David M. Taylor

"My obsession with fabric began at an early age: salvaging scraps from my mother's sewing-area trash bin. By the time I was twelve years old, I was unstoppable on her 1967 Sears Kenmore sewing machine, creating costumes, clothing and crafty things. It wasn't until I landed a part-time job at a big-box fabric store and met Madeleine (Drake) Vail that I realized there were others in the world who were as addicted to fondling fabric as I was.

In 1999, more than a decade into our friendship, Madeleine and I collaborated on a fundraiser for the "Strings in the Mountains" Music Festival. Our challenge was to create a queen-sized art quilt for the Festival's annual poster design. The quilt would also serve as a major 'silent auction' item. No pressure. The final bid for the quilt was $25,000. We both now quilt as a way of life.

I 'semi-retired' from my career as a computer graphic artist in July 2009. Since that time, I have enjoyed teaching my appliqué and quilting techniques throughout the world. I have logged more than 700,000 actual flight miles (more than 20 times the circumference of Earth), journeying to 47 of these United States, five countries, three continents, and 1,000 quilt shops (well, maybe not a thousand - but close).

I hope to see you in a workshop soon."

DAVID M. TAYLOR was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and currently resides in Fort Collins, Colorado. He has been the recipient of the Fairfield Master Award for Contemporary Quilting from the International Quilt Association (2006, 2014), the Brother Wall Machine Workmanship Award from the American Quilters Society (2008), and a two-time Best of Show winner at IQA's Spring Festival in Chicago (2007, 2008), among others. His art quilts hang in numerous private collections.