Quilting Artists

Dawn Cavanaugh

Since 1994 Dawn Cavanaugh's custom freehand quilting has been winning awards for clients of her business, Rockin' Bobbin Quilting, Inc. Her work has appeared in publications such as A Century of Quilts, Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, American Patchwork & Quilting, Leisure Arts, House of White Birches, and Fons and Porter Books and magazines. Dawn also designs patterns, most recently contributing to 505 Quilt Blocks, by Meredith Publishing.

Visit Dawn's "QuiltTalk" page to get some great tips and learn some of her secrets!

Dawn has experience as a machine quilting judge and has taught at Machine Quilter's Showcase, Longarm University, MQ Innovations, Quilting on the Waterfront, L.A.C.E., Canadian Machine Quilters Showcase, Australasian Machine Quilting Conference, and several regional guilds. In addition, Dawn is a celebrity quilter for Quilt Central TV, and teaches classes regularly for American Professional Quilting Systems.

Clients of Dawn's have had their joint projects displayed at the American Quilters Society show in Paducah as well as the show in Nashville. Many of the quilts she has completed for clients have won awards, including viewer's choice and best of show awards. Dawn's quilting has earned her the honor of "Best Machine Quilting" at the Iowa State Fair for the past three years. Her clients have also collected many ribbons at shows and fairs across the region.

Dawn lives in Ankeny, Iowa, with her husband, Mike, and children Marcus and Nicole. While she doesn't have much time to piece quilts any more, she still buys fabric with noble intentions. In a previous life, Dawn was a radio deejay and college recruiter before the quilting bug grabbed hold and didn't let go.