Design - Oak Park, Illinois, United States
Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr are celebrating their 20th year as professional quiltmakers and co-founders of Modern Quilt Studio, a design studio in Oak Park, Illinois. Bill and Weeks are pioneers of the Modern Quilt Movement, having written the first book on Modern Quilting. Weeks made her first modern quilt in 1987 to rethink the possibilities of the American quilt as being expressive of the time in which we live. Bill began sewing at age 8 and started designing and making modern quilts in 1995.Modern Quilt Studio publishes Modern Quilts Illustrated, the first ever magazine exclusively dedicated to modern quilting. From the first issue in 2011 to its latest release, Modern Quilts Illustrated has enjoyed an international following. Weeks and Bill are also authors of six books including Transparency Quilts, Quilts Made Modern, The Modern Quilt Workshop, Quiltmaker's Color Workshop, Color Harmony for Quilts and the best-selling children's sewing book, A Kid's Guide to Sewing.Their work has been featured widely in the international press including in O:The Oprah Magazine, TIME, The New York Times, Dwell, American Patchwork & Quilting, Quilt Jikan (Japan), France Patchwork and Country Living among others. Weeks and Bill have taught extensively throughout the US, Canada, Japan (in Japanese), England and France (in French). In addition, Weeks teaches two online classes, Designing Modern Quilts on Bluprint and Solids Revolution on iquilt.com.Weeks and Bill are prolific designers of original modern fabrics and debuted their first line in 2003. Known for their colorful yarn dyes and unique prints for Benartex's Contempo lines, Weeks and Bill strive to inspire quilters of all ages and quilting styles. When he's not working in the studio, Bill can be found at Dominican University in River Forest, IL where he is Director of the Graphic Design Discipline and former Chair of the Art Department.