Mary Fons, editorial advisor of Quiltfolk magazine and host of her live video magazine, "Quilt Nerd" on Twitch, talks about her sewing journey and what keeps her coming back for more.

Mary is a writer, editor, and livestreamer who specializes in quilt history and the life of quilts in popular culture. 

From 2017 to 2021, Mary served as editor in-chief of Quiltfolk magazine; she now serves as an editorial advisor to Quiltfolk publications and occasional workshop instructor. From 2010 to 2015, Mary was editor and creative director of Quilty magazine. She has hosted a combined 250 episodes of instructional programming on public television (Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting) and the internet (Quilty). She is the author of Make & Love Quilts: Scrap Quilts for the 21st Century (C&T/StashBooks, 2014) and Dear Quilty (F&W Media, 2015) and wrote a bi-monthly column, The Quilt Scout, for Quilts, Inc. Her articles on quilt history and culture have appeared in Quiltfolk, Curated Quilts, Modern Patchwork, and Love of Quilting, among others. 

Mary serves on the board of the International Quilt Museum at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and lectures across the country at universities and major quilt events, such as QuiltCon. She holds a BA in Theater from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

She is currently in pre-production for America’s Quilt, a 10-part docuseries on America’s untold quilt histories. Mary was born in a small town in Iowa but she lives in Chicago (and sometimes in London), with her husband, Eric. 

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