Issue 38 | Texas Greater Houston

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Big as it is in spirit and scale, Texas simply can’t be contained in a single issue. With nearly 270,000 square miles to its name, it’s a place where a drive across the state can easily take a full day. From within that expanse, we turn our focus to the Greater Houston area—a region rich with layered histories, global influences, and deeply rooted creative communities.

At the center is Houston, the largest city in Texas. Known as Space City for its enduring connection to NASA and space exploration, Houston is also one of the most diverse cities in the country, with more than 145 languages spoken across its neighborhoods. As a global energy hub, most people you meet will share some connection to one of the hundreds of oil and gas companies based here. Beneath the downtown Houston streets, an underground tunnel system quietly connects the city’s core, while above ground, an ever-evolving food scene of more than 11,000 restaurants reflects generations of migration, memory, and shared tables.

The region stretches far beyond the city itself. To the east, Galveston Bay meets the Gulf, rich with artists, sailors, and, of course, quilters. With no hills to interrupt the view, the landscape opens into vast, unobstructed horizons. North toward Kingwood and south through Brazoria, the landscape shifts—from dense urban streets to tree-lined neighborhoods and open farmland. Each place adds its own rhythm and character, shaping a region that feels expansive yet deeply connected. Like a well-loved quilt, Greater Houston is made from many pieces: distinct in color and texture, rich with meaning, and stitched together by shared history and care. In this issue, we celebrate the makers who carry those stories forward—one block, one seam, one thoughtful stitch at a time.

Writers: Rebecca Bratburd, Meg Cox, Frances O’Roark Dowell, Courtney Mabeus-Brown, Christopher Michel, Diane L. Murtha, Sharbreon Plummer, Carmen Schell, and Teresa Duryea Wong.

Photographer: Azuree Holloway

Photo Stylist: Trevor Holloway

Previews From Issue 38

Allie McCathren

Allie McCathren’s path from marine biology to quilting is a story of curiosity, risk, and creative play. Through her bold, deeply personal quilts, she shows how embracing creative chaos—and sharing it openly—can build connection, meaning, and joy.

Bianca Springer

Bianca Springer sees beauty where others see discard. In her Texas studio, the designer and “sentimental maker” transforms forgotten quilts and vintage fabrics into one-of-a-kind garments that honor both history and innovation. Her work bridges fashion and craft, infusing upcycled materials with new stories and personal expression. Beyond her artistry, Bianca is a passionate advocate for fair compensation and recognition for makers—especially women and Black creatives—using social media to champion respect, equity, and the enduring power of handmade work.

Brice Porter - Men’s Textile Collective

Through the Men’s Textile Collective, Brice Porter is helping to redefine what creativity and community can look like. What began as one maker’s love of quilting has grown into an effort to welcome men into the world of fiber arts—offering focus, connection, and a sense of belonging along the way. In every stitch, Brice sees not just craft but a quiet kind of healing that brings people together.

Cynthia England

What’s it like to be a three-time Best of Show winner at Houston’s International Quilt Festival (IQF)? Cynthia England can tell you. She got her start after her first big win in 1993 and has gone on to become a popular teacher who has taught all over the world. Cynthia’s story is intimately intertwined with the history of IQF, and she admits she would not have the career she has today if it weren’t for that first winning quilt.

Diana Miller

Diana Miller found her quilting community in the birthday club at So and Sew, a quilt shop in Brazoria. Her unexpected journey into quilting began at 19 with a librarian’s challenge and led to working as Eleanor Burns’s personal assistant within two months. After moving from Houston to West Columbia and grappling with postpartum depression, she reconnected with quilting and now runs Ray’s Animal Planet, a nonprofit animal rescue named after a beloved cat.

From Album Cover to Quilt

When it came time to plan the cover design for American Patchwork Quartet’s first album, Clay Ross, the band’s founder and guitarist, knew he wanted a quilt image in which each block would be different and represent one of the 14 songs. He reached out to Ty Wilkins to design the cover, and then, Ty reached out Houston quilter Marisa Wilhelmi to turn his design into an actual quilt.

Georgia Williams

Georgia Williams’ art quilts are history lessons wrapped in the form of a quilt. They tell both known and unknown stories of Black history—stories the quilts’ viewers won’t soon forget. What began as an invitation to create and exhibit a narrative-style quilt became a creative passion that she’s now embraced for years, and Georgia’s art quilts have been shown across the country and even around the world.

Houston Modern Quilt Guild

From the living room beginnings of the Houston Modern Quilt Guild to enjoying the largest presence at the most recent QuiltCon, the chapter has grown into a thriving community of around 200 members. They foster connection through inclusive meetings, retreats, and workshops ranging from traditional piecing to AI-assisted quilting. The guild’s charity program reaches 99 percent participation, providing quilts for Project Linus, Day 1 Bags, and local retirement communities. Members share, teach, and inspire one another, proving that growth and community can flourish side by side.

International Quilt Festival

International Quilt Festival is one of the most diverse and influential quilt shows in the world. Tens of thousands of quilters, businesses, and teachers flock to downtown Houston each year to take part in this epic show. Its founders are two Texas women whose outsize contributions to the quilt world have helped make the industry what it is today.

Karen Nyberg

Karen Nyberg took a giant leap when she became the first person to sew a quilt block in space during her 2013 mission to the International Space Station. That block, a wonky 9-inch star, inspired more than 2,400 people to submit blocks of their own as part of a star-themed challenge launched by NASA and Quilts, Inc. Karen, now retired and working as an artist in Utah, continues to draw inspiration from her space travels. It’s a frequent theme in her art quilts, as well as a children’s picture book scheduled for release in September 2026.

Kumiko Frydl

Kumiko Frydl thinks small—so small, in fact, that her quilts are no bigger than a placemat. But within that tiny scale, this Japanese artist creates impeccable works of art that are mesmerizing. She has spent decades mastering the art of working in miniature, and she has shared her techniques in books and workshops. But there are other secrets she will take to her grave!

Pelican View Quilting Retreat House

If you build it, they will come. That is what Susan Carlton and her husband, Jason Chide, experienced when they opened the Pelican View Quilting Retreat House in Galveston. They overcame several stumbling blocks over a number of years, but their dream came to fruition in October 2021. Perched right on the water’s edge with idyllic views, the “quilt house,” as Susan calls it, has been full of quilters ever since.

Sarah Ruiz

NASA engineer Sarah Ruiz has always had a creative side. As a kid, she loved drawing so much that she thought she might grow up to be a Disney animator. Her journey into quiltmaking might sound familiar—a T-shirt quilt here, a baby quilt there—but she veered off the beaten path when she discovered modern quilts. These days, Sarah is known for her quilts that incorporate surprising twists on traditional designs.

Sarah Ruth Morris

Sarah Ruth Morris is a fourth-generation quilter from Appalachia whose work spans fundraising quilts for vulnerable children and narrative pieces that confront trauma. From her Houston sewing space, the artist behind Ruthlessly Handmade creates quilts designed to make people feel, including her collaborative quilt Unforgotten about sexual assault.

Look for the following articles on the Quiltfolk Journal!

Alex Begnaud

An elementary school music teacher, Alex Begnaud has big plans to start an after-school sewing club to pass on the love of quilting that his Nana Ruth passed onto him. His contemporary-style quilts feature everything from The Golden Girls to pickles to dragons, and much to his students’ delight, he designs his own T-shirts, too.