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Video: "Gone Quilting with Fons & Porter"

Episode 1

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Gone Quilting with Fons & Porter: Episode 1

Marianne Fons & Liz Porter

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.

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.