Meet the Love Quilters

 Stephen Seifert and Liz Schwartz

If there’s a couple that epitomizes the love of quilting, it would have to be Stephen Seifert and Liz Schwartz. They began quilting back in 1989 while in college in Vermont. What started out as a self-taught hobby to spend time together during the cold New England winters, not only brought them closer, but soon became their main source of income.

After transferring schools and graduating from Virginia Tech, they took their skills with paper piecing, and a leap of faith, to start their own magazine called The Foundation Piecer in 1995. At the time, paper piecing was not often accepted as true quilting by many more traditional quilters. But Stephen and Liz loved the creative freedom and the ability to better control the complicated angles of their pieces with this technique. They spent hundreds of hours developing patterns and techniques that were new and unique to the quilting world. Quilter Georgia Bonesteel encouraged them to sell their new patterns and share their knowledge with a wider audience through the publication of a magazine. The startup was a big success and ultimately led to the creation of Quilts with Style Magazine.

But the publishing world was about to go through some changes. By the early 2000s, most magazines went online to compete. Stephen and Liz found that many of their patterns were being copied and people often did not want to support their art and pay for the patterns. China was importing huge amounts of quilts and undercutting prices. And the customer base for their patterns was aging out. The printed magazine they had created came to end in 2007.

Stephen and Liz went back to college, earned new degrees and became forensic tax auditors. They never stopped quilting, often using bright colors and batiks to make their quilt creations. They followed the belief that as a quilter one should live in the moment. Their mantra? “Don’t create a stash of fabrics, use what you have. And practice your art every day to enjoy it.”

Now married for over 30 years, they continued to create their own artistic designs and patterns that can be purchased on www.equiltpatterns.com. The well-known Puzzle Quilt pattern, that can be found in almost every quilt shop, was designed by Stephen and Liz many years ago. Stephen’s favorite quilt pattern is Pythagoras while Liz’s favorite pattern is the Jackson Chameleon quilt made from the foundation piece method.

Always bringing love to what they do, Stephen and Liz decided to share their talents with the rest of the world by donating a large amount of their quilt pieces to The Love Quilt Project this past fall. When asked why they wanted to give so generously they responded that The Love Quilt Project’s mission matched their values of supporting those most in need with the beauty and warmth of a quilt. That’s love.