in many gallery shows, won numerous honors with my quilts, as well as been featured as a quilt artist in Japan, England, and France. My most recent award is a Judge’s Choice award at the Houston Quilt Festival. My love of sharing ideas and techniques
in the classroom is what drives my creativity whether online or in the classroom.
Krista West delights in bringing ancient beauty to the modern world with embroidery designs inspired by traditional Mediterranean folk textiles.
Introduced to traditional folk embroidery in Greece, she fell in love with the vibrant colors and historic motifs and began stitching textiles for her own home. She quickly realized there was still much interest in this historic craft and opened Avlea Folk Embroidery to share the beauty of folk embroidery with others.
She happily spends her days in her studio in Central Oregon, designing patterns and making kits for customers and shops around the world.
Michelle Wilkie is an artist who primarily works in textiles, embracing improvisation and minimalism.
Michelle's work has been featured in prominent venues, including the NC Museum of Art, PNW Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum, the Mint Museum, Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh and Virginia Quilt Museum. She is coming off the success of three solo exhibitions at the PAAL Gallery, the Page-Walker Arts and History Center, and the Durham Art Guild, and participated in notable juried art group shows in the US and internationally in Taiwan, UK, and Europe. Her work was featured in multiple publications and included in the book Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century.
Veruschka Zarate, the artist behind Pride & Joy Quilting, is known for transforming fabric into luminous stories of color, whimsy, and wonder. An award-winning quilt maker and designer, she brings a painter's eye to Foundation Paper Piecing—her signature technique—using vibrant palettes, joyful geometry, and narrative-rich compositions to celebrate beauty, memory, and empowerment.
An artist all her life, Veruschka explored countless creative mediums before discovering quilting—an electrifying moment when everything she loved came together in one place. Color theory, illustration, storytelling, precision craft, and a touch of playful magic all converged in fabric form.
From that moment on, quilting became both her canvas and her language. Her quilts have since earned international acclaim, yet her most cherished creations are the ones stitched at home alongside her two young sons—her true "pride and joy."
Today, Veruschka travels the world teaching workshops, presenting to guilds, and sharing her joyful, heart-centered approach to quiltmaking. Follow her creative journey on Instagram and Facebook at Pride & Joy Quilting.
Z Glass Act was formed in 1998 in Eugene, Oregon by Susie Zeitner. Her career spans 37 years as a Graphic Designer and Commercial Photo Director and 15 years as an Art Glass Interior Design Specialist.
The past four years she has had a special relationship with Stitchin’ Post offering glass design classes primarily aimed at garden art.
Founding her own business has been a great success. Her clients include many commercial developers, interior designers, large hotels, as well as private commissions and national hospitality and restaurant projects. Each piece Susie creates is entirely handmade. Her designs are fabricated in
her studio down to the most intricate detail and then fused at 1500 degrees in custom fabricated kilns. The studio for Z Glass Art is located in Sisters, Oregon.
