Guest Instructor: Ann Parsons Holte

Join guest instructor Ann Parsons Holte, author of Making the Lancaster Diamond Sampler: A 19th Century Quilt Design by Fanny’s Friend, for a one-day workshop on Getting Started with the Lancaster Diamond Sampler.

This quilt is one of a small group of similar quilts from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that were made in the mid-1800s by a group of quilters who referred to themselves as the “girl cousins.”  They were friends and family, old and young, new quilters and experienced quilters, who got together to visit, to eat, to share knowledge, fabric, and patterns, and to work on quilts.

Ann fell in love with this quilt and has been studying, making, and drafting the blocks (there are 173 and all are different) since 2009.  She just keeps discovering more interesting and mysterious features every day about the quilt and the unknown quilter (although Ann thinks she’s figured out who she is) who created it.

This class is suitable for all levels of quilters.  Students will create blocks from the original quilt and will receive guidance on fabric selection, organization, and sewing techniques for working on this spectacular quilt.  They will also learn to work with the diamond, sashing, and cornerstone shapes and to assemble the diagonal rows.  This is also a project that lends itself well to groups working together.

About Ann: Ann has been quilting since 1975, when she thought everything had to be pieced and quilted by hand to be a “real quilt.”  Since then, she has learned that real quilts are sewn in as many ways as there are quilters.  She is particularly interested in working with vintage quilts to translate and interpret those designs by using modern methods and techniques.

She started teaching in the 1980s and, along with her husband, opened a quilt shop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1997.  Now living in the Hershey area, she is involved with four quilt guilds, two of which she started, and meets regularly with an antique quilt study group in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  She teaches quilting workshops; delivers lectures at quilt guilds, historical societies, and national retreats and shows; designs patterns and quilting templates; and writes about quilting.

Ann is the author of Making the Lancaster Diamond Sampler: A 19th Century Quilt Design by Fanny’s Friend (Schiffer, 2013).  This book is a textbook for learning or teaching the art of patchwork. Each of the 173 different diamond-shaped blocks is presented with a photograph and full-size line drawing. The blocks are organized into a learning progression that takes a new or an experienced quilter through the skills, design considerations, and techniques that are needed to navigate the quilting world.  Ann also provides advice and lessons from a lifetime of quilting and of studying quilts.