Meet the Artists
Carol
Monti
Tina
Freudenberger
Carol started traditional quilting in 2011 and spent several years paper-piecing animals from other people’s patterns. She wanted to design her own patterns and eventually found her niche. In 2019, she joined the Textile Artists of Virginia (TAVA) and began learning from other fiber artists, especially Tina Freudenberger. Tina and Carol quickly became friends through their mutual love of art quilting and animals. Primarily using photographs that she has taken, Carol creates a pattern and using raw-edge applique, and interprets the photo into an art quilt wall hanging. Her pieces combine her love of nature and animals. Carol was born, raised and educated in California, earning a B.S. degree in Landscape Horticulture from the Univ. of CA at Davis. She spent her career, first conducting environmental research, then working in and managing the water quality laboratory for local governments in Florida. She finished her career as the Assistant Utilities Director for the Water and Wastewater Dept. in Panama City, FL. After retiring in 2016, Carol, her husband and 3 dogs moved to Blacksburg where Steve had attended college. Their daughter decided to move with them, bringing her dog as well. She is a manager in the local area, managing a successful retail store. Once settled in Blacksburg, Carol set to work transforming their 1 acre fenced yard into a native wildflower habitat. Her passion for growing all things native to Virgina has been a huge inspiration for her art. Carol’s quilts have received numerous awards in both local and national quilt and art shows. Highlights include a collaborative piece (made with Nancy Hershberger and Tina Freudenberger) of local Cascades Falls named “Rock, Paper, Scissors” that was honored as Best of Show at the Star Quilters 2023 quilt show. This quilt also received the top award in the fiber category at the 2025 New River Biennial Art Show. Her “Rescue Dogs” was awarded the NACQJ Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievment in Quilt Making in 2025 as well as the Viewer’s Choice award at the Star Quilters 2025 quilt show. Two of her pieces received the “Viewer’s Choice” award at shows which is the most meaningful. Learning to make animal portraits from photographs was a huge turning point in Carol’s art quilting journey. Both she and Tina were originally taught by Barbara Yates Beasely, a very successful animal portrait quilter. After fine-tuning Barbara’s technique and with her approval, they decided to start teaching on the East Coast. Their 2-day workshop gives students the tools they need to put their own vision of an animal to life.
Tina’s life has always centered around animals, so it was only natural that when she first started quilting her goal was to make animal portraits. Her mother taught her to sew and she made her first dress at age 9. She continued to sew and made many garments for her two daughters. As her daughters aged and no longer wanted Mom to make their clothes, she began traditional quilting. Still, she longed to make wall quilts of animals. She had long admired the work of Barbara Yates Beasley and was finally able to take a class from her in 2019. Since then, she has not looked back. Tina was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she met her husband, John, at the University of Cincinnati. She earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry and moved to Boston while John earned his PhD in Chemistry at MIT. After Boston, they moved to Berkeley, CA, where John completed a postdoctoral fellowship and Tina earned an MBA in Accounting from Cal State Hayward. They moved to Fair Hill, MD in 1988, and Tina worked in accounting. After her children started school, she started her own custom embroidery and screen printing business, Mountain Dog Designs, from which she retired in 2013. While visiting her oldest daughter, who was studying Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, she and John discovered that they loved the area. They purchased their dream home/farm in 2013. Tina moved in 2016 and John came down in 2018. The location is perfect to visit their daughters. The youngest, a general surgery resident, and her husband and two boys live in the Richmond area. Her oldest, a veterinarian, and her husband live in the Chapel Hill area. Tina has a large menagerie of animals from which to choose for making portraits. The current group consist of 7 dogs, 9 cats, 5 horses, 4 mini donkeys, 21 goats and a cockatiel. Tina’s passion is to create art that highlights animals that are imperiled. She donates 100% of all proceeds from the sales to animal rescues and charities. Tina’s work has received awards in both local and national quilt shows. She has won Best of Show Sewing Workmanship Award from Bernina at the MidAtlantic 2023 show; Best of Show Wall Quilts at the Mancuso Philadelphia PNQE show in 2024; 3rd place in the Animal Division at Road to California 2025; Best of Show and Best Wall quilt with a collaborative piece with Nancy Hershberger and Carol Monti at the Star Quilters Show 2023; and 1st place Wall quilt at the same show in 2024. This quilt also received the top award in the fiber category at the 2025 New River Biennial Art Show. Her quilt Kazakh Eagle Hunters was one of 40 out of 1400 chosen for the Spring 2023 Fiber Art Now magazine. Tina was also featured in an article of Patchwork Professional in August 2024.