Our speaker on May 17th will be Maggie Ball.

Maggie began quilting in 1986 and enjoys creating her own designs from elements of traditional patterns. Her award-winning quilts have been exhibited nationally and overseas. Teaching quilting is a natural extension of her passion and she finds it rewarding. Her teaching experience is extensive in the USA, and beyond to the UK and Mongolia, as well as quilting with over 800 children in local schools. She offers a variety of lectures and workshops for quilt guilds, conventions, retreats and stores.

As a volunteer in Mongolia in 2004, Maggie taught quilting to low-income and unemployed women. In 2006 she helped organize the First International Quilt Show there in collaboration with quilters from the UK and Japan. Her association with Mongolian quilters continues and she successfully headed a capital campaign raising $80,000 to purchase a permanent facility for the Mongolian Quilting Center in Ulaanbaatar, where she visited and taught in 2009.

Maggie is the author of four books published by Krause Publications. Creative Quilting with Kids and Patchwork and Quilting with Kids aim to encourage adults to pass on the quilting tradition to the next generation. Traditional Quilts with a Twist contains new patterns derived from the traditional Bear's Paw, Trip Around the World, and Ohio Star. Her most recent book, Bargello Quilts with a Twist, features quilts made from her original, easy to construct, 16-piece Bargello block.

Find more information about Maggie Ball and her quilts at www.dragonflyquilts.com.