Baltimore Garden Quilt

Barbara M. Burnham

Quilter, Author, Teacher, Lecturer

At the age of five, Barbara Burnham leaned to sew from her grandmother, threading a shoestring through perforated cardboard drawings. Embroidery and crewel became her favorite pastimes. In 1972, her mother surprised her with a gift of a year-long Baltimore Album class with Mimi Dietrich. Barbara credits Mimi for inspiring her obsession with appliqué.

When the Baltimore Appliqué Society was founded in 1993, Barbara became a charter member. Very active with the BAS, she serves as a board member and frequent contributor to the BAS newsletter, and donates her time and talents for museum fundraisers to raise funds that help preserve their quilt collections.

Barbara is the author of Baltimore Garden Quilt, published in 2012 by American Quilter’s Society. She writes articles on appliqué, quilting techniques, and antique quilts, and is active with online groups of quilt collectors, historians, and appliqué enthusiasts. Barbara also writes technique articles for American Quilter Magazine; recent articles include:

"Hand Applique with Coffee Filters" - a technique for unit-construction applique with an unusual base material (September 2011).
"Precision-Pieced Binding" - a great technique to keep center design elements flowing through the quilt edge (November 2012).
"Edge-Ruched Flowers for Applique" - a dimensional applique technique to make flowers for a quilt or fabric jewelry (September 2014).

Many of Barbara’s award-winning quilts have been exhibited throughout the United States. She has won several awards for hand quilting and hand appliqué in national competitions.

Barbara teaches hand appliqué, hand quilting, inking on fabric, and other quilting techniques, and offers presentations and trunk shows from her collection of antique and new quilts.