Rita Meyerhoff has been a self-taught sewer and crafter since she was a young girl, particularly in the areas of cross-stitch and hand embroidery. In 1993, she tried quilting by making her first sampler block quilt. That experience led Rita to shift her crafting emphasis solely to quilting-related activities. In 2005 after moving to Arvada, Colorado from Glendale, Arizona, Rita began taking a Crazy Quilt class and realized that all of her previous experience had prepared her for focusing on Crazy Quilting. Her love of embroidery found a new niche! Now she does Crazy Quilting by hand and by machine.

Rita has received training through courses offered from local Colorado quilting businesses and the Houston International Quilt Festival. In addition, she continues to develop experience through the mentorship of peers in the local industry and through "learning by doing". Rita particularly enjoys crazy quilting techniques - anything from a full-size quilt to creating unique crazy quilt products such as pincushions, chatelaines, and wall hangings. Using old items to make new creations is always one-way Rita appreciates the embroidery of the past and makes things new. Crazy Quilting is not a fast process, it takes time and patience to do all the hand embroidery but it is a process that Rita not only personally enjoys but loves to teach to others. Rita also began free motion quilting in 2006 with the purchase of her first Bernina (her favorite) and just loved the idea of finishing her own quilts. So much so that she bought her first long arm quilting machine (Tin Lizzie) in 2008 which was later upgraded to a newer machine (Gammill with Statler) that expanded her ability to provide more custom quilting services.

Increased interest by others in Rita’s teaching and quilting expertise eventually led to Rita start her own business. Established in 2008, Heaven’s Quilts LLC (www.heavensquilts.com) has a wide range of services including custom quilting, quilts from scratch, specialty quilts, quilt repairs, and private and group lessons at Heaven’s Quilts and other local shops.

Rita has taught quilting classes and conducted quilting demonstrations for local businesses and quilt guilds all over Colorado from Grand Junction to Steamboat Springs and Alamosa. Currently, she is a regular teacher for the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado. Rita has taught a wide range of classes from project-oriented to technique classes such as Free Motion Quilting and Crazy Quilting. For more than seven years, several Crazy Quilt groups have been meeting monthly at Heaven’s Quilts to learn new Crazy Quilting techniques. 

In recent years Rita has opened a store that focuses mainly on Crazy Quilt supplies – lace (vintage and new), trims, buttons, beads, flowers, pincushions and appliques (hand-dyed and undyed versions). Rita also has a Crazy Quilt Supply Boutique which is open during Crazy Quilt classes taught at Heaven’s Quilts. Recently she opened an online store on Etsy that focuses on the popular items that she carries in her shop.

Rita has won numerous awards for her quilts at local quilt shows such as Colorado Quilt Council and Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum‘s Echter’s Garden Quilt Show (see below for many examples). Rita’s latest hand-embellished Crazy Quilt was juried in and accepted into the Houston International Quilt show in 2015. Her clients are also winning awards for the quilts that she has quilted for them. For example, in collaboration with a client, Rita won an honorable mention at the Denver Mancuso National Quilt Show. In 2017 one of Rita’s clients won five blue ribbons at the Colorado State Fair for her wonderful quilts that were custom quilted by Rita. Her expertise was recognized by the Denver Art Museum where she had a Crazy Quilt piece hang in the “Thread Room” for six years along with other pieces of quilting, art and lace done by other well-known quilters and artists.

In April 2019, Rita was the featured quilter at the annual Chadron Festival of Quilts in Chadron, Nebraska. The 2019 event celebrated crazy quilts with the theme, "Still Crazy After 25 Years." During the festival, Rita spoke on the art of making crazy quilts, conducted a walking tour that included many of her crazy quilts and taught three workshops on various aspects of crazy quilting.  

In her spare time, Rita is a regular volunteer and docent at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, CO which is visited by quilters from all over the world. To support the Museum’s fund-raising efforts, she has custom quilted four of their annual raffle quilts including their current raffle quilt for 2018. She won the Eugenia Mitchell Spirit Award in 2013 for her volunteer efforts. Rita donates her time supporting the collection needs of the museum and helping with special events, including the annual spring fund raiser Fabric and Friends. Rita also donates her time to help quilt community quilts and Quilts of Valor for Columbine Quilt Guild in Arvada.

 

 

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