Mary Ellen Hopkins (1932–2013) was an American

quilter Quilting is the process of joining a minimum of three layers of textile, fabric together either through stitching manually using a Sewing needle, needle and yarn, thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting ...

and author.

Life

Hopkins was born in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

and grew up in the midwestern United States. She attended

Drury College Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,590 undergr ...

and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. Hopkins married and had four children. In 1963, she moved with her family to

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. She worked from home making men's shirts.

Quilting

In 1977, Hopkins opened a quilt shop in Santa Monica called Crazy Ladies and Friends. Hopkins' short book, ''The Double Wedding Ring Book'', was released in 1981 and her first full-length book, ''The It's Okay If You Sit on My Quilt Book'', in 1982. She founded a company, ME Publishing First Printing, to publish the latter. Classes offered at her shop developed into invitations to give lectures. Following the release of ''The It's Okay If You Sit on My Quilt Book'', Hopkins began teaching workshops to quilt shop owners interested in her techniques. She lectured throughout the United States and internationally. Hopkins sold her shop in the late 1990s, continuing to give lectures until 2010. Following a stroke, she died on July 9, 2013. Hopkins preferred to give talks rather than use a workshop format. She observed of herself, "Getting up on a stage and talking without interruptions was great

Hopkins' lectures were described as having a "trademark high-energy, humorous style"

According to Quiltviews, the blog of the American Quilting Society, "Mary Ellen is probably best known for creating the connector and perfect piecing triangles concepts and the PPM – Personal Private Measurement

Bibliography

*''The Double Wedding Ring Book'' (1981) *''The It's Okay If You Sit on My Quilt Book'' (1982) *''Baker's Dozen Doubled'' (1988) *''Hidden Wells'' (1989) *''Connecting Up #4'' (1990) *''Continuing On #4 1/2'' (1991) *''A Log Cabin Notebook #5'' (1991) *''Even More Well Connected #4 3/4'' (1995) *''Kansas Connections #4 7/8'' (1996) *''Connectors Collection #4 11/12'' (2000)

References

External links

We Remember Mary Ellen Hopkins
, Quiltviews
Reminiscences on the passing of Mary Ellen Hopkins

In Memoriam: Gutcheon, Hopkins"
Quilters Newsletter

from her Australian organiser {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Mary Ellen 1932 births 2013 deaths American quilters Drury University alumni 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American women textile artists 20th-century American textile artists Textile artists from Illinois Textile artists from California