Bob Purcell has been in the thread and sewing industry for 27 years. He and his wife started and built one of the most successful specialized thread companies in the world. They sold that company in 2016, with the intent of enjoying retirement life with family and grandchildren.

Seven years later in 2023, Bob, who has no hobbies other than work and grandchildren, realized that retirement wasn’t for him. He bought Y.L.I. Threads, a company with a 45-year history in the quilting, embroidery, and sewing world, and is once again doing what he loves -- educating the sewing world and supplying the best sewing products.

Working again with the top three thread factories in the world, eight new lines of the highest quality quilting and sewing threads have been introduced in the past year and more are in the works. When Bob puts his name behind a product, you can trust it.

For over 16 years, Cathie has worked as a professional long-arm quilter, evolving her artistic voice through fiber art and mixed media. Her work blends silk, wool, and watercolor to create richly textured compositions inspired by nature’s organic beauty. Over the past decade, she has focused on art quilting, using pigment, dye, and layered materials like hand-dyed cheesecloth and wool fibers to evoke forests, flowing water, and light. Her process combines hand embroidery, couching, wool felting, and long-arm quilting, turning each piece into a vibrant narrative of movement and texture. Collaboration and community continually inspire her journey, while hand stitching keeps her grounded in tradition. Each quilt is a dynamic expression of color, energy, and craftsmanship.

Judi lives in beautiful St. George, Utah with her husband Clint and their four children. She has been designing quilt patterns for over 20 years now and finds great pleasure in the whole creative process of quilt design. She has traveled the world to teach her signature style of free-motion and ruler work quilting, all while having a goal of fabric design. What could be more fulfilling than designing fabric, piecing her own designs, and finally quilting with that fabric? To say she is ecstatic about fulfilling the lifelong goal of fabric design by signing with Riley Blake Designs is an understatement.

Judi owns Green Fairy Quilts, an online quilting supply store, with her husband Clint. It’s a full family business now as their children work with them to ship orders to happy customers across the USA and around the world.

Judi has published 3 books with American Quilter’s Society; taught 3, soon to be 4 online classes with iquilt.com and has recently self-published Creative Chaos, Serenity, and Realm quilting books. She keeps busy with the business as well as with her creativity. In her free time she loves the outdoors by roller skating the trails around her home town, reading good books, learning about Jesus, and spending time with her family.

Linda first discovered sewing as a young child, experimenting on her grandmother’s treadle machine—though her early attempts were more knots than skill. Still, she’s always been a maker at heart, and over time those messy beginnings turned into creating wearable clothing. She spent many years sewing for my family, from everyday school outfits to a wedding gown for one daughter and bridesmaid dresses for another. After retiring from Verizon in 2003 and moving to Washington, Utah, she found herself with extra time and a quiet sewing machine until her daughters encouraged her to try quilting. Taking a class at Scrap Apple Quilts in St. George changed everything—what began as a pastime quickly became a passion. By 2006, Linda had a Gammill longarm machine and turned her hobby into a business. Over the past decade, she’s had the privilege of quilting for ByAnnie.com while continuing to work on customer quilts, though her true love remains traditional patterns. Quilting has become more than a craft—it’s her creative outlet, her happy place alongside family, and a passion she looks forward to sharing for many years to come.

Award winning quilt artist Marilyn Badger hand pieced her first quilt in 1978.  Little did she know that would lead to a phenomenally successful 30-year career in the world of competition quilting, as well as traveling around the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan, teaching longarm classes, and representing APQS at all the national and international quilt shows. As a result, she became known as a pioneer in the longarm industry. She appeared on numerous PBS and HGTV quilting shows over a 12-year span, and her work has been featured in numerous national and international publications, as well as special exhibits around the United States. Her passion for quilting will always be a huge part of her life, and she invites you to join her as she shares her love for this art form.

Susan McBride Gilgen started her quilting career making Landscape Art Quilts in Madison, Wisconsin. She is known for her vivid color use and intricate Landscape designs. She has garnered many awards at AQS, IQA, International and State shows across the US. After moving to Utah in 2007, she served as a National Teacher, Judge, and winning participant for the Utah Quilt Guild and the Dixie Quilt Guild. She has often been a guest speaker at guilds throughout Wisconsin and Utah. Sue is currently serving as the President of the Southern Utah Fiber Art (SUFA) group here in St. George. While proficient with many quilting techniques, she specializes in machine applique and embroidery, batik and Procion dye usage.

www.GilgenArt.com

Cheryl Paul Styler has quilted for over 30 years and is skilled in numerous quilting techniques. She owned Threads of Time in Centerville, Utah. She has been active in both the UQG and DQG guilds. She also served as past president of SUFA. Cheryl has been a teacher and award-winning quilter. She specializes in hand embroidery, needle turned applique, quilted bags and all things Fiber Art, but also loves traditional quilt techniques.

Sue and Cheryl combined their talents and created “Remembering Old Nauvoo” in 2018 and “Restoring the Coral Reef” in 2025. These award winning quilts will be on display during the Festival. Cheryl and Sue will also be talking about their journey at an Artist Presentation on Friday of the Festival.

During Covid, Sue and Cheryl joined a small group of friends in taking a contemporary batik class online from artist Jude Flaherty who lives in Wales, UK. A year later, they began designing and batiking plants and animals that would inhabit their large underwater coral reef project.

They are anxious to share what they have learned on their “Restoring the Coral Reef” journey for our Quilt and Fiber Art Festival. Join this special Festival Class for a three-day journey in Batiking, Ice dying, Applique, and finishing techniques. This is a unique opportunity to work with these two talented Art-Quilters.