Meet Wilna de Beer

'I have been working full time at SPiNNeRiN Quilting and Embroidery Shop since September of 2003.  We soon realized that there was a need in our area for a very basic "Beginners Course" in patchwork.  So I decided that I would like to learn and would be willing to teach once I had accumulated enough knowledge.  So I grabbed a few books and looked over a few people's shoulders and started doing patchwork. 

I studied Interior Decorating at the Pretoria Technicon which helped me to "mix and match" fabrics, work with colour and have an idea on balance, composition etc. Once I had enough confidence, I started teaching in 2005. 

Since then I started designing my own quilts. Some are very traditional, like the well known "Sampler Quilt" and others are very modern and different with three dimensional techniques. I like manipulating fabric and finding new and exciting ways to put a modern twist to a very old and wonderful art.   I design under Moena Tombi Designs.  “Moena” is what my sister started calling me after my young cousin couldn’t pronounce my name and “Tombi” is the name my grandfather gave me, it means “little girl”. A number of my quilts have been published in Stitches Magazine.

I am happy to help students with unfinished quilts or to compile quilts from ideas or pictures they have.  Because I have mixed classes, I don’t focus on one quilt per year although for the last few years I have designed a new quilt each year. There is a “Baltimore Quilt”, with a twist of course, coming up for 2012.  I teach basic Fat Quarter quilts as well as Jelly Roll and Layer Cake quilts. Main courses are taught on a permanent basis - these can be enlarged, reduced or adapted to suit each student’s needs.'