Jinny Beyer

Known for her globally influenced designs and her clever use of color, Jinny Beyer has been making her mark on the quilting industry for almost 40 years. Through nearly 200 fabric lines, countless workshops and lectures, and hundreds of patterns, books, and videos, Jinny has changed the way Americans see, understand, and assemble quilts.

"Combining patterns is what I do," says Jinny Beyer, explaining the design elements in her guest room, the oldest space in her 1750s Colonial home in Great Falls, Virginia. She unfolds the antique Flying Geese bed quilt only when company comes.

Jinny's quilt Day Lilies demonstrates fabric blending using a range of shades. Each flower incorporates six different petals of seven pieces each. Set-in seams connect the blooms. The interlocking shapes of late artist M.C. Escher inspired Jinny to translate similar patterns in quilts, including this one, and write her groundbreaking book Designing Tessellations: The Secrets of Interlocking Patterns (Contemporary Books; 1999).

Designing fabrics and patterns, researching and writing books, and teaching classes at the nearby Jinny Beyer Studio leaves Jinny with little time for personal quilting. When she does embark on a new quilt, it's often for a family member. She assembled this colorful wedding quilt for her son Darren and his wife, Terri. She left the polygon centers and borders blank to allow guests to write personal messages.

Anticipating the arrival of a grandson in 2010, Jinny stitched tessellating blocks in bright blues and greens for Building Blocks, a baby quilt. (Find the pattern in the February 2012 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.) Jinny's book Quiltmaking by Hand (Breckling Press; 2004) is testimony to her passion for handwork. "You can get more done because you have all these bits and pieces of downtime," she says.

Architectural details, such as this antique fireplace surround, add to the appeal of Jinny's historical home and provide quilting inspiration. "I've been inspired by everything from a railing on a deck to a floor in a church," Jinny says. "I keep my camera handy."

Jinny Beyer's Olde World Star, made from fabrics from one of her collections, adorns the four-poster in the master bedroom.

Olde World Star is a combination of intricate pieced stars and broderie perse, a technique where cutout chintz designs are appliquéd.

Jinny Beyer's quilts have inspired decorative elements in her home and garden. A wrought-iron railing en route to the garden mirrors the stars in Jinny's master bedroom quilt.

One of Jinny's gardens is a living quilt planted in an eight-pointed star design. It is fertile ground for a patchwork of seasonal blooms, including crocus, geranium, mint, forget-me-nots, petunias, and Ageratum.

A bubbling stone fountain in the garden features a Mariner's Compass design, which has become Jinny's signature pattern.

The family's black Lab, Gus, takes a stroll along Jinny's vegetable garden of potatoes, tomatoes, and zucchini.

Jinny's garden contains 15 exotic varieties of chile peppers. She harvests the plants for fresh stir-fry, pickled peppers, and hot pepper jams.

The 2,500-square-foot Jinny Beyer Studio in Great Falls, Virginia (about 20 minutes west of Washington, D.C.), offers Jinny Beyer fabrics, tools, and patterns. The shop also stocks TJ Lane silver thimbles and chatelaines and other quilt-related gifts.

At Jinny Beyer Studio, customers can find the whole range of Jinny Beyer Palette tone-on-tones from RJR Fabrics. The collection spans 150 shades that blend with every fabric imaginable.