Pine Tree Quilters Guild of Wausau proudly presents Quilt College 2024!

We are so excited to present four accomplished quilting instructors for a day of learning and sewing! Participants will leave with confidence and actual projects from each class.

You will choose two of the four class options when you register for Quilt College. Two classes will require you to bring your sewing machine, and two classes feature projects not requiring a machine. Quilt College 2024 features classes in NTC’s up-to-date Health Sciences building, where each participant will have their own workspace. The modest registration fee includes instruction, salad lunch, six hours of instruction and gift bag. All classes require a kit with patterns and/or materials. You will purchase these directly from the instructors and pay for them before your class starts. Some classes will ask that you also bring some supplies from home. What an amazing value!

Instructors will also have “pop-up” shops in their classrooms, with shopping time before the classes and during the lunch time. Get ready to have some fun as we strengthen our quilting community and our personal skills!

Sponsored by: Pine Tree Quilters Guild & North Central Technical College. Pine Tree Quilters’ goal is to provide high-quality quilting instruction to our quilting community.

Details

  • Quilt College is limited to 100 students, each with their own workstation
  • $90.00 tuition per registrant. Tuition includes classes, lunch & a goodie bag.
  • Supplies will be purchased from each instructor directly. See class descriptions for more information.
  • All classes require everything listed on the equipment & supply list for that class. Two classes require a sewing machine in good operating order — Flowering Snowball and Specialty Materials Tote

Registration

Registration is now closed.

Workshops

Curved Piecing — Flowering Snowball

Taught by Heidi Miller of Created Anew Designs. Sewing machine required.

The Flowering Snowball quilt pattern is a great way to learn how to piece together curves for a quilt. The pattern includes acrylic rulers which are a must for accurate cutting and making the job go a lot faster!

View Supply List 

Heidi Miller

About Heidi Miller

Heidi has been piecing quilts since 2001. She decided to give it a try when she was pregnant with her daughter. Her first class was with the Marathon County 4-H Quilt Camp. She has had the privilege of teaching the very same camp to young quilters. Fast forward a few years after piecing her first quilt (which she still has), Heidi and her mom, Peg, decided to invest in a Gammill long-arm quilting machine and eventually retrofitted it to be computerized and hasn’t looked back since! In addition to quilting, Heidi also does graphic design work for local businesses and her church. She enjoys taking old designs and reviving them into something new!

About Created Anew Designs, LLC

Created Anew Designs, LLC was established in 2016 when their doors opened in a historic building in downtown Mosinee. Created Anew started out with one computerized long-arm machine and averaged about 350 quilts a year the first few years. In 2019, a second computerized machine was acquired and the average quilts jumped to 640 a year. In 2023, Created Anew participated in their first WI State Quilt Shop Hop which significantly helped boost exposure and business. Today, the studio boasts a modern bright color wall with a great selection of wide-back fabrics and an extensive class list.

Specialty Materials Tote

Taught by Mary Wilke of Sew Smart. Sewing machine required.

During this class, participants will make a classy tote with a colorful denim body and waxed canvas handles, base, and trim. They will learn helpful tips and techniques when using specialty materials in sewing projects. The instructor will cover waxed canvas and denim which is being used in this project, as well as cork, leather, and other materials.

The project is designed to be completed in class. The tote features a reversed outside gusset and a loop and button closure. Finished size is 15”deep, with a 12” long x 6-1/2” wide base, plus handles. Materials in the required kit will be precut and handles will be pressed and ready to sew.

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Mary Wilke

About Mary Wilke

Mary Wilke has sewn her entire life. Some of her earliest memories include sitting on her mother’s lap and helping her sew clothes for the family on a straight stitch Necchi.

As a child, Mary spent many hours in her father’s garage helping him restore vintage Chevrolets. She accompanied her father across the country to participate in national car shows. The restoration of these cars helped Mary understand the mechanics inside a sewing machine.

Mary has been collecting vintage sewing machines for many years and has over 400 machines of all kinds, including a first edition Singer Featherweight from 1933, an Opel hand crank machine, and several rare toy sewing machines dating pre-1900. She is passionate about preserving the history of the sewing revolution and loves to share her knowledge. She enjoys reading about early inventors and marvels at their mechanical ability.

In August 2003, she bought A & J Sewing Center. She learned how to repair all makes and ages of sewing machines, crediting her mentors Art and Janet Goudin. She is forever grateful to them for their guidance.

She is the owner of Sew Smart, Central Wisconsin’s largest creative sewing center located in Wausau. Sew Smart offers several brands of sewing, quilting, and embroidery machines, with a large service department and five service technicians having multiple certifications. Sew Smart is also a full-line quilt shop.

About Sew Smart

Sew Smart of Wausau has been serving the sewing community for over 20 years. The shop offers a wide range of project samples to inspire your creativity, classes to teach you the tricks on how to make them most successfully, and high-quality merchandise to ensure your appreciation of the final product. We are central Wisconsin’s largest creative sewing center and the preferred destination of many sewists of all skill levels.

Our knowledgeable staff specializes in personalized service, whether they’re helping you select fabrics or a new machine. Sew Smart brings you competitive sewing machine prices that go hand in hand with timely, skilled machine service. On-site certified technicians keep your sewing machine in optimum condition.

Sew Smart has a large classroom always filled with activity, from children’s beginning sewing to advanced software for machine embroidery. Everyone, from any skill level, is welcome to join the Sew Smart family.

Crazy Needlework Adventure

Taught by Kari Bender of The Quilting and Needle Workshop. No machine needed.

Using a premade crazy quilt block of neutral cotton quilting fabric, the participants will learn a variety of handwork techniques using silk ribbon, wool and cotton threads, and a variety of other fibers. At the end of the three-hour class session, students will have a block that can be either framed or used in a quilted project.

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Kari Bender

About Kari Bender

Kari Bender has been sewing all her life. In March 1993, she took over ownership of the Needle Workshop; needlework was her passion at the time. She opened the Quilting Workshop in 2002 and has since proven to the community that she’s not just a stitcher but also a quilter. Much like the history of the buildings where the shops are located, she has had many careers. This includes working at other craft supply stores, working as a Family and Consumer Education teacher and jewelry salesperson. Her college degrees are in Textiles and Clothing from UW-Madison, and Teaching from UW-Stevens Point.

Kari is passionate about giving to others, so she volunteers at assisted living homes, organizes fundraisers for the Wausau Area School Food Pantry, organizes quilt drives, teaches youths to sew, donates sewing supplies to those in need and much more. When she’s not busy running a business or sewing, you can find her baking, passionately caring about the environment and recycling or spending time with animals. Her “floofy” cat Carmel also helps with daily activities such as sewing, shoveling, driving and picking out the day’s outfit.

About The Quilting and Needle Workshop

Centrally located near downtown Wausau and the highway lies a little shop with a big personality and selection. The historic 1880s building (which was once a grocery store, pharmacy, and plumbing store) now houses the area’s largest selection of needlework patterns, threads, batiks, and quilting fabrics. The Needle Workshop carries supplies for cross stitch, counted canvas, needlepoint, hardanger, drawn thread, embroidery, sashiko, wool appliqué, needle punch, knotted rugs and more! The Quilting Workshop has over 4,500 fabrics to choose from and carries flannel, batiks, quilting cotton from top brands, children’s, homespun, over 300 clearance fabrics, thousands of patterns, and notions! The staff is passionate about customer service, crafts, and helping you succeed. Stop in for advice on projects or life, classes, shopping, friendship, and inspiration.

Introduction to Collage Quilting

Taught by Teresa Locknane of Red Spool Designs. No machine needed.

This class will be part lecture and part hands-on workshop. Students will learn about fabric collage, well-known collage quilt artists, and the tools, products, and techniques used in collage quilting. A handout will accompany the presentation. Students will learn the “underlay” method of collage to make a small “Derpy Chirpy” art quilt of their own.

View Supply List 

Teresa Locknane

About Teresa Locknane

Teresa Locknane is a quilter, long-armer, pattern designer, and instructor from Wausau, Wisconsin. Teresa has loved art and drawing since she was young, but never planned to sew anything. She was coerced into “sewing some little squares together” by a friend in 1994 and has since become a full- blown quilt-aholic!

Teresa absolutely LOVES color and print! She enjoys traditional piecing and scrap quilting, but her passion is collage quilting and teaching collage to students. She also enjoys participating in different types of quilt challenges that push her to think “outside of the box” and experiment with ideas or techniques.

She has exhibited and won awards in local quilt shows and has had work juried into the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show, the Cherrywood Challenge and Hoffman Challenge exhibits.

About Red Spool Designs

Teresa and her daughter Emma began doing pattern writing and graphic design for Tina Baker at Farmgirl Quilts Stitching Studio in Marquette, Michigan, in 2020. In 2023 she began publishing some of her own patterns under the name Red Spool Designs. In addition, Teresa has released several collaborative patterns with Heidi Miller from Created Anew Designs in Mosinee, Wisconsin, where she has worked as a long-arm quilter and instructor since 2022.

Teresa is available to teach classes or retreat workshops and/or provide a trunk show. Her patterns can be found on Etsy at RedSpoolDesigns, or shops can contact her directly for wholesale pricing.

Schedule

8am

Doors Open. Set up your workstation. Pop up shops open. Purchase your class kit.

9am

Classes Start

Noon – 1:30

Salad Lunch (Included) and shopping time. Purchase your class kit for your second class.

1:30pm – 4:30pm

Classes Resume

5pm

Doors Close

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will Quilt College be held in 2024?

This year we are back at Northcentral Technical College. Classes will be in the Center for Health Sciences building, 1000 Campus Drive, Wausau, WI 54401, located south of the Main Campus building.

Where should I park?

Lot B on the west side of the Center for Health Sciences building.

What if I have trouble moving my sewing machine from my car to the classroom?

If you have mobility issues and need assistance arrangements will be made for you. Please indicate that assistance is needed when you register.

How do I find the right room?

Workshops will be held in classrooms on both the main and second level of the Center for Health Sciences building. Workshops requiring a sewing machine will be located on the main level. An elevator is available for use to reach classrooms on the second level if needed. There will be volunteers and signage to help direct you.

What are the rooms like?

Each classroom is equipped with large screens and up-to-date audio and visual technology. All classrooms have excellent acoustics, robust sound systems. Room monitors will be present in each room to help with questions.

Should I bring my own iron?

No, ironing stations will be provided around the perimeter of the classroom, in compliance with NTC Facilities Safety requirements.

How much workspace will I have?

Each participant will have their own workspace on a table. It is preferred that you leave your portable sewing tables at home, to keep walkways open.

What do I need to bring along from home?

Supply lists from each instructor will be sent as attachments to your registration confirmation e-mail.

What’s the lunch plan?

A variety of salad options will be provided for lunch. You will be asked to make your salad selection during the registration process. There are lots of seating options inside and outside, to enjoy your lunch with friends.

Are there snack breaks?

There are no scheduled break times, but you may bring your own beverages and snacks.

How much does it cost?

$90.00 tuition per registrant, includes two of the four classes, lunch & a gift bag. Supplies will be purchased from each instructor directly. See class descriptions for more information.

How do I register?

Registration is now closed

Is shopping an option?

Instructors will have items for sale, including books, patterns and notions. Be prepared to pay by cash, check, or credit card as payment varies by instructor.