Next Meeting: October 12, 2024
Time: 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Location: Pleasanton Middle School
October 12, 2024: Sandy Klop
Sandy Klop had her first exposure to the world of colorful patterns while watching Klompen dancers perform. Every year in May her hometown of Holland, Michigan, celebrated tulip time with a vast array of Dutch costumes.
She was first exposed to quilting in 1979 at her sister-in-laws when she returned from teaching in Iran. She went on to teach art in Saudi Arabia for the next four years. She loved the rich colors and patterns in the tiles and carpets of the Middle East. Back in California, Sandy began to make pattern samples for a local quilt store. From there she moved to machine quilting. She has worked at a local quilt shop and taught many quilt classes. In 2000 she published a series of quilt books with Jan Patek under the series title Folk Art Favorites before venturing out on her own as American Jane Patterns. In 2003 at Quilt Market Moda approached her to see if she would like to capture her look in fabric. She has been designing for Moda ever since. “Now I have a new fabric range from Moda every six months and I design quilt patterns to feature my new fabrics. I’m truly living my dream.”
Her creative designs have appeared in several catalogs and many magazines. She speaks regularly on the topic, “The American Jane Story in Fabric”.
American Jane began in 2003 by Sandy Klop and since then the American Jane name has appeared on the selvedge of 40 fabric collections, in multiple magazines and on the cover of some. American Jane have produced over 450 patterns, 3 books and appeared in several others. Known for vintage and happy prints, American Jane fabric and patterns have shipped all over the world. The patterns range from beginner, intermediate to advanced. Covering coast to coast USA, many quilts have been made using American Jane fabrics and patterns to welcome newborns, to share with a loved one, or to keep a prized heirloom treasure to save for special occasions only. American Jane fabrics and patterns have been known to
make people of all ages feel young and happy right now, enjoying the vintage classics and the new prints with which you can make something great today.
Lecture: How American Jane Came About
Workshop October 13: Winning Combination
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For upcoming guest speakers, please see our Programs Page.
For all AVQ events, please see our event calendar.
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President’s Welcome:
Amador Valley Quilters (AVQ) is a creative group of people who like to explore all aspects of the quilting world. There is something for everyone in this guild, from traditional to art quilting, handwork or machine, and every combination you can imagine. Our main charity is Community Quilts thru which we make and donate over 600 quilts per year to local agencies.
The Events calendar lists what’s happening and when. Enjoy one of our Second Saturday General Meetings. We meet either in-person, usually at Pleasanton Middle School on Case Ave in Pleasanton or on ZOOM depending on our speakers. The location of the meeting is listed in our newsletter. Our
meetings start at 1:30 p.m. but either arrive early or log in a little early to get help with ZOOM, talk to a member, ask questions, make friends etc. We have interesting tables at our in-person meetings where members can take some books out of the Library, buy some recycled quilting or crafting magazines, investigate workshops and ZOOM retreats, and pick up a community quilt or a Block of the Month to work on. Membership information and forms are available in the Forms tab, or via the link on this main page.
Some of the Outreach Programs AVQ sponsors are:
-Budding Beginners at a variety of places to introduce fusible quilting
-“Quilting Then and Now” events at the Alviso Adobe Museum
-Quilts of Valor donations to area veterans
-Community Quilts program
-Donations of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit quilts to local hospitals
We welcome quilters of all skill levels, from learning to sew to professional quilters on the national and international level, and of course we love to have those who just like to admire the beauty of fabric and thread. Hope to see you soon!
Becky Callahan
President, 2024-2025
Amador Valley Quilters, Inc. is a charitable organization under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.