Background
Bonesteel was born Georgia Anne Jinkinson in Sioux City, Iowa, to Earl Jinkinson, a lawyer, and his wife Virginia. She learned to sew by watching her mother, who sewed in order to save money on clothes.
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Georgia Bonesteel
Edit ProfileEducation
She attended Iowa State University and Northwestern University, receiving a bachelor"s degree in home economics from Northwestern.
Career
She is the author of several books about quilting and was also the host of Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel, which aired on public television for 27 years. She has been credited with inventing "lap quilting". She has a sister, Jill Moore.
One of her first jobs was working for Marshall Field"s designing store window displays.
She moved to New Orleans in 1969, by which time she was able to concentrate on sewing, her favorite pastime. One day, when the show was out of ideas, Bonesteel decided to make a patch quilt out of scrap material, which began her career in quilt making.
In 1972, Bonesteel moved to Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina with her family, where she began working at Connemara Farms, part of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site. At Connemara, Bonesteel worked in Sandburg"s upstairs workroom.
While working there, she got the idea of making a quilt to serve as a backdrop for presentations there.
She has served as president of the International Quilt Association. Television career In 1978, Bonesteel first approached University of North Carolina-television with the idea for Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel. The first six segments of the show first aired in 1980.
Although they were not widely viewed at first, these segments were so well-received that another seven segments were later taped, and the show aired on public television across the country.
By 1983, Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel was being distributed out of Boston to 120 major Public Broadcasting Service stations. By 2003, Bonesteel had completed twelve television series about quilting.
Teaching Bonesteel began teaching at Blue Ridge Community College after a neighbor asked her to take over a sewing class there when she first moved to North Carolina in 1972. She has also taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown since 1995.
Honors and awards.
