2016

Joni Hoffman

A native West Virginian, Hoffman discovered quilting in the summer of 1969 while visiting a high school friend. Hoffman knew she was meant to be a quilter the first time she had a thimble on her finger and a needle in her hand. Hoffman started quilting in earnest when, as a young bride, she moved to Europe with her husband. She discovered that she also had a knack for teaching, so as she improved her own skills, she was sharing with others. After returning to the United States – and home in West Virginia – she continued to work on her skills. She has won prizes for her own quilts and for quilting she has done for others, including awards at the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes, Three Rivers Quilt Show in Pittsburgh, Pa., and shows in Virginia. She has won the Best Hand Quilting Award twice at the West Virginia Quilt Festival. Hoffman teaches a basics-of-hand-quilting class for West Virginia quilt guilds and has taught elementary school children to make a Log Cabin quilt block. She is active with the West Virginia Quilters, Inc. Hoffman is the first quilter to win the Vandalia Award, the highest folk life award presented by the state of West Virginia.