Bonnie Browning – Stories of My Life and Adventures at AQS. (Bonnie Retired after 40 years at AQS following Quilt Week 2024 where this interview was recorded)

Sew & So...

We are live and in person today at the American Quilt Society’s Quilt Week in Paducah KY with our very special guest Bonnie Browning – AQS’s Executive Show Director.

Bonnie learned to sew - taught by her mom -at a young age. She made her first quilt top in 1979 in a Welcome Wagon Group in Burlington, IA. She finished her first quilt in college.

Bonnie has won numerous awards with her quilting, including a third place at the 1986 AQS Quilt Show & Contest, Paducah, Kentucky. That quilt, A Little Bit of Candlewicking, is now in the collection of The National Quilt Museum (NQM). In the early 1980s, Bonnie was a member of the DBQs, a group of seven quilting friends in Dubuque, Iowa. The DBQs were the first group to develop a quilting challenge and publish the process in the Spring 1986 issue of American Quilter magazine.

After becoming an NQA certified quilt judge in 1986, Bonnie began teaching and judging for quilt guilds and conferences across the U.S. and every continent except Antarctica. In 1999 Bonnie represented McCall's Quilting on the committee to select the Best 100 Quilts of the Twentieth Century.

Bonnie became a Certified Teacher of Zentangle Art in 2011 and has since combined her love of drawing and quilting into Zentangle quilting designs.

Bonnie served as a technical director for the AQS quilting television show, American Quilter that aired in 2005 on Lifetime Real Women. She has appeared on numerous TV shows and has written 13 books – one of which was a cookbook.

Bonnie was named a Duchess of Paducah in April 1996.

And after 40 years…and a full rich life giving so very much to quilters worldwide…Bonnie plans to retire after this year’s AQS show!

2:42 – How and why did Bonnie learn to sew? She takes us back to her youth!

4:03 – Why did Bonnie begin to quilt? It all began with America’s bicentennial and a few long-term goals and her husband’s transfer with JC Penney.

7:20 – So, what else about Bonnie’s youth is worth noting? She tells us about making ornaments at Christmas.

8:28 – Bonnie’s quilt “A little bit of candle wicking” now hangs in the National Quilt Museum. She walks us through its history and how she felt in the moment she found out she had won.

11:27 Who are the DBQ’s? Bonnie tells us their story! And…their efforts were the genesis for national quilt challenges.

14:00 – What is Zentangle and why is Bonnie an expert in this art? She walks us through this wonderful story.

17:22 Bonnie has judged quilts on 6 of 7 continents…which once specifically stand out for her?

18:22 – In 1999 Bonnie represented McCall’s quilting in choosing the 100 most influential quilts of the 20th century. Her this story from her unique and personal point of view. https://www.amazon.com/Twentieth-Centurys-Best-American-Quilts/dp/B000AMPHWE

21:29 – What’s Quilt Camp for Kids? Bonnie tells us of this very special opportunity for kids through the National Quilt Museum.

24:21 – Bonnie has decided to retire after the 2024 AQS Show. How did it all begin for her in 1994. Bonnie takes us back through time to 1994 to recount those special days.

27:24 – What was it like in the early days?

28:43 – 2011…Easter Sunday…the big flood. What a story of Plan B!

35:55 – What else during her tenure made a deep impression. Well…it was hurricane Katrina and 10,000 quilts. And of course…9/11.

40:36 – Why had Bonnie decided to retire now? She shares her reasons and her plans for the future.

41:45 – What does she want her legacy to be? She shares this with us here.

43:43 – And…what’s her dream? Well, she’s not moving away from Paducah any time soon – although there is a lot of travel in her future!

45:20 – What question didn’t I ask? There is a wonderful story of her trip to Japan…

50:34 – How can you keep in touch with Bonnie? www.bonniebrowning.com

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