Experts

Rachel is the designer, blogger and crochet teacher behind the Cozy Nooks Designs blog. She loves to design home décor crochet patterns. Her favorite crochet projects are Christmas tree skirts because they are what initially propelled her designing career. A true creator at heart, she always has numerous crochet designs and home renovation projects in the works, and she loves to find ways to merge those two hobbies. Follow along with her on Instagram and check out her designs at www.cozynooksdesigns.com.

Debra Arch has published hundreds of crochet, knitting, hand-applique, machine sewing, quilting and needlepoint on plastic canvas designs in various publications over the past 15 years. She has authored 10 pattern books for Annie's, she crochets and knits designs for Annie's Hook and Needle Club, and she is a frequent contributor to Crochet! and Crochet World magazines. Debra has a talent for developing new tips and tricks, which she shares with her students to simplify techniques, making their crafting experiences easier and more fun!

Kate is a professional technical editor and a seasoned designer and teacher. Her first book, Beyond Knit & Purl, has been praised as the 21st century "Knitting for Anarchists" book, and her second book, Knit Accessories: Essentials & Variations, was published in late 2012 to great acclaim. Kate regularly teaches at stores and events across North America, including Vogue Knitting Live and Interweave Knitting Lab. Her work has appeared in Creative Knitting magazine, Knitty, Interweave's Sockupied, the U.K. magazine Let's Knit and a wide range of books. See more of her work at www.WisenHeldaKnits.com.

Surrounded by fabric and farmland, Linda Augsburg loves playing with patterns and prints, and she dreams of a day when she can finish a sewing project at the same moment that the bobbin empties.

Most of Linda's adult life has been spent behind the editorial desk at various quilting and craft publications. While she learned to sew as a 4-H'er, she traded garment sewing for quilting when she landed a job in the editorial department of a needlework magazine after college.

Linda's favorite part of the creative process might be choosing the fabrics for her latest quilt project, but designing quilts and other projects runs a close second. She's slowly making friends with her longarm quilting machine (yet unnamed) and has a small collection of the Fisher Price Little People sewing machines. She has a passion for all types of creative endeavors: quilting, embroidery, jewelry making, papercrafts, home decorating and whatever else catches her eye.

Video is her favorite medium with which to share new skills, and she's working on building a website of her own. If you want to get a sneak preview, visit www.cutsewquiltrepeat.com or find her on Instagram (@cutsewquiltrepeat) or Facebook (Cut, Sew, Quilt, Repeat.).

Always partial to the delicate beauty of tatting, Janette has a passion for sharing her love of tatting with others. Her desire is to elevate tatting to the true art form she believes it deserves. From her own experience of learning to tat, she realized the need for clear, precise instructions. In addition to having taught hundreds of private students, she has also taught classes at her local college, quilting shop and Michael's Arts & Crafts store. See more of her work at www.LearnHowToTat.com.

Recognized internationally for her expertise in quilting, Marci enjoys sharing ideas that simplify the quilting process. She began teaching quilting in 1989 for her local quilting guild and shops. Marci has invented several tools to help make quilting easier for all. She spends much of the year traveling and teaching classes for quilting guilds and trade shows. She has been featured in Redbook, on HGTV's Simply Quilts, Quilters News Network, NBC's The Jane Pauley Show and has been published in American Quilter Magazine and Traditional Quiltworks. See more of her work at www.QuiltWithMarciBaker.com

Brett Bara is the founder of Brooklyn Craft Company. She designs, writes, sews, bakes, decorates and has experience as a television personality.

She hosted seasons 1 through 6 of the Emmy-nominated television series Knit and Crochet Now!

Alli discovered quilling when she saw a co-worker's beautifully quilled wedding invitation in a frame. She taught herself how to quill and even cut her own strips of paper. When she became a stay-at-home mom in 2002, she and her husband turned her unique quilled designs into an online business, Quilled Creations www.quilledcreations.com. Quilled Creations has become the world's leading supplier of paper quilling products. Alli has been published in many magazines and is the author of numerous quilling books including Paper Quilling Kit for Dummies (2009), Quilled Flowers: A Garden of 35 Paper Projects (2012) and Quilled Jewelry (2013).

Molly Beals is an advertising account manager at Annie's Publishing. She manages print and digital media marketing opportunities.

Her love of handcrafting started at the young age of six when her aunt taught her how to embroider, knit and crochet. Later in life she picked it back up when she had two children. Inspired to make items for her kids, family and friends, she picked up the needle and thread again and hasn't looked back! Creating heirlooms and preserving memories for others has become a passion, and she loves to share her journey!

Peggy Benjamin was a hobby quilter at one time with a career in corporate marketing and brand management. Today she owns and operates a small quilting supplies online shop.

Peggy and fiance Rex Moreland created the Easy Binding Winder to meet Peggy's need for better binding management. Peggy understood the problem and Rex designed the prototype. When her quilting friends saw the winder, they wanted one too, and that's the beginning of the story of the Easy Binding Winder.

Learn more about Easy Binding Winder at www.easybindingwinder.com

Marly Bird is the national spokesperson for Red Heart Yarns and a published crochet and knitting designer. She is also an author, teacher, podcaster and blogger. Throughout the year, Marly travels the country teaching at national craft consumer shows and shares the love of Red Heart (including her new line called Chic Sheep by Marly Bird™) with her followers.

Marly's grandmother taught her to crochet in 1999, and a close friend taught her to knit in 2004. Marly found her calling in the yarn industry and had her first designs published in fall 2008, and she has not looked back.

You can find many of Marly's designs at www.redheart.com and follow her video tutorials on her YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/marlybird.

Palmer Bixler is a quilter for life and is the editorial assistant for Quilter’s World magazine.

Her crafting journey began with an origami kit in elementary school that her big sister had trouble understanding. From there, Palmer developed a love for macramé bracelets and tie dye, enjoying the precision needed for good results. As soon as she bought her first sewing machine, she discovered the boundless world of quilting. Palmer is passionate about quilting for others and designing fun quilts that any confident beginner could tackle.

Debby Brown's website summary describes her as a "designer and quilt enabler." Debby has been a Handi Quilter educator since 2005 and has inspired quilters all around the globe. In addition to teaching at retail shop events and guilds, Debby teaches at major quilt shows nationally and internationally, including International Quilt Festival (Houston), Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC), International Quilt Show Dubai, and American Quilters Society (Lancaster, Phoenix). She recently filmed a series of DVDs about sit-down machine quilting featuring the HQ Sweet Sixteen®.

Since Debby began quilting in 1986, she has completed several thousand quilts for herself and others. When not busy teaching, she is constantly creating in her studio in upstate New York. She and her husband were just promoted to "grandma and grandpa" and are very enthusiastic about their new roles!

Find out more about Debby at www.debbybrownquilts.com.

Nancy believes that anyone can learn to be a creative hand-lettering artist by following a few simple steps and with a little bit of practice. Nancy writes a regularly featured lettering article for CardMaker magazine and is co-author of CardMaker's Hand-Lettering Workbook, published by Annie's. She has also served on many paper-craft product manufacturer design teams and has traveled around the United States teaching her love of all things crafty to students at craft conventions, retail stores and retreats. You can read more about Nancy, her creative endeavors and other adventures on her blog: NancyBurke.typepad.com.

Norrine Burke is the owner of Call Clutter Fairy home organizing in California. She also runs the YouTube channel, The Crafty Organizer, where she shares her passion for all things Organizing, Decluttering, Upcycling, and Crafting!

One of the first DIY craft projects Norrine made was a telephone from dixie cups, toilet paper tubes, and a tissue box…. She was 7! This type of creativity has led to many DIY projects throughout her life. She spends off work time enjoying her favorite role as Mom to her two high-school-aged children, and two fur babies. She is so excited to share her passion and knowledge with the Uncluttered Crafter!

By the time that Debbie graduated from college, she had already become an expert craftswoman. She used her paycheck from her first job to buy a brand-new sewing machine. A few years later, she bought a quilt shop and became a local teacher. Her quilting and sewing teaching talent was recognized by Bernina, and she was subsequently hired to teach the teachers and train local store owners and staff how to use all Bernina machines. As a Bernina representative, Debbie demonstrates how to sew, serge, quilt and embroider, and she inspires her students to try their hand at innovative techniques.

Lisa Carnahan has been knitting and designing for almost 30 years. In addition to knitting for herself and her family, she has had the opportunity to knit and design for many yarn manufacturers, magazines and book publishers. She has been certified by the Craft Yarn Council as a knitting instructor and has taught all levels of knitters at local yarn shops, knitting guilds and workshops. See more of her work at www.LisaKnits.com

Jennifer Carroll is a noted entertaining expert, photographer, designer, writer and contributor to special decorating issues of Country Sampler magazine and is also the host of www.celebratingeverydaylife.com. She is passionate about sharing recipes, decorating ideas, DIY projects and easy-to-implement tips to help make life sweeter and less stressful. As an event planner with more than 20 years of experience, Jennifer knows all the insider tricks and tips for turning a party into a celebration. "Beauty is inspiring and my ambition is to create as much of it as I can and share it with the world around me," she notes.

As a young adult, Jennifer worked as a model, and as a result was often invited to glamorous New York City parties, but rather than mingle with the elite, Jennifer often chatted with those behind the scenes to find out what made the parties absolutely sparkle. After modeling, she moved to Los Angeles where she worked at Davidoff of Geneva in Beverly Hills. At Davidoff, she organized and hosted countless celebrity dinners and special events. Missing the South, Jennifer moved back to Virginia and soon opened her own design and planning company, Jennifer Carroll Events. Her work received national attention and was featured in many magazines and websites. When her daughter was born, she stepped away from the event planning world and founded CelebratingEverydayLife.com, a blog and online magazine.

Emily Carter is Senior Copy Editor at Annie's Publishing.

She learned to crochet in 2010 and to knit in 2015, thanks to the kindness and generosity of co-workers. Working for a craft publishing company, she's constantly surrounded by creativity and talent, and it inspired her to learn crafting. A yarnie at heart, she favors crochet and knitting but has played around with cross stitching and jewelry making. She wants to try her hand at sewing, too, and is currently in the market for a sewing machine. When she's not crafting, she's planning her next world travel expedition with her friends. In fact, one of the things on her ever-growing bucket list is to cover every page of her passport with stamps!

Robyn Chachula's path to her successful crochet design career began in architectural engineering. She pursued a career as a structural engineer specializing in historic preservation and renovation. Robyn has been a crochet expert on Annie's Knit and Crochet Now! television program, which appears on many PBS stations. She is also the instructor of Annie's Learn to Crochet Sweaters, Learn Yarn Substitutions for Crochet and Learn to Crochet Jewelry video classes and author of several books. You can find more of her designs at AnniesCatalog.com and www.CrochetByFaye.com.

Lily Chin has traveled the world teaching both crochet and knit classes to thousands of enthusiastic students. She has authored many books and patterns, appeared on national and international TV and even earned the title of "world's fastest crocheter" during a live contest on the David Letterman show. Lily has designed original garment patterns with several of top fashion designers including Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang, Diane von Furstenberg and Isaac Mizrahi. Students appreciate her skill, humor and depth of expertise in teaching many crochet and knitting techniques. See more of her work at www.LilyChinSignatureCollection.com

A lifelong sewer, Vickie Clontz is a designer, teacher and fiber artist specializing in wool and all things related. Her pattern company, Annie's Keepsakes, has over 75 original designs for quilting, home decor and wearables. Vickie loves creating unique designs and wearable art, and enjoys sharing her ideas, talent and expertise with others through the classes, programs and workshops she teaches across the country. See more of her work at www.AnniesKeepsakes.com

Christine Conner is the managing partner and creative force behind Amelie Scott Designs. Amelie Scott Designs is a family business that creates quilt patterns and embroidery designs. Their patterns feature interesting design elements, and they introduce tools and techniques that are useful for any quilter. Christine also enjoys teaching sewing, quilting and embroidery classes at her local quilt shop and at stores across the nation. Her goal is to give you, the customer, clearly written patterns and great designs. Amelie Scott Designs has published two machine embroidery books, Edge-to-Edge Quilting With Your Embroidery Machine and Celebrate Machine Embroidery, and has produced multiple machine embroidery designs and quilting expansion packs.

Pepper Cory has been a quilt-maker since 1972 when she saw an antique quilt at a rummage sale and purchased it for $1. From that moment, Pepper wanted to learn to make quilts and so she sought out quilt-makers who could teach her. While a college student, she joined a group of elderly ladies who over time patiently taught her the art. Since then, Pepper has been collecting quilts, making quilts herself, writing books about quilts, designing needlework tools and fabric, and sharing her love of quilting with others by teaching and lecturing. See more of her work at www.PepperCory.com

Lenore has worked in many different media including pen and ink, acrylics, wood and others. At one point, she became intrigued with fabric and hasn't looked back since. Currently she is using fusing and fabric paints to create her fiber art. Lenore has been lecturing on and teaching the fusing technique she developed to quilt guilds, private students and quilt shows nationally and internationally. She has won numerous prizes for her work at art shows and quilt shows across the country. Her technique has been published in Quilters Newsletter, American Quilter, and she was also featured on Kaye's Quillting Friends PBS program. See more of her work at www.LenoreCrawford.com

She's a successful blogger, author, designer and multi-talented crafter. She joins the team of experts on Knit and Crochet Now! for season 8.

She is a self-taught knitter with a little help from YouTube. She learned crochet and embroidery soon after.

For more on her work, visit www.onesocialgirl.com.

Cydney Davis-English is a third generation florist following in the footsteps of her father and grandmother. Amazingly enough, her husband, Warren, is also a third generation florist, having grown up in his mother and grandmother's florist shop. Cydney opened her floral studio, The English Garden, in 2007. Eight years later, business is blooming. The English Garden team produces beautiful flowers for approximately 150 weddings and events a year. They also host a fun floral design series with 2 to 3 classes per month. See more of her work at www.EnglishGardenRaleigh.com

Discovering Copic® markers in 2010 was a life-changing experience for artist Jennifer Dove who calls herself "a heavy-equipment operator by trade but an artist by nature." Jennifer has earned two levels of Copic certification and teaches many classes in stores and retreats across the country. She is the instructor of two Annie's online classes: Create With Copics: Beginner's Guide and Coloring Fun With Alcohol Ink Markers: People. Jennifer has designed for many well-known stamp companies including Stampendous!, Talk About Impressions, Make It Crafty and Doodle Dragon Studios. See more of her work at www.just4funcrafts.blogspot.com.

Sherry Duncan has an amazing wealth of craft knowledge. She not only brings experience and passion for quilting and sewing to the Annie's team and clients, but also an understanding of practical techniques in knit and crochet. She has published two knitting patterns.

Sherry began crafting as a teen. She started sewing vinyl tire covers using an old Singer sewing machine. This led to quilting and other kinds of sewing. After taking classes and learning wherever she could, she upgraded her machine to a Pfaff 1471, which she still uses today. Her husband came to love her sewing habits when she started sewing insulated coats for him. Those warm coats were perfect for all his outdoor activities.

Sherry has designed her own line of antique-looking dolls which required her to delve into decorative painting. From there she kept learning new techniques and crafts -- needlepoint canvas, needlework, embroidery, knitting, spinning, leather crafting, paper crafting and all other kinds of crafting.

She considers herself lucky to spend all day in the crafting world! She looks forward to continuing to learn and develop her skills and depth.

As designer, teacher, blogger, and technical editor, Edie Eckman is on a mission to empower crafters to gain the skills they need to confidently take on any crocheting or knitting challenge. She is author of a number of best-selling books including The Crochet Answer Book, Around the Corner Crochet Borders, Learn to Knit Socks, and others. Find her at www.edieeckman.com

Drew Emborsky, (aka The Crochet Dude) is one of a few proud dude crocheters who is making a living doing what he loves.

Drew joined Knit and Crochet Now! for three seasons. He provided a unique perspective of expert advice, creative patterns and useful tips to help build the knowledge needed to create exciting knitting and crochet projects.

See more of his work at www.thecrochetdude.com.

Corrina is the Editor of Creative Knitting magazine and owner of Picnicknits.

She learned to crochet as a teenager, but didn't cross over into knitting until 2005 when she decided 60 degrees was cold and subsequently moved to Florida. Before that, Corrina used paper crafts and scrapbooking as her creative outlet. Now, after 200 published designs and one book, Corrina is a knitwear designer, editor and an instructor for Annie's Creative Studio. Currently, Corrina is learning to sew in between all of her motherhood responsibilities and designer demands!

Gyleen Fitzgerald is known for her exquisite quilts that beautifully blend color, pattern and texture to provide a contemporary essence in traditional quilting. Her strength as a quilter is demonstrated by the infusion of engineering tools and innovative techniques to simplify visually complex quilts. She shares her enthusiasm for quilting through interactive lectures and workshops. She is best known for inspiring Trash to Treasure Pineapple Quilts and the creation of the Pineapple Tool. She has also created the popular Polygon and Polygon 2 quilting tools. Gyleen has appeared on The Quilt Show and Lifetime TV. See more of her work at www.ColourfulStitches.com

Mary Gay Leahy has been a quilter since 1975. She worked for Cranston Print Works right after college. Over the course of her career, she worked, taught and designed quilt patterns for the Country Quilter in Somers, N.Y., and was the marketing manager at Fairfield Processing (the batting company). Today she is a sales representative for multiple fabric companies, including Shannon Fabrics. Throughout her career, Mary has been in every aspect of the wonderful business of quilting.

Abby Glassenberg started her blog, While She Naps, in 2005 to record her work in the studio making dolls and toys. As her work became more career-oriented and grew in popularity, Abby turned her passion for designing and sewing stuffed animals into a thriving business. Today, she writes craft books, licenses her designs to national companies, sells her sewing patterns and e-books, has a podcast, and teaches sewing and business practices. She is the author of the Annie's book Sew & Play Puzzle Balls and instructor for Annie's online class, Learn to Sew Puzzle Ball Animals. See more of her work at www.WhileSheNaps.com.

Kara is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration. As an illustrator, she specialized in technical illustrations for knitting, crochet and other craft books for major publishers. In 2002, Kara began designing patterns for her independent collection of knitting patterns. Kara's knitwear designs have been published in Creative Knitting, Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting and Family Circle Easy Knitting. She is instructor of Annies popular knitting class, Mix & Match Knit Sampler.

Nancy Green is the owner and creative mind behind Pink Sand Beach Designs, a company that produces contemporary purse patterns. An engineer by background, Nancy takes pride in designing gorgeous purse patterns with easy construction techniques a beginner can do. She is known for creating purse patterns that allow sewers to customize them with more or fewer pockets, various strap lengths and their favorite fabrics to go with any outfit. All of Nancy's patterns are created with the utmost attention to detail while still being easy and fun to sew! See more of her work at www.PinkSandBeachDesigns.com

Kim has been designing crochet patterns for nearly 30 years, with her designs and articles being featured in many magazines and books. She also is the owner of several websites devoted to her crafting passion, and is author of numerous books and DVDs. Kim has authored 12 books, most of them in her favorite form of crochet -- Tunisian crochet. She started designing Tunisian patterns because there weren't many out there, and she could see all the possibilities. Her latest books, The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet and Tunisian Cables to Crochet, offer something for everyone. See more of her work at www.KimGuzman.com

Rene Haines is a Country Sampler photo stylist whose career as a decorator has evolved over time. Her passion for repurposing and recreating serves her well in her current position where she arranges displays, decorates homes for the magazine and originates unique design ideas. Rene especially loves finding vintage pieces and turning them into creative home accents.

She taught high school science for 11 years before moving into the design field as a florist which sparked a love for creating and designing.

Knitting became a career for Carri Hammett when she opened her yarn shop Coldwater Collaborative in 2002. Being surrounded by gorgeous yarn and working as a retailer inspired her to begin designing for her customers. Since selling her yarn shop in 2010, Carri has worked full-time as a knitting writer and designer. She has written numerous articles for Creative Knitting magazine and a number of books including More Than a Dozen Hats and Beanies, Knitting 101, and Mittens and Hats for Yarn Lovers.

Tiffany Hayes loves to create and share all things quilting. A southern Californian quilter, Tiffany is also a fabric designer. She builds quilt patterns to work with fabrics in the newest fabric lines.

Tiffany designs the quilt patterns and her husband, Scott Hayes, fashions the digital quilting designs to enhance the piecing. Scott then does the quilting on most of Tiffany's quilts. They make a great team—she pieces and he quilts!

Tiffany has traveled to teach quilting at large conferences, in quilt stores and even on cruise ships. Her quilt designs can be found on her website and in fabric stores, catalogs and magazines. Learn more at www.needleinahayesstack.biz and follow her on social media.

Tabetha Hedrick, a freelance knitwear designer and writer raising a family in Colorado, lives by the belief that joy comes when fully participating in the present moment. And that joy is ever so easy to find when immersed in the world of fiber! Her work has been published in numerous digital and print magazines, books, and yarn company pattern collections. Tabetha's indie patterns and portfolio, blog, and teaching schedule can be found on her website, www.TabethaHedrick.com.

Megan's crafting adventure began the day Stampin' Up! hired her to work in their public relations department more than a decade ago, where she quickly fell in love with stamps and paper arts. From there, her career progressed to include publishing as an associate editor for Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine, a senior editor for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, and a creative editor for Creating Keepsakes magazine. Currently, Megan puts her writing and editing abilities to use as a copy editor for Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine. For more about Megan, she invites you to visit her website, www.MeganHoeppner.com.

Beth Huntington is a kindergarten teacher by day and popular blogger by night, known as the "Renegade Seamstress." At first, necessity made her shop at thrift stores. Over time, that necessity grew into genuine excitement -- a frequent treasure hunt! Her passion for shopping at thrift stores and turning discarded items into new and useful gifts and home decor, and then taking before and after photos of her creations, led her to start her blog, www.renegadeseamstress.com. Her blog lets her share glimpses of her own world while connecting with creative types around the globe.

The success of her blog led her to author the book, The Refashion Handbook: Refit, Redesign, Remake for Every Body. Beth says, "I get such a rush when I walk through the doors of a thrift shop. It's exhilarating just thinking about all the possibilities, the treasures and the deals!"

Belinda started Blue Ribbon Designs in early 2004, specializing in original counted-thread cross-stitch designs, specialty hand finishing of needlework smalls, and teaching handwork techniques across the country. She regularly appears in national publications and her cross-stitch charts can be found in needlework shops worldwide. Belinda has a passion for anything done with a needle and thread, and many afternoons, you can find her in her home-based studio, playing with fabric and threads, sketching, sewing, quilting and machine embroidering. You can see Belinda's inspiring work on her website www.BlueRibbonDesigns.com.

Katherine's special is Swedish weaving, also called huck embroidery. Her designs have a bit of a contemporary flare to them yet maintain a traditional look similar to those from the 1930s and '40s. Soon after discovering this craft, Katherine began selling hand-stitched items at shows and in local Scandinavian shops. She also started teaching, and it was her students who really encouraged her to look into publishing patterns. Just over a year later, her first book Easy-Does-It Swedish Weave Towels was published. Katherine now has a full line of chartpacks and kits that are distributed worldwide at her website www.SwedishWeaveDesigns.com.

Jenny King is Australia's most published international crochet designer, with more than a dozen books to her name. Jenny is an enthusiastic teacher with 30 years' experience both in Australia and the United States. She teaches Master Crochet classes for Crochet Guild of America conferences as well as at other conferences and local yarn shops. She has had designs published in major magazines in the U.K., United States and Australia. Her latest Annie's books include Fashions to Flaunt Crocheted With Noro Yarns, Learn to do Bavarian Crochet and Bavarian Crochet on-the-Go. See more of her work at www.JennyKingDesigns.com.

Kathy Orta King is known across the country as "The Paper Phenomenon" for her amazing projects and innovative paper-crafting techniques, such as the secret compartment and hidden hinge system which she teaches in the Lullaby Memories Keepsake Box & Album class. Kathy is an experienced teacher, educator and creative inspiration. Kathy has the pleasure of designing for Cricut, by Provo Craft, for shows and TV events, for Tim Holtz's various show booths at CHA and, most recently, Annie's Online Classes. You can see Kathy's work on her website, Paper Phenomenon, at www.paperphenomenon.blogspot.com.

Pearl Louise is an avid designer in many needlecrafts including quilting, sewing, felting, embroidery and redwork. Her original projects have appeared in many national magazines, and she's also authored dozens of books including two redwork books by Annie's, Redwork Winter Twitterings and Garden Party Stitchery. See more of her work at www.PearlLouiseDesigns.com