Tony Jacobson is a nationally-known quilt designer and teacher. He learned to piece quilts from his Grandmother, Harriett Wright, when he was 10 years old and has been creating quilts in one form or another ever since. Tony’s background as an Art Director serves him well when he is creating his own quilt designs. He and his wife, Jeanne, wrote a book called Quilting Around Your Home in 1992. Since then many of his quilt designs have appeared in Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting, Easy Quilts, and Quilting Quickly.

Tony has also been creating art quilts for many years. “The art quilts are something that I do just for myself and if someone else likes it, all the better,” says Tony. “I’ve always had a love of hand-dyed fabrics and my art quilts are a great place to use the one-of-a-kind fabrics I’ve collected over the years. Many times I will start an art quilt without a plan as to where the quilt design is headed or what size the final quilt will be.”

When not designing quilts—or these days running a quilt shop—Tony can be found teaching or giving guild presentations. He likes to teach his students how to let the fabric do most of the work so that the finished quilt looks more intricate than the piecing needed to complete the quilt. He’s constantly searching for techniques that will make the quilting process more accurate as well as easier and faster.

Tony works with the Quilts of Valor Foundation as the Graphic Designer in charge of laying out the monthly newsletter. Along with this contribution, he also creates many designs that are appropriate for Quilts of Valor. One of these patterns, Three Tours, was designed to honor his nephew who served three tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.