Walla Walla Valley Quilt Festival
Who We Are
Terri Hellberg (Chair)
I started sewing in the usual way, having to take the mandatory “home ec” class in Jr. High. I didn’t do real well. I couldn’t walk by my moms’ machine without it breaking! (Mom was a great sewer) I really started sewing when my husband bought me my first Viking sewing machine in 1983. I could sew thru coyote fur! I started sewing clothes for the kids and really enjoyed it. I took classes in pattern fitting to tailoring. When I made my first quilt, a king size log cabin, I didn’t even have a rotary cutter, ruler or matt. I have several rotary cutters, and numerous rulers now. I love quilting. My time spent quilting gives me peace and makes me happy. If I’m cranky, my husband has been known to say “Don’t you have some sewing to do?” I finally figured out that he was saying you’re cranky, go sew. I’m afraid that I won’t get all the quilts made that I want. There isn’t enough time in a day and I always seem to find new ones that are waiting to be created!
Judy Benzel (Treasurer)
Judy has been sewing most of her life and continues to create with fiber. A Home Ec college grad, she has branched out to computer sciences in her vocation, but her avocation still remains sewing and quilting. An accomplished quilter and seamstress, she never ceases to amaze with her creative products. One of Judy’s specialties is putting together the Demonstrations and schedules at the Festival.
Laura Sell
I have been in love with quilts and all types of needlework since I was a young girl, sorting my grandmother’s yars and my mother’s fabric scraps. I received my first sewing machine (an Elma) in the mid-80’s when I graduated from UW nursing school, and began quilting in the late 80’s when expecting my first of four children. I made a flannel baby quilt by watching Eleanor Burns on PBS and was hooked. I’ve made over 200 quilts since then, many of them of my own design. I LOVE fabric and math and storytelling, so it’s the perfect medium for me. In 2007 I received the WSQ President’s Choice Award for my Harry Potter quilt which I designed and I believe that gave me the impetus to continue to design and create.
Karen Andersen (Secretary)
Judith Hedberg-Duff
Great Grandmothers, grandmothers and mom introduced me to sewing; I have an early memory of threading needles each week for Ida. I learned to embroider, knit, sew, tailer garments, quilt and design. Designing remains a passion. I created covers for airplane props and wheels, backpacks, gaiters, climbing rope bags, costumes, church vestments, and custom hand embroidered shirts. Sewing has always been a part of my life and with retirement I renewed an interest in quilting. I earned a graduate degree in art and an MAT in education. I’ve been employed as a newspaper illustrator, and free-lance graphic designer, Artist-in-Residence, taught in two art museums, two men’s prisons, three community colleges, two graduate schools and grades third thru eighth in public school. I’ve learned to adapt and be open to opportunities. Printmaking and sewing have been long-time loves. I like learning, working with tools and materials, and the creative process. It’s also exciting to see positive responses. In the last two years I found webinars and virtual classes stimulated my quilting, drawing and printmaking allowing me to travel virtually to galleries and museums. I moved to the Walla Walla area in 2017 and joined the Walla Walla Quilt Guild. I am a member of Print Arts Northwest and ArtWalla and have shown prints locally at CAVU Cellars and Pendleton Public Library.
Sarah Bergman
Sarah Bergman started sewing in the 5th grade when taking lessons from a caring neighbor. Later, she sewed Sunday afternoons with an aunt who mentored her through more difficult garment projects. in 2016, she took a beginner quilting class from Kay Fortner and she has been prolific in producing quilts ever since. She gives quilts to schools, charities, and friends and teaches sewing and quilting to children and adults. She leads a sewing 4H club and creates custom quilt projects for hire. She started grant writing for the festival in 2025.
Nancy Kessler
I started sewing in 7th grade when you learned how to make one of those lovely gathered skirts using 3 yards of fabric. Sewed clothes, costumes, etc. for family and friends through the years. But in 2000 a small newspaper ad caught my eye announcing the 2nd annual WWVQF and they were having a quilt challenge. Well, I love a challenge and the quilt was only wall hanging size, so I bought a book, fabric and other tools of the trade and went to it. Much to my surprise, and a few other peoples’, I won third place. I was now hooked big time on quilting. After the quilt festival that year, I volunteered my services and as they say, the rest is history.
Kay Lehmann
Sewing is hereditary in my family. My great-grandmother was a millineress making hats and gloves for the fashionable ladies of Walla Walla. My mother could create anything out of fabric, including at one point a 6 foot long 3-D gecko wall artpiece. I started sewing at a young age making clothes. I made my first quilt at 13, my own design using pastel dotted swiss parallelograms. Hoo boy the lessons I learned on that quilt and every other quilt since!