Meet Fran

Fran has been making, designing, and selling quilted items since 1974. In 1983,
Sue Pifer at the Elkins Sewing Center asked her to teach quiltmaking and she's
been teaching a wide variety of quilting classes ever since. A degree in Education
provides a strong background in teaching skills, and in 1993 she became a
National Quilting Association (NQA) Certified Teacher. Guilds and Seminars in the
region have provided Fran with ample opportunities to share her quilting
knowledge and to improve her teaching skills. Although Fran has a strong
background in hand piecing, hand appliqué, and hand quilting, her current
emphasis is on machine techniques. Working with the West Virginia
documentation project has heightened her appreciation of our quilting tradition
and classic quilt patterns; this developed into a focus of keeping the traditional
designs alive using newly available tools and time saving techniques.

Fran provides her own written material to accompany class presentations. She
has been complimented on her patient, thorough, and personal teaching style,
and is recognized for being well prepared. Fran has successfully introduced
hundreds of students to the joys of quiltmaking, and has encouraged hundreds
more to improve their skills and nurture their creative spirits. In 2003, Fran was
named the first recipient of the NQA Certified Teacher of the Year Award, and in
2005, was a nominee for The Professional Quilter Magazine Teacher of the Year
Award.

Fran's full-sized quilts have been juried into national quilt shows, including
several AQS Shows. Her works regularly earn top awards at regional shows. Two
of her quilts have received the Award for Excellence for Quilting at the Husqvarna
Viking International Convention (1998, 2004), and two received Best of Show at
the West Virginia Quilters, Inc. shows (2006, 2010).

In 1994, Fran completed the “Short Course in Judging” offered by the NQA and in
1996 became a NQA Certified Judge. She has judged shows in Maryland,
Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West
Virginia, as well as the 2003 and 2008 NQA Shows. She has experience in judging
both quilts and wearables.