News…

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is offering a quilt workshop with Stacy Koehler, a certified judge of the National Association of Certified Quilting Judges (NACQJ), on Friday, May 4, from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston. Class size is limited and registration is required. There is a $20 fee per person, payable to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.

The workshop, “First Steps in Improvisation,” will teach students about a number of improvisational techniques that let you gradually loosen your hold on exact measurements and patterns and begin to trust your eye and the process to guide you to a unique outcome. In the first half of the workshop, each participant will build a piece of improvisational fabric which can stand alone or be worked into a larger piece. The second half will focus on improvisational lettering.

Koehler, of Pittsburgh, Pa., is the secretary of the NACQJ as well as being a certified judge. She started her first quilt more than 40 years ago and has since worked to become a better quilter, more deeply involved in the quilting world and an advocate for credentialed quilt show judging. Koehler gained her certification in 2005 and became qualified to judge in the National Quilting Association’s Masterpiece Quilt program three years later. She is a member of Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild and writes the NACQJ’s blog titled “The Quilt Judge’s Eye.”

All students will receive a class kit to include all fabrics needed for the class. There is an additional kit fee of $12.

For more information about the quilt workshop, or to register and receive a supply list, contact Cailin Howe, exhibits coordinator for the division, at (304) 558-0220, ext. 128 or cailin.a.howe@wv.gov.

-30-