Quilting Wisdom from Four Great Wisconsin Quilt Show Educators

August 22, 2025 Tara Lovdahl Leave a Comment

The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show is an annual three-day event at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison that celebrates all things quilting, Sept. 4-6. Advance admission sales and class registration are open now! Register early and save $3 per admission ticket and $2 per lecture and workshop.

Co-hosted by PBS Wisconsin and Nancy Zieman Productions, a cornerstone of the event is supporting the quilting community through a robust educational schedule. The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show is proud to host lectures, workshops and stage presentations led by quilting experts.

In anticipation of the event, PBS Wisconsin caught up with four returning Quilt Show educators and asked them what insights they would offer new and experienced quilters.

Maday Delgado, Free Spirit Designs by Maday, LLC

Born and raised in Cuba, Delgado is a Midwest-based art educator, innovator and visual storyteller who leads sustainable workshops for well-being. She will present a lecture, “The Making of an Unconventional Quilt,” and a special exhibit of her work, “Trash Talk: Sustainability in Focus.”

PBS Wisconsin: How long have you been quilting?

Maday Delgado: I began teaching myself to sew at the end of 2009 and taught my first workshop a year later. Although I quilt, I like to sew anything!

PBS Wisconsin: What’s your quilting specialty?

Delgado: I live to create with upcycled textiles and find new uses for unconventional fabric substrates in an attempt to keep them from the landfill.

PBS Wisconsin: What’s your favorite quilting technique lately?

Delgado: Improv is my go-to technique because it affords the maker an unmeasurable repertoire of design choices and creative outcomes. The magic lies in the unexpected discoveries.

PBS Wisconsin: One piece of advice you would give to a beginner?

Delgado: Find a supportive place and take a workshop in person. Also, follow your own intuition. There are so many opinions on how to get started and what to do, be your own creative advocate.

Bill Hoernke, He Sews What?

Quilt artist and quilt educator Bill Hoernke will lead an in-demand workshop, “Black Diamonds Quilt” in which participants learn to make the quilt designed by late master quilter Klaudeen Hansen. New to the event, students from this workshop will be invited to exhibit their completed quilts at the 2026 Great Wisconsin Quilt Show. He will also present a lecture, “What is Triaxial Fabric Weaving?” and teach the technique in a hands-on workshop, “Beginning Triaxial Fabric Weaving.”

PBS Wisconsin: How long have you been quilting?

Bill Hoernke: I’ve been quilting now for 10 years. Fortunately I learned from my mom when she was still here.

PBS Wisconsin: What’s your favorite quilting tool?

Hoernke: My favorite tools are rulers for cutting and trimming. I love my Creative Grids Stripology® XL Ruler! You can do so many things with it. I also really like the Bloc Loc® rulers for trimming half-square triangles. Both of these tools are a bit pricey but worth it!

PBS Wisconsin: What’s your favorite quilting technique lately?

Hoernke: I purchased a new BERNINA longarm quilting machine. It’s amazing!

PBS Wisconsin: One piece of advice you would give to a beginner?

Hoernke: Keep on learning. Don’t get too focused on making something perfect.

Chris Lynn Kirsch

Quilt educator Chris Lynn Kirsch is a Watertown, Wisconsin, quilter who taught quilting and design at Wisconsin’s Waukesha County Technical College for 23 years. She will lead a workshop, “Paint Stick Appliqué,” present a lecture, “Problem Solving Tips, Products and Techniques” and entertain with a Special Evening Event, “Quilt Tales.”

PBS Wisconsin: How long have you been quilting?

Chris Lynn Kirsch: My mom taught me to sew as a child, but I didn’t learn to quilt until my sister-in-law talked me into taking a class at MATC [Madison Area Technical College] in DeForest way back in 1987. I was immediately addicted!

PBS Wisconsin: What’s your favorite quilting technique lately?

Kirsch: My most recent project centers around a miniature Oval Mariner’s Compass. I draft my compasses using just a pencil, ruler and paper folding techniques — so I can make them any shape or size. Then they are stitched with paper piecing.

PBS Wisconsin: One piece of advice you would give to a beginner?

Kirsch: Make it fun and don’t agonize about trying to be perfect. Improvement comes quickly when you’re enjoying what you’re doing.

Karla Overland, Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics

Overland is the owner and colorist of Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics. The company is well known for its fabric bundles sold in curated medleys, which are used in their annual Cherrywood Fabric Quilt Challenge and attract quilters from around the world.

Overland will present a collection of the 2024 Cherrywood Challenge: “The Poppy Quilt Challenge Exhibit.” She will also present two workshops, “Knife-Edge Pancakes” and “Shadow Box,” as well as a lecture, “Deconstructed Color by Cherrywood.”

PBS Wisconsin: How long have you been quilting?

Karla Overland: Thirty-seven years — I transitioned from sewing clothes in 4H. Nobody my age was quilting in college, so I kind of taught myself before I started taking classes.

PBS Wisconsin: What’s your quilting secret weapon?

Overland: A nice, sharp Hera Marker. I can use it to trace shapes through paper onto Cherrywood and it creates a cutting line without using ink or chalk.

PBS Wisconsin: What’s your favorite quilting technique lately?

Overland: I love raw-edge fusing because it satisfies my need for speed and instant gratification.

PBS Wisconsin: One piece of advice you would give to a beginner?

Overland: Splurge on the best tools and fabrics you can afford. Otherwise you may be frustrated and think you are doing something wrong, and I don’t want you to lose momentum!

Featured image and images of Delgado and Hoernke by Peg Thompson. Kirsch images provided by the artist. Poppy Quilt Challenge Exhibit image provided by Overland.

The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show