Kanuga Knitting & Quilting Retreat

About the staff

COORDINATOR: Varian Brandon has been knitting since she was 8 and has been almost continuously working with yarn and needles since a trip to Scotland after college. Recently, she was the top American winner in an international design competition sponsored by Jamieson and Smith Woolbrokers. She lives in Saluda, NC where she uses her needles (and graph paper and computer) to design hand-knitted sweaters and other colorful wearables.

CHAPLAIN: The Rev. Jennifer Deaton serves as the Canon Pastor at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi. An avid knitter, she maintains the blog Preach One, Purl Two.

QUILTING INSTRUCTOR: Jean Ann Wright is a design consultant to the fabric industry and co-author of Circle of Nine: 24 Stunning and Creative Quilts, One Unique Quilt Setting. Previously, she served as editor of The Quilting Quarterly and Quilt magazines. Her quilts have appeared on the covers of The Quilter and Quilter’s World and featured in Fons and Porter, McCalls and Quilter’s Newsletter magazines. She has taught quilting in the United States, Canada and England and was a judge at the first International Quilt Festival in Austria and the Quilt Festival in Houston.

QUILTING INSTRUCTOR: Janet Houts is a quilt designer and co-author of Circle of Nine: 24 Stunning and Creative Quilts, One Unique Quilt Setting. Her quilts have been published in numerous magazines, including Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting, McCalls Quick Quilts, Quilter’s World and Quilt Magazine. She has designed quilts for several textile companies, including Blank Textiles, Windham Fabrics and Andover Textiles. She has an extensive background in graphic arts and previously was the editorial art director for The Quilting Quarterly.