Pine Tree Quilters Guild of Wausau proudly presents Quilt College 2025!
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 six class options when you register for Quilt College. Three classes will require you to bring your sewing machine, and three classes feature projects not requiring a machine. Quilt College 2025 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, taco bar 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 & Northcentral 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
- Early bird tuition of $80.00 per registrant, goes to $90.00 per participant after September 1st. 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. Three classes require a sewing machine in good operating order — Wonky Neighbor, Crazy Patchwork Quilt Block, and Dresden Plate Quilt Block.
Registration
Registration opens on August 1st and will close when filled or on October 4, 2025 — whichever comes first. You can register online, by phone (715.675.3331), or in person at the Main Campus office during office hours.
Workshops
Machine Piecing — Wonky Neighbor
Taught by Heidi Miller of Created Anew Designs. Sewing machine required.
Learn how to paper piece, using the tear free method! This fun little wall hanging measures 12” wide x 11.5” high. It would be perfect done in all the seasons or in your favorite colors - add embellishments to make it your own!
About Heidi Miller & Created Anew Designs
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.
Machine Piecing — Crazy Patchwork Quilt Block
Taught by Mary Wilke of Sew Smart. Sewing machine required.
This class is one of Sew Smart’s most popular classes, and for anyone who has wanted to try crazy patchwork quilting but just hasn’t gotten around to doing it. You will learn step by step how to use those scraps that are just too beautiful to toss. You can add a dainty handkerchief, an embroidered linen from the past or other items to personalize your block. After construction, you will have the opportunity to enhance your block with decorative stitches and threads. We will explore those decorative stitches on your sewing machine that you’ve always wanted to try. Don’t have a lot of decorative stitches on your machine? No worries! With a few fun threads, blind hem stitch, zig zag, and one or two other stitches you can make it happen!
Machine Piecing — Dresden Plate Quilt Block
Taught by Mary Wilke of Sew Smart. Sewing machine required.
“Back in the 1800s in Dresden, Germany, ceramic artists were creating beautiful works of art. Artists painted beautiful designs onto porcelain tableware and placed their trademarks on the bottom of the pieces.
These trademarks resembled crowns and would let people know who had painted the pieces. Fast forward to the early 1900s in America, where quilt making was a huge part of life since there are cold winters in a large part of the country.
The Dresden plate quilt block emerged in the 1920s and is meant to be reminiscent of the Dresden porcelain trademarks. Dresden plate quilts have been popular ever since, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.” by Miriam Ronne
This class will teach an easy way to make this traditional quilt block. You will learn step by step how to make the plates and assemble them into an 18” quilt block, which can easily be made into a throw pillow, table mat or other fun new looks. There are 4 color choices of precut kits to choose from.
About Mary Wilke & Sew Smart
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.
Hand Work — Visible Mending (Boro)
Taught by Kari Bender of The Quilting and Needle Workshop. No machine needed.
Boro is an old mending technique that is finding new life with the young, recycling and upcycling generation. It originated in northern Japan where the weather gets very cold and access to clothing was very limited. It was a time and place when people often owned only a few garments for their entire life so mending them was essential to prolong the life of the garment and to add layers for warmth.
Boro is currently part of the slow stitching movement that allows for meditative stitching time, either for creation of art or for function of a garment. Patching your clothes is back in fashion!
For class, we will have kits available for practice to try the technique before you start your own project, but you are welcome to bring along a favorite garment that needs some repair. We will explore ideas for how to go about it and may even have some time to get started on it.
Hand Work — The Magic of Blackwork: Deceptive Simplicity
Taught by Kari Bender of The Quilting and Needle Workshop. No machine needed.
Blackwork, also known as Spanish Work, is a type of counted thread embroidery thought to have originated in Spain. It was brought to England by Catherine of Aragon. With deceptive simplicity, skilled English embroiderers worked the finest Flemish linen with black silk to decorate royal household linens as well as items of clothing. Modern Blackwork is traditionally stitched in black thread on white even-weave fabric but is often worked in multiple or other single colors, where repeating patterns are stitched with varying densities. Given the fact the stitches themselves are relatively simple – the vast array of complex patterns that can be created is amazing.
To start your Blackwork journey, you will practice some stitches on 14 count Aida. You will also learn how to create shading by both varying the weight of the threads and the density of the stitching.
About Kari Bender & The Quilting and Needle Workshop
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.
Hand Work — Seasonal Collaged Mini Art Quilt
Taught by Teresa Locknane of Red Spool Designs. No machine needed.
In this class students will learn the underlay method of collage with Laura Heine certified collage instructor, Teresa Locknane, using Laura Heine’s ‘Whatevers! Flower Truck’ pattern and their own fabrics. The finished collage will measure 8”–9” square.
Ideas for using art supplies such as ink, stamps, stencils, Inktense pencils, markers and paint for fabric collage will also be discussed.
About Teresa Locknane & Red Spool Designs
About Teresa Locknane
Teresa Locknane is a quilter, long-armer, pattern designer, and Certified Laura Heine Collage instructor from Wausau, Wisconsin.
Teresa has always been interested in art, but never planned to sew anything until she was coerced into “sewing some little squares together” by a friend in 1994, which led her down of the path to becoming a full- blown quilt-aholic!
While Teresa enjoys piecing, scrap quilting, and participating in different types of quilt challenges that push her creatively, her passion is fabric collage and teaching collage to students. She is an experienced Laura Heine instructor and has taught many classes using the underlay method and Laura Heine’s patterns.
She has exhibited and won awards in local quilt shows and has been fortunate enough to have work juried into the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show, the Cherrywood Challenge and Hoffman Challenge exhibits.
Teresa has been pattern writing since 2020 and now has multiple patterns published under her business name: Red Spool Designs. She works for Heidi Miller at Created Anew Designs in Mosinee, Wisconsin.
Her patterns can be purchased on Etsy at RedSpoolDesigns, or at Created Anew Designs. Shops can contact her directly for wholesale pricing.
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
Taco Bar 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 2025?
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 taco bar will be provided for lunch. 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?
Early bird tuition of $80.00 per registrant, goes to $90.00 per participant after September 1st. Tuition includes classes, lunch & a goodie bag. Supplies will be purchased from each instructor directly. See class descriptions for more information.
How do I register?
Registration opens on August 1st and will close when filled or on October 4, 2025 — whichever comes first. You can register online, by phone (715.675.3331), or in person at the Main Campus office during office hours.
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.