Quilting Artists

Marianne Fons

Marianne Fons was in her mid-twenties when she discovered quilting through a beginner's class taught at the Iowa State University Extension Office in Winterset, Iowa. In that class, Marianne met Liz Porter, another young mother looking for something to do at home that would STAY DONE.

"When I think back to those years before the rotary cutter came along, when we made cardboard templates and cut each piece out individually with scissors, I'm amazed that I stuck with it. The only explanation is that there wasn't much besides child care going on in my life at the time!"

The little class eventually formed a club and put on a quilt show during Winterset's annual Madison County Covered Bridge Festival. Quilt shows were not plentiful in 1979, but the first show by the Heritage Quilters was a great success. Local people who attended expressed interest in quilting classes, and somehow Marianne and Liz were picked to be the teachers.

"Neither of us felt accomplished enough to teach others, so we did it together, figuring we could fake our way through it." As they continued to teach, they became better quilters. With not many quilting books on the market at the time, Marianne and Liz's teaching led naturally to writing. Together, they have written many best-selling quilting books. With Liz, Marianne has hosted over 100 how-to quilting episodes on Public Television.

Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting is the No. 1 quilting show on PBS, reaching 82 percent of American households. Also with Liz, Marianne is owner/editor of Love of Quilting magazine, a bi-monthly publication with a circulation of 250,000. Among other responsibilities, Marianne serves as Advertising Director for LOQ and is involved with the styled photography that appears in the magazine along with many other editorial aspects.

On her own, Marianne authored Fine Feathers for C & T Publishing. Out of print and much desired by quilters, Marianne is in the process of reprinting this classic with hopes to have it available by fall of 2005. In 1986, Marianne was Iowa winner in the Great American Quilt Contest honoring the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty. She won Best Overall Workmanship in 1988 in Quilt Expo Europa, the first competition in which anyone in the world could enter. "After that, I ceased entering competitions--I figured I was the best quilter in the world for about five minutes, and decided to quilt while I was ahead.

When I see the incredible quilts in contests these days, I know I made the right decision!"

Marianne is making more time for personal sewing since the beginning of 2005. "We've worked incredibly hard in the three years since we acquired Love of Quilting, and sewing for me has had to take a back seat. I'm so excited that I've completed one full size quilt top and several small projects since the first of the year--it's been like a re-birth of creativity for me! I love to sew at my machine, listening to NPR and watching the world go by out my front window."

Marianne says she made three full size quilts last year in my new home sewing room. Grandmother's Flower Pots was in this year's March/April issue of Love of Quilting magazine, and the other two are scheduled for upcoming issues.

Texas Log Cabin is planned to run in July/August. I quilted that one myself on the APQS Millennium, using straight-edge templates and the circle attachment. It was very gratifying to complete my top and quilt it myself. I also quilted the Mola Menagerie quilt in the March/April issue.

Learning to longarm quilt has been a lot of fun. I will probably not ever win any prizes for my work, but I have really enjoyed learning a new, valuable skill. I've done about six big quilts since I started learning. I have a top and back sitting in my office right now that I hope to put on the machine and quilt for my daughter Mary.

Marianne's Web site is http://www.fonsandporter.com/