Say hello to the talented Janet Yamamoto from Hamilton, Missouri! Janet has been an Island Batik Ambassador for three and a half years, and we have enjoyed seeing all the beautiful quilts and home decor items she has created with our fabric and products from our generous industry partners, Aurifil, AccuQuilt, Hobbs and Schmetz Needles.

Please, say hello to the talented Carla Henton from Dodge City, Kansas! Carla has been lucky to be surrounded by talented women all of her life, starting with her mom and grandmother who taught her to sew, and now with the fun online sewing and crafting community. She designs sewing and quilting patterns along with tutorials and has organized blog hops and designed Blocks of the Month. You can find Carla at Creatin’ in the Sticks!

Please, welcome a new member of Island Batik Ambassador family – Megan Best from Ferndale, Washington! Megan is a quilting addict who loves to spread joy through quilting every day. Her motto is “do what brings you joy”, and for her that is every part of quilting! Megan made her first quilt while in high school and continued to foster this love throughout her education, achieving degrees in Apparel Design and Merchandising/Textiles.

Please, say hello to the talented Denise Looney of For The Love Of Geese, who joined the Island Batik Ambassador family in 2019! Denise is a self-taught quilter and pattern designer, based in Illinois.

The talented Maryellen McAuliffe joined the Island Batik Ambassador program back in 2014 and it has been great to see her grow as a quilter with our monthly challenges and events, that sometimes pushed Maryellen out of her creative comfort zone!

We are excited to introduce another Island Batik Ambassador – the talented Suzy Webster of Websterquilt! For Suzy, it is the fifth year in the program and we are so happy to have her continue creating beautiful projects and sharing her passion of quilting with the 2020 team!

We are happy to introduce the talented Sally Manke, whose mission is to delight others with textile art that exemplifies her passion for joyful, creative expression through color and texture. Sally enjoys crafting traditional quilts, coiled rope baskets and all forms of fiber art, but her passion is art quilts.

Sally and her Dandy and Dejavu art quilt, made for 2019 July Island Batik Ambassador challenge. To learn about Sally’s process of creating the quilt, please visit: https://www.sallymanke.com/blog/2019/7/6/dandy-and-dejavu-art-quilt.

It is time to introduce another talented member of 2020 Island Batik Ambassador Program! Say hello to Leah Malasky, a self-taught talented quilter behind Quilted Delights! Leah enjoyed her first year as an Ambassador in 2019 and is happy to continue in 2020, showcasing the gorgeous fabric and helping others love the craft!

Please, meet Jennifer Thomas of Curlicue Creations, who has been with the Island Batik Ambassador program since 2018! Jennifer is a quilt pattern designer in love with color. Her patterns can be found in numerous quilt magazines and books including Quiltmaker, Modern Quilts, Love of Quilting, Modern Patchwork, American Quilter, McCall’s Quilting and many others! She spends her days quilting in a vintage farmhouse in the rolling countryside of North Carolina with children, cats, and nature all around.

We are very excited to introduce to you a talented quilter from Ontario, Canada, Sandra Walker of mmm! quilts! It is Sandra’s third year in the Island Batik Ambassador program and we love all the gorgeous projects she has created so far! The majority of those beautiful quilts and home décor items are Sandra’s original designs – her patterns have been published in such magazines as Modern Patchwork, McCall’s Quilting and Modern by the Yard eZine.

Please, say hello to Vasudha Govindan of Storied Quilts, who became a member of Island Batik Ambassador family in 2019! We love the unique perspective she brings to quilting and quilt design, and the gorgeous modern projects she created for the program!

Carol Moellers joined the Island Batik Ambassador program in 2019 and we were incredibly happy when she applied for the 2020 season! Not only is Carol a talented quilter and pattern designer, but she also teaches piecing, machine appliqué, binding, and design classes. Her patterns have been featured in such publications, as McCall’s Quilting, Quilter’s Newsletter, Sew Iowa, and IQA Festival Newsletter.

We are happy to introduce another talented member of the 2020 Island Batik Brand Ambassador team! Please, welcome Jennifer Fulton, a quilter who is passionate about color, fabrics, and design! Jennifer loves to share what she learns with other quilters, which is why she named her blog The Inquiring Quilter.

Jennifer made her first quilt when she was 36: ” I’d taken a class to make a sampler quilt but hadn’t finished it when I got pregnant. I immediately got the urge to make a baby quilt and selected a rather complicated pattern without knowing how hard it would be to make even with a class! As a result I didn’t finish it until she was 5. I consider it my first quilt even though in those five years I did make other quilts (simpler ones) to learn the craft. The baby quilt sample was quite scrappy, so before the class I spent several hours selecting scraps for the baby quilt from a scrap barrel at my lqs. We were taught to cut our scraps using a template we were provided so the process was tedious. The quilt was basically HSTs and square in square blocks, so it didn’t take me long to discover that there was an easier way to make the blocks. But I learned over time how to piece properly and to square up my blocks and eventually I finished the top and even quilted it myself using straight line quilting. Although the result is not perfect, it’s a lovely quilt all the same and my daughter loves it.”

Please, welcome Connie Kauffman of Kauffman Designs! She is a talented quilt designer, whose patterns have been published in numerous popular books and magazines, including McCall’s Quilting, Love of Quilting, Quiltmaker, American Patchwork & Quilting and many more. Connie has been an Island Batik Ambassador since the program started back in 2014, and we are very happy to have her in the 2020 team!

Connie has been quilting for almost 39 years. She made her first “real” quilt when her son went from the baby bed to a twin bed. Guess what Connie used to make it? Blue jeans!