Top 5 Quilting Influencers that Are Inspiring Us the Most Right Now

As crafters, makers and people who love to create, we know our community is more important than ever, and we are here to support your creativity and wellbeing. So many in our quilting world have been sharing, doing, motivating and coming together (we LOVE it!) that I wanted to share with you who is inspiring us these days.

1. Gudrun Erla hosted a one-day Quarantine Quilt Along featuring her Elvira pattern. An incredible 16,000 quilters from 37 countries made this quilt! A couple of my quilty friends sewed along and had a fabulous time. Gudrun even created a Spotify playlist full of fun, and funny, song choices to help us all get through these challenging times! Check out all of the Elvira videos on YouTube. gequiltdesigns.com

2. Regular Quiltmaker contributor, Bonnie Hunter, is about as real as it gets. She is always open and honest about how things are and shares her thoughts and feelings openly. It’s comforting to know others are feeling the same as we are and her Sew-in-Place Unity Quilt Along couldn’t be more appropriate! As she says, “the purpose is to help us feel TOGETHER, even though we are completely isolated…”. What more do we need?! All of Bonnie’s scrappy patterns and blog can be found at quiltville.com.

If you love Bonnie Hunter you’re going to love her Lazy Sunday Quilt Pattern Download!

3. Self-proclaimed painter, textile designer, teacher, mama, and author Carrie Bloomston is igniting creativity in all of us across a multitude of crafts. She speaks about the creative spark that lives inside all of us and how through compassion and self-love (something we all need more of, especially these days!) we can enable our creativity. Her Mark Rothko inspired exercise to create using found objects was so much fun to see. After watching Carrie’s video, our own Quilting Arts editor, Vivika Hansen DeNegre, gathered a twist tie, a handful of bamboo skewers, a few chopsticks, some corks, and jar covers from her overflowing junk drawer and ended up with this striking composition on her cookie sheet. I love it! You can be sure I’ll be following Carrie on Instagram for regular doses of inspiration. carriebloomston.com

Check out this Applique Bird Quilt Pattern Download in Carrie’s Story Collection with Windham Fabrics.

Or craft a freeform nest pattern, create collages from fabric, and tap into your creativity with Carrie Bloomston in this Art Techniques for Quilt Design Video Download.

4. Kim Niedzwiecki is just a bundle of energy and positivity it seems! Just check out her profile pic, and hello! her nickname is Go-Go Kim! She was recently a guest on our Quilt & Tell podcast and I know Tracy, Lori, and Ginger had a blast just chatting things up with her. Click here to have a listen.  Her Monday Motivation blog posts are a wonderful resource for all sorts of free patterns and tutorials for everything from quilting to sewing and embroidery. gogokim.com

5. Play with purpose. Dig deeper, take risks and experiment with fabric says Victoria Findlay Wolfe. With all of this extra time at home, now is a fabulous time to focus on playing, experimenting and creating. It could be a new project, a new technique or something entirely different. I am finding inspiration and comfort in Victoria’s IG posts about how she is hunkering in with her family and all the little joys of being at home; cooking, crocheting, watching movies, and of course quilting. She recently posted about making her own bagels which is motivating me to try my hand at making a batch myself. Something new for me! vfwquilts.com

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out this Quilting Inspiration episode of the Quilt & Tell Podcast where Victoria Findlay Wolfe joins the ladies for a conversation about being one of the quilters featured on the special quilting episode of Craft in America on PBS, her new book, and her online classes.

Or check out her Orange Mélange Quilt Pattern Download.

We invite you to reach out to us on social media and let us know what is inspiring you using the hashtag #keepyourcraftclose.