Wooden Spools Quilting Knitting & More

Our Teachers

Audrey Cheadle

Audrey has been a knitter since grade school, when she learned to knit from her mother.  More recently, she ventured more deeply into the fiber arts by learning to spin her own yarn.  Her favorite fiber to spin is alpaca.  She currently serves as Outreach Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Weavers’ Guild, setting up spinning and weaving exhibits at venues that include the Stock Show and the Denver County Fair.

It has become one of Audrey’s passions to grow the art of knitting and spinning by encouraging her students to build on what they already know and become more comfortable with their craft.  In doing so, she too gains new skills and insights into the fascinating world of creating hand knit and handspun items.

A 23-year resident of Englewood, Audrey was delighted to discover Wooden Spools right in her own neighborhood, and spends as much time as she can at Englewood’s own Local Yarn Shop!

Audrey believes everyone should knit on a daily basis to enhance their peace of mind!

Bonnie Colonna

Bonnie has had a life-long love of sewing and embroidery. She is an educator for Husqvarna Viking and specializes in classes using embroidery software. She has written numerous articles for CME and McCalls Quilting. Bonnie has won challenges with Sulky of America and SVP Worldwide. She owns and operates Quilted Collectibles a long arm quilting business (www.quiltedcollectibles.com)

Jane Dumler

Jane started teaching for Y-Wives in 1971!  She taught for Great American Quilt Factory from 1982 to 2011 when they closed.

Simone Fischle-Brendel

I learned how to knit in school, almost 30 years ago.  About 20 years ago when I was working as a nurse and had to do a lot of night shifts, I taught myself how to knit socks.  My first pair of socks turned out quite strange, but I got better every time.  Knitting socks is what I still know best!  When I prepared myself for my first sock knitting class I came across a sock knitting book with japanese inspired patterns.  I just love these patterns, and look forward to sharing them with you.

Growing up and living almost my entire life in Germany  means that I knit “the continental way”.  I was very surprised to find out that I knit in a different way than most Americans do.  I did a lot of teaching back home in Germany, but in totally different fields, and I am really enjoying my first experience with teaching knitting classes here at Wooden Spools.

Darcy Lewis – Designer and Artist

Darcy Lewis is a Denver native, daughter of the photographer and jeweler Milton Lewis.  Her interest in clothing seems to be genetic – one set of grandparents had a ladies and children’s clothing store in Chicago, the other grandmother was a finisher for designers like Bill Blass in New York City, and her mother used to work backstage in the Costume Department of Opera Colorado.

Darcy started sewing at age 8 in 4-H programs, winning awards at the State Fair in Pueblo. After graduating from the University of Chicago, she got her MBA from the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Her formal training in fashion has been at Denver’s own Emily Griffith School, at Columbia College in Chicago, and master classes with top designers like Claire Schaffer and Susan Khalje.  Informally, she has spent time in the ateliers of Ann Feist in New York and Wang Zhi in Shanghai, China (You may have seen the CBS special of Wang Zhi’s work during the Beijing Olympics).

In 2008, Darcy opened her own Denver studio, offering affordable ready-to-wear and custom designs, and unparalleled customer service. Her work will be featured in an upcoming Threads magazine, and has been exhibited and sold at the Denver Art Museum, the Mizel Museum, the Emil Nelson Gallery, Art Salon, Great American Quilt Factory, along with many others both nationally and internationally.

Carolyn Cullinan McCormick

Quilting has been a big part of my life for over 26 years. I worked and taught a variety of quilting and craft classes at the Patchworks in Bozeman, Montana, from 1987 to 1993. In 1993, out of frustration, I invented the Add-A-Quarter ruler.

The Add-A-Quarter has opened many doors for me. It has given me the opportunity to write 6 books on paper piecing and to travel to various parts of the United States as well as overseas teaching classes.

Quilting has taken me down roads that I would never have thought of traveling and given me many opportunities. I have met such wonderful and gifted people! The talent I see in the quilting community continues to amaze me.

Lynda Milligan

I started my quilting career at Quilts and Other Comforts (one of the first quilt stores in the country and home of Quilter’s Newsletter) in the summer of 1973 and started teaching quilt classes shortly after. I opened Great American Quilt Factory, a retail quilting store in Denver, CO, with my business partner, Nancy Smith, in the spring of 1981. In the 30 years that GAQF was open, we published over 100 patterns under the DreamSpinners name, wrote and published over 75 quilting books under the Possibilities name, and designed over 100 fabric lines for Chapel House, VIP, Henry Glass, Avlyn, and Quilting Treasures. We appeared on Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson on four different occasions and also with Sue Hausmann on America Sews, twice. We have also written books for That Patchwork Place and C&T Publishing.

I graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Arts and Science. This degree has helped me with my teaching in the quilting industry as well as designing, writing directions, and figuring yardage for quilts and other stitching projects. I love teaching patchwork and appliqué and enjoy watching my students create beautiful projects. I have taught across the country for numerous guilds and independent quilt shops for several years.  All-in-all I LOVE QUILTS!

Patricia Minich

I have been sewing on and off since high school.  I started designing and teaching my purse patterns about three years ago and now have eight purse patterns in addition to a casserole tote pattern and apron pattern.  In 2010 I entered the Hoffman Challenge and my Courtney Bag was selected to travel in their trunk show for that year.  I love designing purses and get my inspirations from family, friends and just my own imagination.  I really enjoy showing other sewers how to put them together and seeing the fabrics they choose to make my purses their own designs.

Cheryl Oberle

Cheryl has been knitting since she was four years old!  Along with her own line of self-published designs and hand-dyed yarns and kits, she designs for magazines and yarn companies.  Author of Folk Shawls, Folk Vests, and the new Knitted Jackets:  20 Designs from Classic to Contemporary.  Cheryl’s designs have been published in Knitter’s Interweave Knits and Piecework magazines.  Her annual Knitaway ^TM retreats and workshops have been popular destinations for knitters since 1993.

Cheryl has a B.A. in philosophy and psychology from the University of Denver, studied art and architecture at Harvard, and has done graduate work at Northwestern University.

When she’s not knitting, Cheryl can be found touring the Colorado high country with her husband, Gary.

Ann L. Petersen

Ann is a local award-winning quilter who has taught classes in the Denver Area for over 12 years.  Ann has been sewing since she was a child and gradually became a quilter as an adult.  In the last 10 years, interest in other hobbies has waned and quilting has become a near obsession.  She worked for 15 years at the now-closed Great American Quilt Factory, many of those years as a designer for Possibilities books and patterns.  She loves to design her own quilts using traditional blocks and contemporary colors and settings.  Many of these quilts have won awards including blue ribbons at Houston International Quilt Festival, the National Quilting Association Show, and several of the Mancuso shows like the Denver National Quilt Festival.  She is happy to be joining our teaching staff to continue to share techniques and experiences with other quilters.

Jane Quinn

For twenty years I’ve owned my own award winning business, “Quilting in the Country”.  In 1998 we were selected as one of the Top 10 Quilting Shops in North America by American Patchwork and Quilting.  We are a destination quilt shop serving many Montana visitors and quilters from all over the US and world.  I’ve also appeared on HGTV Simply Quilts, various PBS features and presented at the International Quilt Market.  In recent years I’ve been chosen one of the Top 100 Designers by Quiltmaker Magazine.  Teaching my expertise, I have traveled from A to Z – Alaska to Zion, UT as well as many other locations in Colorado -  Sisters, Oregon and across the US.

Linda Rhodes

“I began quilting about twenty years ago and enjoy every aspect of the process.  My greatest gain in quilting was my husband seeing an applique pattern in a quilt shop while vacationing and asking me to make it for him.  I have taught retreats and classes in quilt shops in Chicago and St. Louis.  My applique quilts have won awards including first place in quilt shows in the Chicago area.”

Kathleen Shaw

Kathleen has been knitting and crocheting her whole life!  She has taught beginning knitting to co-workers (group of 15) and is always teaching friends to crochet and knit.   She creates her own patterns and is always willing to share tips and tricks with others!

Heather Thomas

Heather is a mixed media fiber artist who is an avid teacher and writer.  Her first book, “Fabric Embellishing, the Basics and Beyond” is a current best seller.   She has recently finished her second book, “A Fiber Artist’s Guide to Color and Design”.  She is currently free lancing for Quilting Arts Magazine and shooting DVD’s for The Creative Crafts Group, and working on her third book, which will be entitled, “Doodle, Quilt & Color”.   Heather has been teaching and creating her own patterns for almost 20 years.

Jessica Vaughn

I am a Kansas native, transplanted to Colorado some 30 years ago. I am the mother of 2 sons, grandmother of 3.

I began quilting about 20 years ago when my sons were well into their teens. I needed an outlet that did not require a major outlay of time or money. I was a self-taught quilter in the beginning as my first visit to a quilt store ended in disaster. An Eleanor Burns book was my first purchase and my first quilt was a sampler made from all shades of lavender polyester cotton prints. My sister is the proud owner of that quilt. Since that time, I have evolved into a competent quilter. My favorite pattern is Log Cabin and I consider myself a traditional quilt maker.  Lately, I’ve discovered a passion for scraps and the scrappier the better.  I have amassed a huge collection of scraps that I am “mastering” and working my way through.

I was the Museum Store Manager at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and have held various positions in local guilds. I am currently a member of Rocky Mountain Wa Shonaji Quilt Guild, & Columbine Quilters.  For the past 7 years, I have owned and operated Crimson Design Studio, a quilt education and custom quilt making business.

I am so looking forward to making new quilting friends, teaching new quilters, and continuing the quest of my passion. It’s nice to meet you!

Carol Ann Waugh

“Unique” is a description often overused in the art world, but in my case, the motivation to be stretching toward new and original outcomes is always an underlying factor in my work. The compulsion to be different began more than 30 years ago when I tackled my first quilt, and immediately realized traditional patterns were not going to work for me, so I created my own. Those early days of learning to work with fabric have given way to experimentation and curiosity that always seems to be the driving force behind my art.

My current work hints at the mixing of geometric and organic textures with layer upon layer of complex surface tension. It’s about exploration where unexpected connections and juxtapositions can lead to new ideas and artistic expressions.  I enjoy not having complete control over the outcome of my work and as I layer, create each line, shape or pattern, add or take away color, and stitch, the decisions made after each step change the options for the next decision.  It’s why making art is so intriguing to me and something I am driven to do every day.  When I see another way to stretch the definition of fiber art, that’s when I feel excited about what I am doing.

Katie Wells

Katie worked for 11 years at Great American Quilt Factory, 4 as manager. During that time she tested the Saturday Sampler Quilts, created samples for books and for store use, and taught numerous classes. Katie has been quilting for over 30 years and has completed over 100 quilts – many of which have won awards at various shows.