The curator selects three judges for the challenge. They are selected in July, and they judge the challenge shortly after the entry deadline. To be considered as a judge for future challenges, or to recommend an individual, please contact the curator.
A self taught seamstress at age 9 yrs, Bobbi has always had a needle and thread in her hand. As the mother of 5 daughters and 1 son, garment production for the family was ongoing. She has taught sewing and design at various fabric shops. A quilter since 1986, she found a good use for those sewing scraps! She is the Founding chairman of "The Best of The Valley" a Regional Show of Quilts and Wearable Art. Now in it's 11th year, the Show has become one of the larger Shows in California. Bobbi is a member of the Valley Oak Quilt Guild in Tulare, having held many offices. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the California Heritage Quilt Project. Bobbi took her Judge's training through the Northern California Quilt Council project.
I remember the first time I saw the varied garments displayed in Williamsburg, Virginia in the late eighties. Taking a few more steps I learned these submissions were entries in something called “The Hoffman Challenge.” I guess there were quilts there that day, too, but I only had eyes for “wearable art.”
Subsequent years lead me back to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Williamsburg and I never missed being dazzled by The Hoffman Challenge, which was my favorite part of the show. I said to myself, “someday I’m going to enter that competition.”
Years came and went but after a 34 year teaching career in secondary art I finally retired in 2003. You might say I turned in my paint brush and sculpture tools to return to my preferred medium and tool … fabric and a sewing machine. At last, I was free to “do that Challenge thing.” I submitted a jacket and hat in 2004. A neighbor, Elizabeth Wheat, also entered a doll that year because I practically forced her to enter!
She was so full of talent I knew she would do well. She did. She won grand prize in the doll division and it was her first entry.
Having spent a lifetime career assigning my high school students noteworthy art competitions from local to international competitions, I have seen how much their evolving works stretched their sense of design. Further contests stimulated within them lifelong interests and developed their ability to critique their own and other’s works.
My students were fortunate in winning an inordinate proportion of the time. The end result is that it bolstered their interests, their self-concepts, and quite often launched them into college studies and careers in all of the various forms of art.
Now, I teach classes in wearable art often employing quilting techniques. Guess you’d say I’m still teaching DESIGN, but with new materials. The fun comes in designing garments that are practical, yet memorable and preferably sophisticated all at the same time. That takes a lot of thinking and some trial and error.
Judging The Hoffman Challenge is not only a complement to me personally, but also an opportunity to compare notes on how we do things on both coasts. I’m delighted to make the trip and see how “stitchers” are going to put what I call Hoffman’s “party swirls” to use. I’ll bet that my husband, son, and dogs will barely miss me!!!
Degrees: College of William and Mary-BA Fine Arts in 1969; Va. Commonwealth Univ. MA Art Ed in 1979.; Published: Drawing: Images- rendering your personal view and collaborated another Collaboration in Art Education by Al Hurwitz ; Magazine Emphasis-Va. Art Ed. Assoc. 1979 “The Case for Group Art” by Sheran Hodges
I am a confirmed Fabriholic. I have been an avid quilter for over 30 years and I believe my background in Interior Designer led me to appreciate the whole world of textiles.
I have been a doll maker for over 25 years. During those years I have belonged to several doll clubs. Being a member of a club gives you exposure to other doll makers and their techniques. At some point in your journey, you will develop your own style. I currently belong to two quilt guilds that are generous enough to embrace doll makers and each year has welcomed us into their quilt shows.
I have won several awards for my dolls and enjoy teaching at a local quilt shop.
Each year I donate dolls to charitable auctions, and also enjoy creating one-of-a-kind dolls.
I live in So. California with my husband. Together, we raised two wonderful boys who have in turn blessed us with three adorable grandchildren.
Ann Turley made her first quilt in 1991, but has sewn and crafted most of her life. She is very active in her local quilt guild where she recently served as President.
Because of her desire to share the love of quilting with others, Ann has developed several informative programs aimed at quilt guilds and other women’s groups that combine her life experiences with quilting. Ann also teaches a variety of classes from basic to innovative piecing techniques as well as appliqui and fabric painting.
In 2002 and 2004 Ann received the Best Machine Quilted Small Quilt Award at the Glendale, CA Quilt Show. Ann was also awarded the Author’s Choice Award by Earlene Fowler at the 2003 Glendora, CA Quilt Exhibition.
Ann is a trained judge. She has been involved with judging the Orange County and Los Angeles County Fairs, Hancock Fabrics national quilt contest, and the 2004 and 2005 Hoffman Challenge.
Andi is an award-winning quiltmaker, teacher and NQA Certified Quilt Judge. She began quilting in 1991 and her enthusiasm for quilting continues to grow. She is known for her hand quilting and hand appliqué; however her interests are not limited to these. Andi is interested in all aspects of quiltmaking.
Andi regularly enters regional and national shows and has won many prizes including Best of Show, Best Innovative Design, Merit Hand Quilting and Applique Master. Her quilts have been published widely in periodicals and books. Her whole-cloth quilt, Silver Splendor, has traveled more than Andi has in the past few years, going to Japan with AQS and Barcelona with IQA.
Andi teaches classes to quilters and has a self published pattern for a pieced Circle of Illusion, which originated with her innovative quilt, Just Plane Fun. This technique was featured in show #926 on HGTV's Simply quilts. Her appliqué quilt, Whigged Out on the West Coast has recently been patterned by Quilters Newsletter Magazine and published in the 2004 Wall Calendar.
Getting up close and personal with other people's quilts is also something Andi enjoys as a certified quilt judge. She finds it exciting to discover the creative touches all quilts bring to their work and delights in their accomplishments.
Sally McKibben grew up surrounded by fabric and flowers, in a family known for colorful gardens and excellent sewing skills. Her grandmother, a tailor, valued form and precision. Her mother loved color and rich details. For almost twenty years McKibben applied these same elements to her designs for gardens and outdoor environments as a licensed Landscape Architect. Her projects included universities, theme parks, recreation areas, retreat centers and private gardens. She has taught classes in Landscape Design at the community college.
An art student from childhood, McKibben graduated from UC Berkeley where she studied social science, history and art. She earned the Professional Certificate in Landscape Architecture at UCLA in 1984 and was licensed by the State of California in 1985, specializing in design.
Although McKibben has sewn clothing and home décor since childhood, it wasn't until approximately 1992 that she extended her love of color, texture and structure to quilting. Her love of history drew her to traditional and historic patterns. McKibben enjoys exploring how color and texture alters the pattern's appearance. She is a member of Orange Grove, Orange County, and Quilters by the Sea Quilt Guilds. She has completed the Northern California Quilt Council's Course on Judging Quilts and Wearable Art and enjoys sharing with others the value of having quilts evaluated in a positive and informative manner. Her lectures and judging demonstrations have been well received, allaying quilters' fears about submitting their quilts for evaluation.
Most recently McKibben designed the Opportunity Quilt for Orange Grove Quilters Guild. This will be traveling throughout 2006 as a fund raiser for the guild. McKibben has designed several quilts and needlepoint projects which will be put into production within the next year.
Experience:
2005 Los Angeles County Fair Quilting Division Judge
2005 Hoffman Challenge Comments Judge for Quilts, Dolls and Wearable Art
2005 Orange County Fair Quilting Division judge
2004 "Camp Watch-A-Patcher" Quilt Challenge Judge
Night Owls Quilt Guild, 2003 Show Judge
Quilters by the Sea Quilt Guild, lecture and demonstration judging multiple quilts
Orange County Quilters Guild, lecture and judging demonstration.
Orange Grove Quilt Guild, lecture and judging demonstration.
Acacia Quilt Guild lecture and judging demonstration.
Linda Rasmussen was born and grew up in Nebraska, but for the past thirty-one years, California has been her home. She lives in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains in Monrovia, California and has been a quiltmaker since 1975. With a degree in Home Economics from Iowa State University, sewing has always been a part of her life. She has been teaching quiltmaking in the Southern California area for several years and judging shows and challenges for the past five years. Linda has taken the Short Course on Judging from the National Quilting Association as well as the Quilt Judging Seminar from the Northern California Council of Quilt Guilds. Her goal as a judge is to encourage all those who enter a competition to continue making wonderful quilts, and to strive to achieve all they are capable of achieving in the quilting arena.
